A relationship counsellor who refused to offer sex therapy to gay couples has lost his unfair dismissal appeal.
Gary MacFarlane, 47, from Bristol, was sacked by marriage guidance service Relate after he said he could not do anything to promote gay sex.
He alleged Relate had refused to accommodate his Christian beliefs.
The service’s chief executive Claire Tyler said: “The appeal judgement validates Relate’s commitment to equality of access to our services.”
Mr MacFarlane, a former church elder, was appealing on the grounds of religious discrimination at the Employment Appeal Tribunal in Bristol.
BBC (thanks, Tiram)
Some people!
Good.
What a douchebag, how can he think its okay for him to discriminate against other people and then whine about being fired and then take them to court over discrimination?
good !
Hoorah!
That is all.
I am gay and yet fully support the Christian guy in this, I must sadly admit.
How dare they discriminate against a persons right to discriminate…
Wait….
This is just bonkers, and I’ve said it before, when anti-discriminatory law is seen as discriminatory against a religious belief, it highlights the fact that those beliefs are in fact discriminatory.
Although I must have phrased it differently, as I’ve never used the word discriminatory three times in a sentence before. At what point will these laws be brought into play when a church rejects gay attendees? That’s the battle I want to see…
His ‘religious discrimination’ is what other people would call ‘not being an arsehole’.
Personally I think he has the right to refuse certain customers based on his believes.
Okay I agree it’s narrow minded! But isn’t narrow mindedness his right?
Shouldn’t we say Live and Let Live?!
Good! I’m sure someone out there is complaining that this is political correctness gone mad
Yes, Raymond, narrow minded discrimination is his right.
However, he can’t expect to keep a job with an organisation (or in a country) that has rules against that when providing services to the public..
You have to ask why he would want to remain in such an organisation which ‘promotes’ gay sex. If his convictions were that strong, he would have left already
.
Was the Christian ok with working with unmarried couples but not homosexual couples? What about couples in a 2nd marriage? Aren’t all of these ‘sinful’ in the eyes of “the church”?
Sounds to me like he was in the wrong job..
I am Christian and yet wholly condemn the Counsellor guy in this, I must sadly admit.
“Religious discriminator cries religious discrimination”
bloody christians. what a bunch of hypocrites.
I don’t know what that guy was trying to get from this. His employer could have been accused of prejudice to homosexuals if he allowed him to be specific in such a way. While there are some circumstances where an employer might have been able to offer a solution it is by far creating more problems for the company for the sake of one employee.
Personal convictions don’t come without cost. By believing as he does, the guy is limiting the range of people can can work for. But instead of acknowledging that, he expects the courts to step in and uphold his convictions for him. He’s not the first to think that he can indulge in some minority conviction at no cost to himself.
If Relate were a Christian organisation that had beliefs against homosexuality, and fired one of its staff for supporting homosexuality – then that staff member should be fired…
This is essentially the opposite of the above news article. Yet often I read of stories where such things do not happen. So surely you cannot have one without the other. Either the employer has the right to set their beliefs (pro or against) or not.
StarliteShadow:
“If Relate were a Christian organisation that had beliefs against homosexuality, and fired one of its staff for supporting homosexuality – then that staff member should be fired…
This is essentially the opposite of the above news article. Yet often I read of stories where such things do not happen. So surely you cannot have one without the other. Either the employer has the right to set their beliefs (pro or against) or not.”
This is a completely false analogy. Mr McFarlane was not fired for merely being anti-homosexual – he was fired because he refused to do his job.
If a vegetarian was hired to stack shelves in Tesco and refused to handle any products that contained meat, would it be discrimination if she were fired? Or is she just in the wrong job in the first place?
He was not being asked to compromise his christian beliefs as his beliefs were not christian in the first place.
What happened to “Judge not lest ye be judged” ? Christ himself said “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
His problem is one of prejudice alone & for that, Relate had a perfect right to sack him.
How very pathetic of him to run to the courts & expect them to back him up. If he had been right he should have been proud to stand up & be counted.
Maybe in his heart of hearts he knew all along that he was wrong.
What happened to free speech (not free for people such as him with Christian beliefs anymore, in a society where people seek equality where is the equality for this guy and his beliefs)? Or should he be pigeon holed into a situation he feels uncomfortable in. Essentially there is no such thing as equality, as to make things equal for one group of people means taking rights of freedom from the other. Christians believe (according to the Bible) that they shouldn’t lead other people into sin, this was why this guy couldn’t do it. It’s not about passing judgement as he didn’t condemn them he just wanted to opt out so the last article is wrong on those grounds. Is your prejudice running against the Christian guy and that he is not allowed to have his own opinions, he must comply?