Archbishop Won’t Stop Gay Witch-hunts

KENILWORTH, 5 JULY 2003 — Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has made clear that he will not intervene if gay people working for religious organisations are sacked or unfairly treated by the Church.

In a letter to the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA), Dr Williams says that he supports the “prevailing approach of the Church of England” as expressed by the Bishop of Blackburn in a House of Lords debate. The Bishop of Blackburn said that the religious exemptions – which give “faith-based” employers the legal right to sack or refuse to employ gay people – are necessary to protect “the well-being of the diversity, culture and religion of the nation”.

But GALHA secretary George Broadhead said: “Legal experts and human rights campaigners are extremely concerned about these exemptions and the way they are going to be used – particularly by zealous religious employers – to disadvantage gay people at work. There must be hundreds of gay teachers among the 100,000 who work for church schools. Will they be safe from overly devout headteachers who may not want to have gay people on the staff?”

In its original letter, GALHA asked Dr Williams to assure them that the Church of England would not use the exemptions to conduct witch-hunts against gay people working in church organisations. The Archbishop has declined to give that assurance. “We take this to mean that he is indifferent to the potential suffering that these exemptions could bring,” said Mr Broadhead.

When the regulations were being discussed in the House of Lords, Lord Alli said: “[These exemptions] make a mockery of equality legislation ... This feels more like a provision dreamed up by the Taliban than one suitable for a mature democracy.”

Note for editors: The employment regulations offer protection for the first time from discrimination at work on grounds of sexual orientation. At the last moment, the Church of England persuaded the Government to insert exemptions for religious organisations which would allow them to discriminate

(i) so as to comply with the doctrines of the religion, or

(ii) because of the nature of the employment and the context in which it is carried out, so as to avoid conflicting with the strongly held religious convictions of a significant number of the religion’s followers. [Regulation 7(3)(b)]