text: Peter Ould Posted on December 3, 2009 Posted in Legal Stuff, Secular / Christian, Sexuality	1 Comment	
  You might remember the story of Gary MacFarlane who was sacked as a Relate counsellor because he refused to counsel homosexual couples. We carried the story back in January of the Employment Tribunal where it was ruled that MacFarlane was not discriminated against.
  There has now been another Tribunal hearing, an appeal, but once again MacFarlane has lost. This is the Christian Institute report:
  A Christian counsellor who was sacked because he did not want to give homosexual couples sex advice has lost his religious discrimination appeal.
  Gary McFarlane says Relate sacked him after he said he could not do anything that would encourage homosexual sex.
  Mr McFarlane, from Bristol, claimed unfair dismissal and discrimination contrary to the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, but the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) in London rejected his claim.
  The Christian Legal Centre (CLC) was supporting Mr McFarlaneâ€™s case and expressed concern at the outcome.
  CLCâ€™s Director, Andrea Minichiello Williams, said: â€œThe seriously worrying underlying point in this case, which the Court has refused to accept, is that for religious belief to be protected it is necessary to uphold the right to manifest that belief.â€
  She explained that Mr McFarlane was prepared for other counsellors to help same-sex couples in psychosexual counselling.