Press Releases

  1. LGCM urges the Equality and Human Rights Commission to think carefully about changes in its approach to the protection of religious belief.

    18 July 2011

    EHRC LogoThe Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has recently announced a significant change in its attitude towards the protection of religion and belief in equality cases. It has in the past been criticised by some conservative Christians of being too harsh in its response to religiously motivated convictions where these clash with the requirements of their job, for example in providing services to LGBT people such as civil partnership registration and relationship counselling.

    Now the Commission appears to agree that it has indeed been potentially discriminatory in its approach to religion and belief – one of the protected characteristics safeguarded by the Equality Act 2010.

    The Commission has stated that judges have interpreted equality law too harshly against Christians. As a result the Commission is now intervening in four cases before the European Court of Human Rights where Christian workers have been disciplined or lost their jobs due to clashes between their religious convictions and the requirements of their job or workplace. Lawyers representing the Commission have called for more “compromise” and “accommodation” in such cases.

    The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) is concerned about the tone and direction of this change of position. The Rev Sharon Ferguson, Chief Executive of LGCM said:

    “As a faith-based organisation we certainly understand and respect religious conviction and can see the conflicts which can sometimes occur when the rights of one group appear to trump the rights of another. But the EHRC must be careful. It is one thing to allow a more generous approach to people wearing crosses at work for example, or for a Jewish person to be able not to work on the Sabbath, which can be sorted by efficient organisation of a work rota. Neither of these restrict the rights and freedoms of others. But the Commission is going further and potentially lending support to those who refuse to provide public services to others who are lesbian or gay. This is contrary to the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and contrary to the work with which the EHRC have been tasked. We note their assurances that this is not their intention but are concerned to see quite how this new approach can avoid such a result.”

    It appears to us that the biggest source of confusion in the latest actions of the EHRC are due to them combining instances of harmless personal religious expression with situations of blatant discrimination which are then justified on the grounds of religion. These must be assessed separately as the implications are clearly dramatically different.

    The Rev Ferguson added:

    “It is obviously tremendously important to us that all people are free to live according to their beliefs in all areas of their lives, which includes the workplace, but this can never include the oppression or discrimination of others. The freedom to wear a religious symbol at work and refusal to perform a public service that is part of your job description are two very different issues.”


  2. LGCM congratulates Symon Hill on the completion of his walk of repentance for homophobia

    1 July 2011

    Symon HillThis evening Symon Hill, Christian writer, activist and associate director of the Ekklesia thinktank, will be addressing an audience at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church in London’s West End after having completed a 160 mile walk which he started in Birmingham on 16 June as a pilgrimage to demonstrate repentance for his previous homophobia.

    Symon Hill embarked upon this pilgrimage to publicly show support for LGBT people in marked contrast to his own strongly homophobic position which 14 years ago led him to say that his opposition to gay relationships was a matter of God’s opinion, not his.

    The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement is one of a number of Christian organisations which have expressed support for this walk culminating in London today, 1 July.

    The Rev Sharon Ferguson, Chief Executive of LGCM said:

    “We have been delighted to lend support to Symon’s pilgrimage which has been both a personal journey yet a very public one. LGCM has been campaigning for 35 years for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the life of the church and in wider society. We are thrilled to see increasing numbers of Christians, both individuals and groups, embrace LGBT people as people of worth and dignity in God’s eyes.

    “Symon’s pilgrimage reminds us of the steady march of progress towards true acceptance of all God’s children. However as well as indicating the changes that are occurring among Christians, the fact that Symon’s walk is still needed is a sober reminder that we still have a long way to go.”

    Tomorrow LGCM will be joining with other Christians in London marching as part of the annual Pride celebrations under the banner of Christians Together at Pride. We shall then be gathering at 6.00 pm at St Martin-in-the-Fields for our service of celebration for Pride.

    All are welcome.


  3. LGCM is concerned by the legal advice being offered to the Church of England regarding gay bishops

    22 June 2011

    This week lawyers for the Church of England indicated that in line with the 2010 Equality Act the Church cannot allow sexual orientation in itself to be grounds for preventing a priest being promoted to the role of bishop. However, consistent with provisions contained within the Act for a religious organisation to act in accordance with its doctrine, the document, Choosing Bishops – The Equality Act 2010, makes clear that those considered for promotion must be celibate and to have been celibate during their time as a priest. Being in a civil partnership is not a bar to becoming a bishop as long as this condition is met. Candidates will be asked about their past and will be required to repent of any past sexual activity which took place before ordination.

    The Rev Sharon Ferguson, Chief Executive of LGCM, said: “In the light of our call recently that the Church of England should at least honour its own position in Issues in Human Sexuality LGCM recognises an attempt to achieve that in these guidelines. Whilst they do at least attempt to address the requirements of the law and help prevent the ongoing cycle of deception and dishonesty about which we have expressed concern, they are still setting a standard for bishops whose orientation is homosexual which is not required of bishops who are heterosexual. It is particularly concerning that gay candidates for the bishopric must repent of relationships they had in the past when no such requirement is placed on heterosexual candidates who may have engaged in extramarital relationships.”

    LGCM is concerned that the guidelines would still exclude people like Canon Dr Jeffrey John who while now in a celibate relationship has been open that this relationship was not always so. Furthermore the guidelines, in keeping with rights contained within the Equality Act, would allow promotion to be blocked where the appointment of even a celibate gay bishop would be seen as divisive.

    Rev Sharon Ferguson added: “The additional provision is so general it would effectively allow many of the same dioceses who currently block the appointment of gay bishops to continue to do so. Also, as the provisions only apply to those clergy who are either known or suspected to be gay it is likely to continue to encourage an atmosphere of denial and lying since the honesty and integrity of people like Jeffrey John could still prohibit promotion to the the bishopric.”

    Further concerns for LGCM arise from how such guidelines could be implemented and enforced without considerable intrusion on a person’s private life. Again, something that would not even be considered for a heterosexual candidate.