£47k compensation paid to gay man
John Reaney, a gay Christian who won a claim against the Church of England, has been awarded more than £47,000 in compensation, after he took the Hereford Diocesan Board of Finance to an employment tribunal following the blocking of his appointment as a youth worker.
Regular readers will recall, when Diversity Inclusive reported the case last year, that Mr Reaney applied for the vacant post of youth officer within the Hereford diocese in May 2006.
During the employment tribunal hearing, Mr Reaney said the members of the eight-strong interview panel had recommended him for the job and the appointment just needed the approval of the bishop. During a two-hour meeting Mr Reaney claimed the bishop questioned him about a gay relationship. But three days later the bishop phoned him to say he had been unsuccessful.
In his evidence to the tribunal, Bishop Priddis said anyone in a sexual relationship outside marriage would have been rejected. However ,the tribunal ruled that Mr Reaney had been discriminated against on the grounds of sexual orientation as a heterosexual would not have been treated in the same way in like-for-like circumstances.
The award is made up of £7,000 damages for psychiatric injury, £6,000 for injury to feelings, £25 for costs incurred in seeking work, £1,320 cost of counselling, £25,000 for future loss of wages and £8,000 for future pension loss.
Gay rights group Stonewall, who supported the case said, “The substantial level of compensation sends out a very clear message. Not even a bishop is above this law.”
A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Hereford, said that a genuine occupational requirement – that the post-holder should believe in and uphold the Christian belief and ideal of marriage, and that sexual relationships are confined to marriage – would be applied to future appointments.
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