The Continuing Effort to Force Perverts Out of Work

The Continuing Effort to Force Perverts Out of Work

You know, the perverts who won't smile stupidly and say that they approve of homosexuality. From the January 9, 2009 Telegraph:

An employment tribunal ruled that the national counselling service Relate was entitled to dismiss Gary McFarlane after he said that encouraging gay sex went against his devout religious beliefs.

The decision prompted Christian groups to demand a rethink of religious discrimination laws, following a string of other high-profile cases in which courts have found against Christians who claim they have suffered as a result of standing up for their beliefs.

Andrea Williams, director of the Christian Legal Centre, which supported Mr McFarlane in his claim, said the religious discrimination law was "in danger of becoming a dead letter", while the Christian Institute said there was a growing feeling among churchgoers that religious discrimination laws only applied to Muslims and other minority faiths.

Legal experts suggested the ruling had left discrimination laws in "a confused state" by giving the impression that "gay rights trump Christian rights" when they directly oppose each other.

Mr McFarlane, 47, brought his claim for unfair dismissal after he was sacked in March 2008.

The father of two had joined Relate in 2003 and had given relationship advice to homosexual couples in the past. But in 2006, after he qualified as a psychosexual therapist, he made it clear to his employers that his strong Christian beliefs meant he did not feel able to give sex therapy advice to homosexuals.

Fellow counsellors objected to his stance and claimed his views were homophobic, and in March 2008 he was sacked.

And just to really cause divided loyalties for the knee-jerk liberals--Mr. McFarlane is black.

Mr. McFarlane's feelings about homosexuality would doubtless make him less effective as a sex therapist for a gay couple--and I would think it would be pretty darn obvious, no matter how hard he tried. It is the same reason that I would not expect an ethical vegetarian (someone who is motivated by ethical, not health concerns) to be terribly effective working as a meat salesman for a food wholesaler.

Now, if there were few straight clients for Mr. McFarlane to counsel, there might be a strong case for his employer to let him go, because they wouldn't have enough work to keep him busy. But even in Britain homosexuals can't be such an overwhelming majority of the clients that this would be the case.