Lillian Ladele, 47, who worked at Islington council in North London, told an employment tribunal that she was ordered to perform the same-sex ceremonies or face dismissal for gross misconduct. She said: “I felt harassed and victimised. I was being picked on on a daily basis.”
The tribunal found that the behaviour of her colleagues, as a result, had “the effect of violating Ms Ladele’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment”. The ruling said that Islington council “placed a greater value on the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community than it placed on the rights of Ms Ladele as one holding an orthodox Christian belief”.
Ms Ladele said: “This is a victory for religious liberty, not just for myself but for others in a similar position. Gay rights should not be used as an excuse to bully and harass people over their religious beliefs.”
She could receive thousands of pounds in compensation at a further hearing in September.
The decision outraged gay rights campaigners, who said that it “sanctions the right of religious people to discriminate”.
Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay rights group Stonewall, said: “Public servants are paid by taxpayers to deliver public services. They shouldn’t be able to pick and choose who they deliver those services to. Doubtless 40 years ago there were moral objections to mixed-race marriages. Quite rightly such objections would no longer be entertained.” |
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