KENILWORTH, 3 JUNE 2003 — Gay humanist activists have called on the Archbishop of Canterbury to personally intervene in the row over religious exemptions from new anti-discrimination employment regulations.
The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) has written to Dr Rowan Williams pointing out that it was his Church – through its Archbishops’ Council – that gained the amendment to the regulations that will permit churches and religious organisations to fire gay employees if they consider homosexuality to be against the ethos of the organisation.
In the letter, spokesperson Terry Sanderson said GALHA was concerned that the exemptions – granted after the consultation on the regulations had closed – could lead to “injustice, bigotry and witch-hunts”.
He called on the Archbishop to overrule the Archbishops’ Council and call on the Government to remove the exemptions in order that the Regulations could offer the intended comprehensive protection from discrimination.
The Archbishops’ Council called for the exemption on 23 January well before the consultation on the regulations was closed (and before Dr Williams had been enthroned), but its request was not acceded to until after the consultation was over, thus avoiding any challenge. It is widely thought that the Prime Minister intervened personally after lobbying from the Church of England and ordered the Department of Trade and Industry to insert the exemption.
Terry Sanderson commented: “Because these regulations have been introduced as secondary legislation there is no opportunity for MPs to amend or challenge any element of them. They can only be accepted or rejected in toto. If the Archbishop were to intervene immediately, there would be time for the Government to withdraw the regulations and rewrite them, removing these iniquitous and dangerous exemptions. If the Archbishop doesn’t speak out, every case of bigotry from a religious organisation which results in injustice to gay workers will be laid at his door.”