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Married father of three subjected to homosexual taunts - because he lived in Brighton
Last updated at 00:22am on 05.03.08
Fighting on: Stephen English will pursue his case to the Court of Appeal if necessary
Taxpayers face a £50,000 bill to fund the legal battle of a heterosexual who claims to have suffered years of gay taunts from colleagues.
Stephen English, 56, says he was called a "faggot" even though he was happily married with three children.
The harassment was so relentless, he claims, that he resigned after nine years as a salesman with a blinds company.
He lost his claim for sexual discrimination at a tribunal and at an employment appeal tribunal but the state-funded Equality and Human Rights Commission has taken up his case and will pursue it to the Court of Appeal.
Mr English joined the company, Thomas Sanderson Blinds, based near Portsmouth, in 1996 and rose to lead a team of sales reps known as the The Top Guns.
The taunts started, he claims, when an area sales manager discovered that he had been to boarding school and lived in Brighton, which has a high proportion of gays in its population.
"He appeared to have assumed from these two facts that I had homosexual tendencies, despite the fact that I was happily married with three daughters," he told the employment tribunal.
"It became obvious to me that he had shared his views with numerous colleagues. I regularly had to endure remarks such as 'faggot' at national sales meetings, team meetings at my home and regional managers' meetings.
"I was questioned as to whether I had been marching up and down Dukes Mound lately, which is a notorious gay pick-up point in Brighton."
Jibes about boarding school life were most frequent, he said, particularly references to sex acts with teachers. The effect was to "erode respect" for his capabilities.
He said he had also suffered abuse in print, in the in-house journals Blindside and The Standard, where he said he became known as "Mr Franglais".
In "a complete fabrication", he said, a colleague wrote that he had visited his home and found him heading off to a Gay Pride procession wearing skin-tight lycra cycling shorts.
Mr English said: "These comments caused considerable distress both to myself and to my family - who were not only readers of the in-house magazines but were at home on occasions when I held team meetings and overheard comments referring to my perceived sexual orientation.
"To a large extent I went along with the comments as being part of the banter which one has to endure as a result of working with extrovert sales people.
"However, I gradually grew more and more upset and worn-down by them particularly as my daughters were now teenagers and very impressionable."
The level of "banter" had become so malicious, he said, that two colleagues "no longer ever referred to me by my given name - it was usually that of a gay connotation or a derogatory title".
A tribunal dismissed his claim last September after a two-day hearing and an appeal tribunal reached a similar verdict in January.
Judge Peter Clark said Mr English would have been able to bring a discrimination claim if his colleagues genuinely had thought he was gay.
A spokesman for the company said: "We are quite confident the case doesn't have any merit at all."
• The state-funded equality watchdog which has taken up Mr English's case said it would clarify a grey area of the law.
A spokesman for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: "Currently it is unclear whether those in situations similar to Mr English's benefit from the protection of the law.
"A positive ruling would help a wide range of individuals who have suffered harassment based on out-of-date stereotypes.
"This is a case about fair treatment in the work-place. Would you like your mother, or your brother or your best friend to be treated in the way Mr English alleges?"
The EHRC, headed by Trevor Phillips, has a remit to "eliminate discrimination, reduce inequality, protect human rights and build good relations, ensuring that everyone has a fair chance to participate in society".
Set up in October 2007, it is the latest incarnation of a line of equality bodies including the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Commission for Racial Equality.
Legal experts estimate funding the case could cost £50,000. Hiring a QC and a junior, a firm of solicitors, and paying the associated court fees is likely to cost around £25,000, which could double if Mr English loses and is ordered to pay the other side's fees.
Reader views (11)
It may be a fine point if the tribunal thought that only this type of taunting would be hurtful if, indeed, he was gay (to meet the discrimination legistlation) but, whether he was gay or not, he had to endure anti-gay abuse for years. This bullying only increased with time, including a completely fabricated story. To suffer this type of abuse and then claim it was not illegal because it was a case of mistaken sexuality proves that the legislation is a farce. He suffered as much as a real gay man did and yet he had his case dismissed?
- Bvm, Jacksonville, USA
It appears to me that Mr English was on the look out for a retirement package.
- D M B, F V West Sx
Seems you can face court action and be punished for taking the mickey out of gays , but to suggest a straight person is gay isn't punished. Strange that.
- Derek Hope, Sidcup, Kent
He may have stuck with his job for 9 years because perhaps the bullying didn't happen until towards the end of that period - and with any bully, it gets worse with the accumulated effect over time.
I wonder what the result would have been if he had actually been gay: that would, I believe, be illegal?
- Roz, Chamonix, France
He's a blind salesman? How can people be so cruel to the disabled?
- Sally R., London, UK
If, as we are constantly told, there is no discrimination between being gay or straight, how can he have a case at all? Surely, the fact that he has been called gay, and subjected to gay taunts, there is no case to answer, as being gay is perfectly acceptable. Accordingly, by backing this court action, the EHRC are acknowledging that being gay is in some way - inferior or wrong? Otherwise they would have told Mr English that he himself was being discriminatory by suggesting that the inference he was gay was making him feel discriminated against in some way?
- Gary Parker, Amersham
If what he says is true he's withstood pretty awful verbal bullying but why on earth stick it out for 9 years?! His colleagues sound like the dregs of the sales industry and I'd have left far sooner.
- Isabel, Woking, England
Seriously, why do people like this stick at their jobs for so long? If it were me I would have been out of there looking for something new asap but this man saw fit to stick around for 9 years! "Blind salesperson", doesn't exactly sound like the job was anything worth writing home about anyway!
- Cyclist, London
They were just jealous because he lived in Brighton - it's a great place to live. Anyway, he should take it as a compliment - maybe they were envious of his dress sense, too (although your photo casts doubt on that notion).
- Karli, Tottenham London
Oh no, more taxpayer money down the drain because yet another sad individual feels the need to hit out at society. Seriously ... get a life and either ignore your colleagues or get another job.
- Marianne, SW France
Some people just have no sense of humour.
- Neil Grinsell, London
