Britain’s Sexual Orientation Regulations just got regulated:
New legislation banning discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals is lawful with just one exception, a High Court judge has ruled. Mr Justice Weatherup said harassment provisions in the Sexual Orientation Regulations must be removed.
The judgment means providers of goods, services and education can be fined up to £15,000 for breaching regulations. But they cannot be prosecuted for stating their opposition to giving a room to a gay or lesbian couple.
Colin Hart of the Christian Institute said Weatherup’s decision preserves “freedom of speech,” which we suppose is true, in a way…
Bill Perdue
Mr. Summerskill, a leader of the English GLBT group Stonewall, perhaps trying to make light of what’s really a defeat, said the court’s decision was “ a small Pyrrhic victory for the Christian fundamentalist organisations that a very small part of the regulations that we are not convinced are actually needed…”
I think Mr. Summerskill is mistaken about these regulations. Obviously, they weren’t enacted because people believedd they were they weren’t needed and important. If the regulations prevent discrimination they’re needed, and saying that victims of christian bigotry have the right to sue is not a remedy. They have to get legal counsel, pay for it, and be burdened this unresolved issue of bigotry until it’s solved. And what if, Aine * forbid, they get a christian swine for a judge? Not pleasant.
The burden shouldn’t be on people already weighed down by the effects of abuse from arrogant christian fanatics, i.e., stress related health, and drug and alcohol problems, discrimination and harassment on the job and in schools, false arrest, or whatever.
The burden should be on the christian bigots, and the penalties should be exemplary, substantive, and punishing, to prevent repetition.
However, look at what’s being debated here. The Labour Party, however grudgingly and after getting kicked in the ass by the EU, has enacted antidiscrimination laws that are light years ahead of what we have here. Could you imagine The Deceitocrats or the Repugnants passing such laws in the US? In a christians’ eye.
Gays and lesbians in the northern, occupied part of Ireland should join and support Sinn Féin, the socialist leaning party of Irish unity and independence, the only party in the north or the Republic that consistently defends gay and lesbian rights.
*Aine, Irish Goddess of love and fertility; AKA the Fairy Queen