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''McFarlane v Relate Avon Ltd'' The case attracted significant media attention due to the issues involved, particularly the balance of religious and LGBT rights, the intervention of former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, Lord Carey of Clifton, who provided a witness statement in support of the application, and the judge's strongly worded rebuttal of the applicant's submissions. ==Background== Gary McFarlane was a 48-year-old Christian from Bristol,〔 employed as a relationship counsellor by the Avon branch of Relate, a charity providing relationship support including counselling for couples, families, young people and individuals, sex therapy, mediation and training courses. He joined the organisation in August 2003, and a condition of his employment was acceptance of the group's equal opportunities policy, which required him to ensure "''that no person... () less favourable treatment on the basis of characteristics, such as... sexual orientation...''".〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.employmentcasesupdate.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed5719 )〕 Relate was also a member of the British Association for Sexual and Relationship Therapy, whose Code of Ethics required the therapist to "''avoid discrimination... on grounds of... sexual orientation.''" Although the applicant had found himself capable of assisting same-sex couples in counselling where discussion of sexual issues was not involved, in September 2006 he applied to undertake a diploma course in psycho-sexual therapy (PST) (a new name for sex therapy). Managers at Relate considered his raising of a possible conscionable objection to assisting same-sex couples with sexual issues to be incompatible with the organisation's equal opportunities policy and would reduce the number of couples he were able to help. On 12 December 2007, the applicant was asked to confirm in writing he would continue to counsel same-sex clients in both relationship counselling and PST with regard to all the sexual issues they may have brought, and that he would agree to carry out relationship work where it involved same-sex sexual issues. In January 2008, McFarlane responded that he was unable to confirm this, and disciplinary proceedings were initiated. During these he confirmed that he would provide the required services to same-sex couples and the proceedings were ended. In March of that year however, he indicated to his supervisor that he might find it difficult to carry out such work, and on 18 March 2008, the applicant was dismissed from his post on the grounds:〔 :That on 7 January 2008 you stated to Relate that you would comply with its Equal Opportunities policy and Professional Ethics policy in relation to work with same-sex couples and same-sex sexual activities, when you had and have no intention of complying with Relate's policies on those issues. The applicant undertook an unsuccessful internal appeal against dismissal, and subsequently applied to the Employment Tribunal, claiming discrimination on the ground of religion or belief, harassment, unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal. The claim of wrongful dismissal was accepted on procedural grounds, but the other claims were dismissed, and the applicant appealed against the dismissal of the claims of discrimination and unfair dismissal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「McFarlane v Relate Avon Ltd」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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