OH DEAR, here we go again ….
Four months after devout Christian homophobe Lillian Ladele won a religious discrimination case following her dismissal for refusing to conduct same-sex civil unions, a relationship counsellor is taking the national counselling service, Relate, to an industrial tribunal.
Gary McFarlane
Gary McFarlane, a father of two who has worked for the national counselling service Relate since 2003, claims he was been dismissed over his religious reservations about encouraging gay sex during sexual therapy sessions.
Like Ladele, McFarlane, 47, is alleging unfair dismissal on the grounds of religious discrimination.
After winning her case, Ladele said:
I am delighted at this decision. It is a victory for religious liberty, not just for myself, but for others in a similar position to mine. Gay rights should not be used as an excuse to bully and harass people over their religious beliefs.
The case was financed by the Christian Institute. At the time its Head of Communications, Mike Judge, said:
This important ruling confirms that gay rights should not be treated as trumping religious rights. The law clearly recognises this.
According to the Daily Mail, McFarlane, a solicitor, said he was “sad and disappointed” with the “bigotry” he had experienced at the Bristol branch of Relate from “a group of people with their own agenda”.
If I was a Muslim this would not happen. They would find a way to make the system work. But Christians seem to have fewer and fewer rights. Relate needs to be forced to work through stuff like this.
McFarlane, who regularly attends both Church of England and Pentecostal services in Bristol, joined Relate Avon five years ago.
Lillian Ladela, sacked for refusing to conduct same sex civil unions
While training as a counsellor he had qualms about dealing with gay couples but overcame them during discussions with his supervisor. But his real problems arose last year after he started to train as a psychosexual therapist, treating people’s intimate sexual problems.
He said:
In counselling, you are drawing the couple out, going on a journey with them, enabling them to think in more than black and white. You are not telling anyone what to do or endorsing what they do. But in sex therapy you are diagnosing their problems and setting them a treatment plan, not unlike a doctor.
He said that while he believed in “each to their own”, he felt uncomfortable doing anything that would directly encourage gay sex.
Fellow counsellors complained about McFarlane’s views, alleging he was homophobic, and he was suspended last December by his manager.
After three weeks, he was reinstated and had to promise to abide by Relate’s equal opportunities policy, with the proviso, he claims, that he could raise issues in the future.
Following further complaints, however, he was told that he would face a disciplinary hearing because managers at Relate Avon no longer believed he intended to uphold the policy. He was dismissed and his appeal was rejected.
There was a group who didn’t want me there and they got their teeth in. I was prepared to explore my reservations but they wanted unconditional assurances that they would never become an issue for me.
Why did they have to slam the door like that? This could force other Christians out of counselling. Some have already reacted with consternation, saying if it could happen to someone of my experience and skills, it could happen to them.
A spokeswoman for Relate said:
Relate cannot comment until the employment tribunal has taken place.
The organisation, originally called the National Marriage Guidance Council, was founded in 1938. By 1998 it was counselling couples in a much wider range of relationships and changed its name to Relate. It now operates from nearly 600 locations nationwide.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
October 27th, 2008 at 1:07 am
Check out the Daily Mail website if there is still time. Astonishing! I was expecting a big show of support for the man and outrage at the pee cee brigade but, out of over 20 messages, contributors are almost unanimous in their lack of sympathy.
EXAMPLES:
No, Mr McFarlane, you where not sacked from Relate just because you refused to give advice to gay couples. You where given a job to do, and you didn’t(wouldn’t) do it.
As a solicitor yourself, I would of thought that you would understand that professional duties come before personal beliefs. As for calling Relate bigots for not accepting your faith, are you not a bigot for discriminating against same sex couples?
- Anon, Chichester
He’s claiming unfair dismissal on the basis of discrimination? Yeah – his!
It’s part of the job.
- Steve, Manchester
I am fed up with people like this, honestly. It’s just like working in a burger bar, and refusing to serve the burgers because you’re a vegetarian, or serving in a department store and refusing to sell woollen jumpers because you’re a vegan.
The job is manifestly unsuitable if a person – because of deeply held religious beliefs,- cannot perform the service they are being paid to offer.
I have deeply held Christian beliefs, too, but I would not refuse a troubled gay couple counselling simply because I would not choose to enter into a gay relationship myself. Did not Jesus say to the woman taken in adultery – “Let he who is without sin amongst you, cast the first stone”?
Get another job, man, where your principles are not compromised.
- Ruth Marie, Swansea, Wales
This was the tip of the iceberg as well. Looks as if the tyres have blown out on this bandwagon!
October 27th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
If people refuse to do their jobs they should lose them. Why are we supposed to sympathise with religious bigots? A member of the BNP who refused to serve black people on what were, to him, firm ideological principles would be sacked, and rightly so. The same goes for Christian homophobes. Stop giving in to bigots and they’ll get the message, and maybe even shut the f**k up.
October 27th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I wonder how long he (or Ladele) would have lasted with a ‘moral objection’ to mixed race marriage?
Not as daft a question as it seems, as from what some liberal theologians say the biblical objections to civil partnerships are remarkably similar to those being used 50 years ago by what we’d now see as openly racist Christians.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
A classic quote from an opinion piece in The Independent today:
October 29th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
What about another devout christian who is unfit for pupose: Mark Thompson: Top Cat at the BBC. I have just heard Thompson saying that Russel Brand and Jonathan Ross have been “suspended for an unnacceptable lapse of judgement.” Now just that there. This implies that Thompson thinks the rest of the time their judgement is OK. What about Thompson’s judgement. He is determined to continue banning “those without faith” from Thought for the Day and insisting that we are deluged with hours of religious pap every week. He also seems ready to place the blame for letting Ross and the other man (sorry, I had never heard of him before) on a junior producer whose father is a vicar.
What about questioning the value of all the religious bullshit he insists on providing at license payers expense. Is Thompson fit for purpose? He now seems to be judging himself and we know how that will come out.
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Why would Relate want to force a counselor to work with clients he could not give his best efforts to? As I understand their program they are not strictly a gay marriage service. Why wouldn’t they assign gay couples to a therapist who was most qualified – in skills, experience, and attitude – to serve their needs? Why force a competent therapist to address cases outside his expertise? Just point him to the majority of their clients – straight couples – and let all the other counselors take turns serving the few gay couples.
There was no need to fire a qualified therapist, just use him to his best ability.
Because of my father’s destruction by alcoholism, I am not well qualified to serve alcoholics. I don’t hate them or wish them ill, I am just not the best counselor for them. When alcoholics ask for my help, I refer them to other counselors who are more able to serve their needs. Period. I hope I will not be fired for refusing to serve someone I could not offer top rate service to.
Convictions are convictions. They alter our ability to deal at peak with some. Just move on.