Stonewall: Exemptions amount to inequality
Monday, 16 Oct 2006 12:19
Religious organisations should be forced to follow laws ensuring equality for gay and lesbian people, one of the groups working with the government has warned.
Reports yesterday suggested communities secretary Ruth Kelly – a devout Catholic – had bowed to pressure from religious groups and blocked regulations under the Equality Act 2006.
Backed by the prime minister, Ms Kelly had allegedly raised concerns about how the laws would affect faith schools and Catholic adoption services.
A spokeswoman for the Stonewall lobby group told politics.co.uk religious groups must be forced to follow the provisions.
Allowing some services to opt out "starts opening up cases for everybody to exempt themselves", she said.
She stressed exemptions would "take a discriminatory route inevitably", saying: "You can't have an equality act with clauses of inequality.
"If lesbians and gay men are turned away from healthcare and other services, it is an anomaly in the law and Stonewall wants to see it cleaned up."