The Rainbow Post

No right to appeal!  GayAgenda.com's UK correspondent Jason Shaw reports on unlikely backing from the Uk's supreme court!

Lillian Ladele was a registrar for a north London borough,  it was her job to conduct marriages and same sex civil partnerships.   She worked Islington town hall,  where she'd held the post for  for 16 years.   Because of her deeply held religious beliefs she said she didn't want to officiate at same sex civil partnership ceremonies, which came in to play during 2005.

At first she tried to change the rotas so her  colleagues presided over the unions, her colleagues  made complaints,   claiming she was was homophobic.   It was then,  she claims, the council told her that she would face dismissal for gross misconduct unless she agreed to preside over civil partnerships otherwise known as gay weddings!

She resigned last year,  but that wasn't the end of the matter,  the former  Islington council  registrar then  took her former employers to court for alleged discrimination on the grounds  of her religious beliefs. 

An Employment Appeal Tribunal head the case in December,   it ruled that the council had acted within the law,   they had every right to expect their registrar's to perform ceremonies for same sex couples.  Ladele's case was thrown out,  however at the time she vowed to continue the fight and appeal against it.

It was revealed last week that she's now been refused permission the The Supreme Court,  the highest court of law in the UK.      "Lilian Ladele’s situation does not raise legal points of general public importance” they say.

The former registrar is now considering whether to try her luck and take her case  all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.  She believes the case  shows that the right to religious conscience has been "trampled" b over  the rights of gays..

In a statement read out by her lawyer, Ladele said  “I am naturally disappointed by the Supreme Court’s rejection of my application for appeal. I am actively discussing with my lawyers the possibility of an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.     When the rights of different groups clash, as they have in my case, surely there must be a proportionate attempt to balance those competing rights. In my case, one set of rights was trampled by another set of rights. That cannot be right in a free and democratic society. I believe my case raises important issues of liberty that deserve further consideration by the courts.”

But this is not just one woman's fight against a big inner London council,  nope,  most of her legal costs have been paid for by various religious groups,  including The Christian Institute,  whose spokesman said “Christians will feel let down by this decision. It will only serve to reinforce the impression that Christians are being pushed to the sidelines of public life.   Our nation’s highest court has effectively told them their concerns are not of general public importance.”

A spokesman for the London council welcomed the Supreme Court's ruling, "Islington Council expects its employees to provide services to all sections of the community. A recent court ruling backed the council's stance that registrars must carry out civil partnerships as well as marriages.  We do not discriminate,  nor do we expect our registrar's to do so"






Posted By Jason Shaw, Brighton,  England.
GayAgenda.com's UK correspondent.




www.gayagenda.com




Jason's own blog the Seafront Diaries,  the true life tales from Brighton's seaside!