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Gay man wins Church discrimination case

By staff and agencies
Last Updated: 3:00am BST 19/07/2007

A gay man has won his case for unlawful discrimination after he was refused a job as a youth worker by the Church of England.

The employment tribunal ruled John Reaney, 42, was discriminated against "on the grounds of sexual orientation" by the Hereford Diocesan Board of Finance.
    
John Reaney: 'Gay Christians are entitled to fair and respectful treatment'

During the tribunal hearing, Mr Reaney said he was questioned by the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Anthony Priddis, on his previous gay relationship during a meeting in July last year.

He described the encounter as embarrassing and humiliating and said he was so upset that he had to pull over during his drive home.

Three days after the meeting, the Bishop telephoned Mr Reaney to say his application had not been successful.

Bishop Priddis told the tribunal he had made clear to Mr Reaney that a person in a committed sexual relationship outside of marriage, whether they were heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or transgender, would be turned down for the role.

Today Mr Reaney said he was delighted to have won his case, which was backed and financed by gay lobby group Stonewall.

"It demonstrates to many lesbian and gay Christians working for God within the Church of England that they are entitled to fair and respectful treatment," he said.

The bishop said he was disappointed by the ruling and maintained his decision was "the right one".

"I am naturally disappointed that the tribunal decided that I did discriminate against Mr Reaney but it dismissed the other complaints that he made," he said.

The bishop said the Church of England had always taught that there was a distinction between sexual orientation and lifestyle, a distinction which he said was not drawn by the law.

He said the diocese would examine the tribunal's findings in more detail before deciding whether to appeal.

The bishop also dismissed suggestions that he might resign, saying: "It's not that kind of an issue."

Gay man wins Church discrimination case (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/18/nchurch118.xml)

Which goes against everything the Bible says.


I guess upholding the Word doesn't matter in court.  I wonder if the court would have ruled the same way if, he wanted to be a youth minister in an Islamic mosque.

 ???

So, this church actually had the gall to reject a sexual deviant for the position of working with youth?

This is just another example of this old world getting more evil by the minute. The devil wants to force his way into everything, obviously including the ministry and teaching of our children.