A question of religion or orientation: Hall & Preddy v Bull and the possible effect of the Equality Act 2010

The county court decision in Hall & Preddy v Bull [2011] EW Misc 2 (CC) provides a further example of judicial consideration of the interplay of religion and sexual orientation discrimination, following such cases as McFarlane v Relate Avon [2010] EWCA Civ 880 and Ladele v London Borough of Islington [2009] EWCA Civ 1357 (which dealt respectively with religious objections to providing sex therapy and civil partnership ceremonies to homosexuals). The judgments in the latter cases together with such examples as Chaplin v Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital NHS Foundation Trust [2010] ET 1702886/2009 and Eweida v British Airways [2010] EWCA Civ 80 (which both held that prohibitions regarding wearing crucifixes were not discriminatory), and the furore over the threat to Catholic adoption agencies during the passage of the Equality Act 2006 (with many subsequently closing), caused leading clerics to criticise an imbalance in discrimination law and opine that the religious rights of the Christian community are being treated with disrespect (see, eg Daily Telegraph Letters, March 28, 2010; Montgomery, J W, “Religious ‘irrationality’ and civil liberties”, (2010) 82 Amicus Curiae, 12).