Concerns that the Anglican Consultative Council will be subject to UK and EU equality laws following its formation as a British imited company are misplaced, the London-based instrument of communion’s legal advisor, John Rees, reported on August 11.
“I share the unease of many religious people about the impact of this British [equality] legislation,” Canon Rees said in a statement released by the Anglican Communion News Service, “but it is not right to say that the restructuring of the ACC will have altered its position” under the legislation.
Critics of the transformation of the ACC from a British charity to a limited corporation have voiced concerns over the ratification process and the powers given to the ACC Standing Committee by the new constitution. In a paper released last month, the conservative-leaning Anglican Communion Institute (ACI) offered a lengthy critique of the newly formed corporate entity, and noted that whether by accident or design, the ACC
was now subjecting itself to UK and EU equality laws on homosexuality.
But in the same issue of CEN we read about Catholic Charities falling afoul of the Equality Laws:
THE CHARITY Commission for England and Wales has rejected a Roman Catholic social service agency’s plea to refuse to place orphans for adoption with gay or unmarried couples, saying such
discrimination violates the law.
The Charity Commission ruled that “discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation is a serious matter because it departs from the principle of treating people with equal respect.â€
Catholic Care, the sole Catholic adoption agency in England and Wales to fight the implementation of the 2007 equality regulations that prohibit discrimination in providing goods and services to homosexuals, had argued that Regulation 18 of the sexual orientation regulations permitted limited discrimination
in pursuit of charitable objectives.
So my question is this: How is the ACC going to receive any different treatment than Catholic Charities has received? It already outlines policies regarding civil partners in its new constitution. The rapid descent down the slippery slope is in progress.
The ACC is not an adoption agency. I am not quite sure how #1 sees the Equality Regulations impacting on the work of the ACC. Perhaps she might offer an example or two?