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Christian registrar 'threatened with sack' after refusing to conduct gay marriages
Last updated at 01:12am on 21.05.08
Lillian Ladele: 'My spirit was crushed and I broke down in tears'
A registrar was threatened with the sack for refusing to preside over homosexual marriages, a tribunal heard yesterday.
Lillian Ladele, 47, claims council bosses bullied her after she told them of her religious objections to same-sex civil partnerships.
In a landmark legal action, she is suing Islington Council in North London for discrimination and victimisation on grounds of her Christianity.
The case could determine whether employees can be required to act against their consciences.
Until last December, the country's 1,700 registrars of births, marriages and deaths were permitted to opt out of civil partnership ceremonies.
But their employment status changed with the introduction of the Statistics and Registration Act. Now designated as local government workers, they must carry out town hall orders.
She told the hearing in central London that colleagues denied her rights as a Christian and grew increasingly 'hostile' towards her over her refusal to marry couples of the same sex.
Miss Ladele, who earns £31,000 a year, began legal proceedings last November - two days before the act came into force.
She told the hearing in Central London that bosses had denied her her rights as a Christian and became increasingly hostile toward her.
"I hold the orthodox Christian view that marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life to the exclusion of all others and that this is the God-ordained place for sexual relations,'"she said.
"A civil partnership is marriage in all but name.
"Regardless of my feelings for the participants, I feel unable to directly facilitate the formation of a union that I sincerely believe is contrary to God's law.
"My beliefs do not mean I wish people who are homosexual to receive detrimental treatment. The council knows that if I am required to choose between my conscience and their desire that all registrars must undertake civil partnership duties, then I will have to honour my faith and face unemployment."
Miss Ladele said her pay was slashed by bosses who ignored her concerns.
She was forced to swop shifts with colleagues to avoiding officiating at same-sex ceremonies.
Her line manager and superintendent registrar, Helen Mendez-Childs, then allegedly banned her from performing marriage ceremonies altogether.
Miss Ladele said: "Helen said this was a punishment for not doing civil partnerships and that now I will know how others feel. I said, 'What about my rights as a Christian?'.
"Helen was angry and said, 'What rights?' My spirit was crushed and I broke down in tears."
Miss Mendez-Childs is said to have told her that refusing to officiate in civil partnerships was "similar to refusing to conduct a wedding for black people".
The hearing was told that another boss, Dion Goncalves, a deputy superintendent registrar, humiliated Miss Ladele in public and accused her of being homophobic.
Miss Ladele told the hearing: 'I felt harassed and victimised. I felt I was being picked on and bullied on a daily basis and that there was no respect whatsoever for my religious beliefs.
"But I continually tried to forgive them for the hurt they caused me because of the love I have for them as a Christian."
Miss Ladele, from Islington, is having her legal fees paid by the Christian Institute.
The tribunal continues.
Reader views (7)
Everyone has a right to express what they believe. Give her a break. She is a Christian with her own beliefs. We all have a right to express our views, don't we? We should respect one another but still be able to put forth our point of view and live by our beliefs. Don't force your views on others, just because you support same sex marriage, doesn't mean she has to. We all have a choice to do what we think is right - let's live by that and embrace it - then the world will be a better place.
- Katrina, USA
Civil partnerships are not marriages and are purely a legal construct. They have nothing to do with religion. They are there to protect the human rights of gay people. If she doesn't like it, she can do another job, or better still, work for the church, if she wants.
- Robert C, London UK
If having faith is a crime - then half this country would be in court. If standing up for your faith is a crime, then why aren't the Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jewish also in court for refusing to carry out certain tasks. This is another attack on the Christian faith, who live their whole life by it's guidelines, when other religions do this, we leave them alone, but when a Christian seeks to live in a way that the Bible teaches, society makes them out to be either criminal or crazy. When will society realise, that 'getting with the programme' is not always the right or best thing to do. Society is often wrong when it has 'moved forward' with it's thinking and attitude. When those attitudes conflict directly with faith, those who have faith will stand by God, he, after all, knows far better than anyone else.
- Colin, London, UK
If this registrar is so committed to her Christian beliefs, then shouldn't she also refuse to marry heterosexual couples who had previously been married? Don't marriage vows say "for what god has put together let no man put asunder." So surely, if her faith is true, to marry divorcees would be to sanction a bigamous union. Or it is that she is just using her faith as veil for her prejudice.
- Aidan Reid, london, uk
She needs to get a life and get with the programme. If she was working in any other job and refused to fulfil some of her responsibilities she would be out the door! This is not a question of straight, gay, black, white, etc - just a middle aged woman that's not able to adapt to a changing world!
- Stephen, London
Quite right too! Can't have people with personal convictions and the courage to stand by them, can we. Good grief, it might even end up being like the days gone by when people thought for themselves and had opinions!
- Rogan, DFW Texas
Good for her.
I wish the so-called 'gay rights' people were as understanding of her as Mrs Ladele is of them. How can they brand her as 'hating them' when she clearly states her position, as a Christian, which you've published.
'Homophobia' is a term coined by homosexuals to brand anyone critical of their lifestyle as having an irrational fear of them (which is what a true phobia is). Those of us, like Mrs Ladele, who know that homosexual relationships are not equivalent to marriage, are not irrational. We have a deeper understanding of homosexuals than they have themselves.
A 'civil partnership' means very little- marriage means everything.
- Tim, Beijing, China
