Relationships counsellor loses his appeal over gay couples

GARY MCFARLANE, a former Relate rela­tionship counsellor, who would not give advice on sex to gay couples because of his Christian con­victions, has lost his case at the Employ­ment Appeal Tribunal (News, 5 December, 2008).

Mr McFarlane, a solicitor based in Bristol, used to work for the Avon branch of Relate, the relationship-counselling service. In September 2007, Mr McFarlane asked to be exempted from working with same-sex couples where sexual issues were involved, such as offering cognitive sexual-technique coun­sel-ling, as he believes that the Bible teaches him that same-sex practice is sinful.

His employers told him that this breached Relate’s equal-opportunities policy, and took disciplinary action against him. He was sus­pended in October 2007, and dismissed in March 2008.

Mr McFarlane took Relate to an Employ­ment Tribunal, but lost his case in January. He then took his case to the Employment Appeal Tri­bunal, which handed down its decision in Bristol on Monday.

The tribunal drew comparisons to the case of Lilian Ladele (News, 9 January), a civic registrar in Islington, who had asked to be exempted from officiating at civil-partnership ceremonies. The tribunal said that it was justifiable for a body such as Relate “to require its employees to adhere to the same principles which it regards as fundamental to its own ethos”, particularly when the law requires this.

The Christian Legal Centre, which has sup­ported Mr McFarlane, said that the ruling meant that the rights of homosexual couples “trump those of people of faith and con­science”. They plan to appeal.

Mr McFarlane said that the “British estab­lishment no longer values the democratic rights of its citizens to hold con­science as a matter of principle”.

  Relate said that the ruling validated its commitment to equality of access to its services “regardless of . . . gender, age, race, religion, sexual orientation or relationship status”. Relate was “committed to supporting all religious beliefs working within Relate”, but its clients, who often needed complex advice and assis­tance, were its primary considera­tion.