Harriet Harman Announces Government Are Dropping Gay Discrimination Employment Law Bid
Posted: 5th Feb 2010 Author: Michelle Penny Topics: Politics
Harriet Harman, the Equality minister has announced that the government will no longer try to force through legislation that would have prevented churches from discriminating against gays and lesbians in terms of who they employed.
Tabling amendments that would have allowed the church to only discriminate against the LGBT community when they were hiring for positions that either included leading worship or teaching doctrine, the move was made in response to concerns that churches were ignoring equality laws concerning employment posts like youth workers and those working in the administration sector of the church, with Harman stating:
“So a religion can’t discriminate against gay people or women when they hire a bookkeeper but they can when they are choosing a minister of their religion,”
The House Of Lords last week however acted to disagree with the legislation, believing it unnecessary, with the Pope entering into the argument saying that such laws were “violating the natural law”.
Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Harriet Harman said:
“The amendment which we moved in the House of Lords did not and was not intended to change that policy position; what it sought to do was make the distinction between religious and non-religious jobs clearer.
“The Lords didn’t regard that amendment as helpful; we’ll therefore leave the law as it is and not bring back the amendment to this house.”
When asked by Labour former minister Kitty Ussher what this meant in terms of the government’s position, Harman said:
Our view is and remains that when it comes to religious organisations employing people they should comply with the law that applies with all other employers – whether it’s the requirement to have written contracts, to pay sick pay or to pay the minimum wage and not to sack people unfairly or to discriminate against them.”
