Pastor wins religious discrimination case over gay comments

The pastor who penned Sinitta’s hit song
“So Macho” has won a religious
discrimination case at employment
tribunal.
Rev George Hargreaves claimed he was
shunned at work after an exchange with a
colleague about homosexuality.
When his colleague, Elizabeth Akano,
commented that “people are born gay”, Rev
Hargreaves told her that “paedophiles make
the same argument”, the Daily Mail
reports.
Rev Hargreaves, founder of the Christian
Party, claimed that his colleague
contributed to a “humiliating” environment
at work by deliberately ignoring him.
During his appeal, Rev Hargreaves argued
that his comments to his colleague had
been reasonable.
“It is reasonable for me to say, in response
to Liz and anyone who says that ‘people
are born gay’, that paedophiles would also
say that they were born that way,” he said.
“This is my standard response to the
argument about people being born as
homosexual. It is not illegal to put the two
words in the same sentence.”
Judge Andrew James, hearing the case at
London Central Tribunal Centre, agreed that
Rev Hargreaves had been harassed and
discriminated against because of his
religious beliefs.
“This case raises extremely difficult
questions about the balancing of legal
rights to freedom of speech, freedom of
expression, religious belief and sexual
orientation,” he said.
“Balancing those rights is not easy and
navigating between them can result in
employers walking something of a legal
tightrope.”
The judge added, however, that it was
understandable that some people would
find Rev Hargreaves’ comments offensive.
“The claimant is correct to say that it is not
illegal to use those words together, in the
sense that it is not a criminal offence,” the
judge continued.
“Many people however, whatever their
sexual orientation, who do not share the
claimant’s deeply held and genuine
religious beliefs, would find the use of
those words in that context to be
offensive.”
He added that Rev Hargreaves comments
“in a work context” could themselves
“amount to harassment related to sexual
orientation”, and suggested that the
wording had been unnecessary.
“The claimant’s religious beliefs do not
require him to express himself in a way
which draws an apparent comparison
between paedophiles and the gay
community,” Judge James said.
“Such comparisons have been drawn in the
past, to the detriment of the gay
community.
“It was not so long ago that employees
could justify dismissing gay employees on
the basis of the prevailing view at the time
that gay men were a potential threat to
children.
”’Paedophiles also say they are born that
way”. That is not a religious belief. It is an
argument used by the claimant in relation
to his religious beliefs which could well
cause offence to others.”
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