The Diocese of Hereford has issued a statement in the John Reaney discrimination case that it will not appeal the July decision (scroll down). In July, an employment tribunal in Cardiff confirmed Mr Reaney, aged 42, was discriminated against by the bishop.
Mr Reaney had looked set to become a youth officer in the diocese after impressing an eight-strong panel, but was turned down by the bishop after he quizzed Mr Reaney on a former gay relationship. Mr Reaney and Stonewall argued that a heterosexual person would not have been questioned in the same way.
See the comments on Thinking Anglicans. 1) "Actually, an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal doesn't cost much at all. There are no witnesses, only a lawyer on each side. A typical hearing lasts half a day; this one would not last more than a single day. Costs are not usually awarded at the end. So the cost would be the cost of a barrister, with possibly a support solicitor, preparing and arguing a one day hearing.
Hearings typically come on in a few months. No employment appeal takes years to come on.
The reason the diocese is not appealing is because they know any appeal would be dismissed. It is rather shocking that these other, totally inaccurate, excuses are put forward." 2) Wouldn't an apology be in order? 3) This calls for a review of employment policies.
This is exactly the kind of thing I was thinking about yesterday. What more blatant example could one find of discrimination by a Bishop against a gay man who, by all accounts, would have been an asset to his diocese?
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