Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs) The Alliance is committed to seeking to present Christ credibly in the public square and evangelicals as 'good news' people for spiritual and social transformation.
Rev Joel Edwards, General Director, Evangelical Alliance
Equality Act (Sexual Orientation Regulations) - Frequently asked questions 
An initial overview, interpretation and introduction to the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs). Based on current understanding of the potential legal implications.
Date originally published: Friday 5th January 2007
Prior to a busy week of political activity, and in acknowledgement of complexities and confusion surrounding this important and controversial topic, the Evangelical Alliance sets out its position below. In doing so, we seek to inform our members and share the concerns and expertise of member bodies and organisations in developing Christian perspectives and commitment in public policy.
We also indicate some of the work and critical engagement being done with government and others so that members can pray in an informed way for the work of the Alliance and other Christian organisations as we seek to present Christ credibly in the public square and evangelicals as 'good news' people for spiritual and social transformation.
Background
Last May the Evangelical Alliance responded in a lengthy document to the Government's consultation 'Getting Equal' which set out proposals for introducing the substantive Part 3 of the Equality Act (2006) dealing with discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in the area of provision of goods, facilities and services (Part 2 covered equivalent discrimination on grounds of religion). Read the preamble to the Alliance’s response to 'Getting Equal'.
Prior to this submission, the Alliance convened a series of briefing meetings with many of the major bodies representing Christian viewpoints, along with a number of experienced lawyers. In this way different perspectives and strategies for engagement and response to the issues raised by the proposed legislation were exchanged, discussed and developed in a spirit of co-operation and respect for diversity. In practice, a remarkable degree of unanimity prevailed on this controversial subject. Subsequent to publication of the draft regulations in Northern Ireland, the group has continued to meet and ongoing expert legal advice has been contributed.
In addition to its formal response, the Alliance also engaged at the earliest opportunity with some of its partners in a process of constructive discussion with Government ministers and officials in an endeavour to establish a clear mutual understanding of potential issues and concerns that might especially affect the religious community. It was accepted that the Government had a challenging balancing act to accomplish in achieving a fair outcome for what in effect would potentially amount to a conflict of rights.
As part of this process, significant attention was given to explicating evangelical Christian perspectives on homosexual practice given the experience of much public misunderstanding on the subject. Acknowledgement of fundamental human rights for all was emphasised, along with expression of concern lest rights granted in one context resulted in loss of liberty in the other.
The Government accepted early on the need to create appropriate exceptions in the forthcoming legislation for religious groups and promised to produce a formal response to the consultation whilst attempting to take on board concerns expressed by religious groups and others before actually legislating under full parliamentary process. These concerns mainly encompassed religious liberty issues, such as protection of individual conscience in the public arena, freedom of churches to preserve their teachings and practices, potential restrictions on commercial religious organisations, freedoms of Christian conference centres and voluntary organisations to maintain their codes of conduct, ethos and beliefs, and the impact of the regulations in the schools sector, notably with regard to sex and religious education.
The Alliance considered that it needed to engage constructively with Government in an endeavour to ensure that the end result of the proposed legislation was fair to all and respected the human rights and freedoms of all. It was also crucial to ensure that Government assurances were mirrored by the actual ensuing legislation and that what ended up on the statute book did not prove to be the thin end of a wedge that in future years would be used to further restrict religious liberty and silence or chill debate on the subject of homosexual practice.
Developments in Northern Ireland
A separate consultation process took place in the autumn in Northern Ireland where an equality and rights legal framework already existed. The Alliance also responded to this consultation on similar lines to its response in England and Wales and again constructive engagement with the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) took place.
The Alliance in Northern Ireland brought together representatives from a range of denominations and religious organisations to highlight concerns and ensure a balanced response to the regulations. By critically and constructively engaging with the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDPM) in Northern Ireland the Alliance and its partners have been able to raise a number of issues not previously considered by officials, leading to a number of exemptions for faith groups and individual conscience. This process of constructive engagement with Government has been acknowledged by the Northern Ireland Office and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
Of course, one can always argue that the Northern Ireland consultation period and process was radically dissimilar to that in Great Britain; that there should be more exemptions; that the drafting of the regulations need to be tighter and more unambiguous. However, as imperfect as the consultation process was, and the exemptions in the current regulations are, the principle of religious/doctrinal exemptions are taken into account in Section 13. In balancing competing rights (a difficult task most of the time) these principled exemptions are imperative. The ‘harassment’ provisions in Section 3 of the regulations do, potentially, create problems in balancing these competing rights. Some legal experts predict this could make the exceptions practically unworkable because of the very low subjective threshold defining harassment which would effectively override the exceptions themselves. In the rest of the UK the issue of harassment in the areas of both religion and sexual orientation has been deferred for consideration because of the practical legal difficulties which have been acknowledged by all sides. Needless to say, aspects of their practical outworking will, ultimately, be tested in the courts.
Points for Information & Prayer
- Whilst the Northern Ireland regulations came into effect on 1st January, a judicial review challenging the legitimacy of the regulations has been approved by the High Court to be heard on 1st and 2nd March . There is also a short debate to take place in the House of Lords on 9th January on a motion by Lord Morrow to annul the Northern Ireland Sexual Orientation Regulations.
- The Alliance met with Ruth Kelly’s advisers on 20 December to communicate our position and approach on SORs, concerns of some of our members in respect of Christian businesses in consequence of the regulations, and our continued desire to critically and constructively work with the Government on a range of equalities and public policy issues. The concern that the ‘harassment’ provisions in the Northern Ireland regulations are a dress rehearsal for their insertion in the GB regulations is a real one. In the course of our meeting officials stated that the Government has no intention of taking this course of action. We are awaiting written answers from officials to some of the questions and concerns raised.
- Please pray for our future meetings with Government officials, as well as for opportunities to work critically, effectively and prophetically as ‘good news’ people for spiritual and social transformation.
- On Tuesday 9 January, some Christian and Muslim groups have organised a ‘rally for freedom’ outside Parliament to coincide with a petition to the Queen and to support Lord Morrow. We recognise that many of our members will take part in this rally. Whilst we strongly support the right of concerned Christians to protest outside Parliament, the Alliance is not convinced that in the present case this type of response is necessarily the best way to express their understandable and real concerns about the threat posed by the regulations. The Alliance will continue to be vigilant, holding the Government to account in respect of the exemptions in the regulations.
- As an expression of their democratic rights and conscience, individual Christians will consider whether they wish to join in signing the petition and joining in the rally. Given that the gay lobby will also be mobilising their members, this means that the demonstration could be confrontational. Therefore, we ask that those taking part would do so in a dignified and peaceful manner, presenting Christ credibly in the public square.
- The Alliance continues to engage constructively with Government and Opposition parties at various levels and recommends that individual Christians should principally continue to express their concerns to their MPs by way of measured, polite and argued communication on this and other matters of public policy.
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