Employment Exemptions “Like Something Dreamed up by the Taliban”

KENILWORTH, 18 JUNE 2003 — As the long-awaited employment regulations passed through both Houses of Parliament yesterday, Lord Alli said of the wide-ranging exemptions granted to religious organisations: “This feels more like a provision dreamed up by the Taliban than one suitable for a mature democracy.”

Lord Alli, the only openly gay member of the House of Lords, made his remark during an impassioned debate, when Lord Lester tried to persuade the Government to rethink the exemptions. The efforts failed and the regulations are now law. They will come into effect on 1 December this year, unless a legal challenge can cause the Government to think again.

Commenting on last night’s events, Terry Sanderson, a spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) said: “It is clear that these exemptions to the regulations completely undermine the intention of the original European Union directive, which sought to give complete protection to gay people from discrimination at work. While we welcome the regulations generally, we think that there are going to be some very unpleasant cases of discrimination at work because of the exemptions given to religious bodies.”

GALHA secretary George Broadhead added: “These exemptions show how committed the Blair government is to appeasing religionists of one sort or another and never mind who gets hurt as a result.”

During the lead-up to the debates in Parliament, the Church of England’s Archbishops’ Council lobbied hard to ensure that the exemptions survived, as did the Evangelical Alliance and CARE. They argued that the exemptions did not exceed what was permissible under the terms of the original directive.

However, a powerful parliamentary scrutiny committee had already reached the conclusion that the exemptions go far beyond what was permissible. This was backed up by Lord Lester – himself a barrister – who said in the House of Lords that he was prepared to stake his reputation on the fact that the regulations would not survive a legal challenge, and the Government would be humiliated.

Despite this strong opposition, the Government pushed the regulations through in their final form, and now religious organisations will have an almost free hand to discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation.