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26 February 2010 / David Tyme
Issue: 7406 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Divided we fall

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David Tyme reports on a clash of personal belief & official duty

In Ladele v London Borough of Islington the Court of Appeal had to resolve a conflict between the right not to be discriminated against on the grounds of religion or belief, and sexual orientation (see [2009] EWCA CIP 1357, [2009] All ER (D) 148 (Dec)).

Ms Ladele commenced employment with the London Borough of Islington (LBI) in 1992. In November 2002 she became a registrar of births, marriages and deaths and as such held a statutory office.

After the introduction of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004) on December 5 2005, LBI was obliged to ensure that sufficient registrars were appointed to carry out the function of civil partnership registrars. Ms Ladele, a Christian, held the view that marriage is the union of a man and a woman and therefore was unable to reconcile her faith with her duties which she viewed as enabling same-sex unions contrary to God’s Law.

Prior to CPA 2004 coming into force, Ms Ladele made it

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