Equality Bill
'My government is committed to ensuring everyone has a fair chance in life. My government will bring forward a Bill to promote equality, fight discrimination and introduce transparency in the workplace to help address the difference in pay between men and women.'
The Equality Bill, currently going through Parliament, has the potential to secure greater fairness and equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people across Britain. It could see marked improvements for gay people in a range of key public services, from policing to family courts and from housing to health services. We're working hard to make this a reality.
The Equality Bill was introduced into Parliament in April 2009. The Bill is currently awaiting Lords Report, expected on 2 March 2010. You can follow the progress of the Bill on the Parliament website.
Stonewall's priorities for the new Equality Bill
A single public duty
- A single 'public duty' requiring all publicly-funded bodies to proactively promote equality across the board and remove barriers to fair service provision.
- We believe that a single equality duty, replacing existing measures for race, disability and gender, could have a transformative effect on gay people's lives in areas where they have often faced discrimination, by encouraging public bodies to tackle discrimination before it happens and accommodate the needs of lesbian and gay service-users in the design and delivery of public services.
- Such an extension would be welcomed by many of the public bodies we work with, a number of whom have already adopted a joined-up approach to equality that includes sexual orientation. A single duty must be focused on actions and outcomes that make a real difference to people's lives, proportionate to different kinds of organisations.
Genuine Occupational Requirements
- Regulation 7(3) of the current Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 provides a narrow exemption for religious employers for key doctrinal posts such as priests and vicars. Regrettably, it has been subject to abuse by some organisations who have used it to unfairly discriminate against gay employees such as youth workers or press officers in a way certainly not envisaged when it was introduced.
- Stonewall sees a strong need for greater clarity in this area. We are adamant that any changes in this area must be as robust as the established legal position.
Civil partnerships in religious premises
- Stonewall supports an amendment to the Equality Bill to remove the current prohibition of civil partnerships taking place on religious premises.
- We support a permissive approach to enable the various religious denominations who now wish to perform and bless civil partnerships – including the Quakers, Liberal Judaism and the Unitarian Church - to be able to do so. There is no suggestion that this be mandatory. We are persuaded by the argument put forward by a number of religious organisations that they see this matter as a compelling issue of religious freedom. The current law prevents them from celebrating committed, loving relationships and should be revised. There was widespread support in the House of Lords when this issue was discussed in Committee.
Positive action
- The Government has said it will include 'positive action' measures in the Bill. It is essential that any such measures apply to all equality strands or areas - positive action measures that include lesbian and gay equality could make a difference to under-representation in public appointments such as the judiciary, university vice chancellors, local government and both Houses of Parliament.
- Positive action will also help organisations that want to increase the number of employees from a certain under-represented group, so that they better reflect their local community or customer base. Many organisations, including nearly 450 major employers engaged with Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme, understand the benefits of increasing the diversity of their workforces.
Levelling-up
- Stonewall welcomes the new Equality Bill as a step to reforming a currently complex, and in many cases uneven, framework of anti-discrimination legislation. The Bill should simplify and modernise all equality laws to make them easier to understand and to increase their impact on real people's lives.
- It's essential that there is no regression from the levels of protection already established in current legislation. The Government should set its sights on the 'highest common denominator' to ensure no dilution of existing rights.
Read Stonewall's response to the Discrimination Law Review, the Government's proposals for a Single Equality Bill. Click here.
Read Stonewall's response to the Discrimination Law Review, the Government's proposals for a Single Equality Bill. Click here
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