BREAKING
NEWS: Victory in ‘gay bus advert’ case
 |
Andrea Williams
CEO of the Christian
Legal
Centre
|
 |
Paul Diamond
Standing Counsel to
the
Christian Legal Centre |
The Master of the
Rolls (the second most senior judge in England and Wales) has ruled that Mayor
of London Boris Johnson should be investigated for his part in banning a
Christian charity’s bus advert.
This is a good decision with a number of
other positive aspects:
- it recognises the need to ensure that politicians don’t make controversial
decisions for their own political gain;
- it recognises that ‘ex–gays’ are protected from discrimination;
- it means that Transport for London (TfL) should give a level playing field
to both sides of the debate (which means, in practice, that both advertisements
should run or none);
- Lord Justice Briggs (one of the other judges) specifically spoke of the need
to respect sincerely held religious views on homosexual conduct.
“In
the interests of justice…”
In April 2012 Christian charity Core
Issues Trust was set to run adverts on London buses which read: “Not gay!
Ex-gay, post-gay and proud. Get over it!” These adverts were in response to
those run by Stonewall, a homosexual campaign group, which read: “Some people
are gay. Get over it!”
Core Issues had their adverts approved for
display by the advertising authorities. But when the Guardian newspaper reported
that these adverts would run, Boris Johnson appears to have ordered that they
not be displayed
.This happened just
as Mr Johnson was campaigning for re-election as Mayor of London and was
courting the ‘gay vote’. Tellingly, he was due to appear at a hustings organised
by Stonewall the day after he banned the Core Issues adverts.
Through a
Freedom of Information Request, an email was uncovered which read:
“
Boris has just instructed TfL to pull the
adverts”. This email hadn’t been disclosed to the High
Court Judge.
In his judgment, Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson said that
“in the interests of justice” there should be further
investigation into the Mayor’s involvement. He wants to know whether “(i) the
decision was instructed by the Mayor and (ii) it was made for an improper
purpose”.
“No
place for toleration”
Lord Justice Briggs also recognised how
Stonewall’s adverts, which TfL did allow, could come across to Christians as “at
least disrespectful of their sincerely held beliefs, and to some as suggesting
that there is no place for the toleration of their beliefs in modern
society”.
This is another positive from the judgment and begins to
address the effects of only allowing one side of the debate about human
sexuality.
Christian Concern.
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