Officials altered records in bisexual prison officer case, judge says – The Guardian

‘An investigation is under way after government officials altered and redacted documents in an employment tribunal case involving a bisexual prison officer, the Guardian has learned.’

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The Guardian, 28th May 2019

Source: www.theguardian.com

Falklands veteran ‘forced out over sexuality’ plans to sue MoD – BBC News

‘A Falklands veteran forced out of the Royal Navy over his sexuality plans to sue for the return of military honours.’

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BBC News, 8th May 2019

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Summary: What offences may be committed if someone is shouted at or approached by another person in the street? – Crown Prosecution Service

‘This summary does not cover every eventuality but intends to outline some of the possible criminal offences that may be committed. It should not be treated as legal advice and is not meant to be an exhaustive account of this area of law.

The police are responsible for investigating an allegation that a crime has been committed. Following investigation, the decision whether to charge a person with a criminal offence lies either with the police or the CPS.

Where a series of existing offences – including harassment and public order offences – are committed, and such an offence was motivated by hostility to race or religion, or was accompanied by hostility to race or religion proximate to the commission of the offence, a separate racially or religious aggravated offence is committed attracting a greater penalty. For further details, see the CPS-published guidance on this website. For those offences not covered but where hostility or hostile motivation towards race or religion is present, or hostility or hostile motivation towards disability, sexual orientation or transgender is present, this must be treated as an aggravating factor at sentence and stated as such in open court.’

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Crown Prosecution Service, 11th January 2018

Source: www.cps.gov.uk

Case Comment: Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd & Ors [2018] UKSC 49 – UKSC Blog

‘It must be a rare moment in legal history, when cakes are at the centre of Supreme Court Knights_S_146668decisions in the same year on both sides of the pond.’

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UKSC Blog, 12th November 2018

Source: ukscblog.com

Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd and others – Blackstone Chambers

‘The Supreme Court unanimously and comprehensively reversed the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal’s decision in the “gay cake” case. The Supreme Court, in a decision of considerable significance for the United Kingdom as a whole, and beyond, held that the bakery would have refused to supply this particular cake to anyone, whatever their personal characteristics. So there was no discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. If and to the extent that there was an arguable case of discrimination on grounds of political opinion, no justification has been shown for overriding the bakery’s ECHR protections against compelled speech.’

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Blackstone Chambers, 10th October 2018

Source: www.blackstonechambers.com

Anurag Deb and Conor McCormick: Lee v Ashers: A Recipe for Jurisdictional Confusion? – UK Constitutional Law Association

‘On 10 October 2018, the UK Supreme Court handed down its judgment in Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd [2018] UKSC 49, sparking much debate and commentary. The judgment is legally important for how it conceptualises freedom of expression, and for the surprising evidence of judicial overreaching it contains. Given that others have already considered the former issue in some depth (see Chandrachud and Rowbottom on this blog alone), we focus on the latter in this post.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 18th October 2018

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Jacob Rowbottom: Cakes, Gay Marriage and the Right against Compelled Speech – UK Constitutional Law Association

‘In the high-profile decision in Lee v Ashers, the Supreme Court had to consider a customer’s rights against discrimination along with the baker’s right to freedom of expression. In its finding for the baker, the Supreme Court took an important step in developing a domestic doctrine against ‘compelled speech’. While the outcome of the case divides opinion, the reasoning of the Court requires further consideration of when a person has a right not express a particular view.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 16th October 2018

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Conscience and cake: the final chapter – UK Human Rights Blog

‘Lee v. Ashers Baking Company Ltd. On Wednesday the Supreme Court handed down its much-anticipated judgment in the ‘gay cake’ case. The Court unanimously held that it was not direct discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or political opinion for the owners of a Northern Irish bakery to refuse to bake a cake with the message ‘Support Gay Marriage’ on it, when to do so would have been contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 15th October 2018

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Baker’s refusal to bake gay marriage cake not direct discrimination – OUT-LAW.com

‘A Christian bakery’s refusal to bake a cake iced with a message supportive of same sex marriage was not direct discrimination, the UK’s highest court has ruled.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 11th October 2018

Source: www.out-law.com

‘Gay cake’ row: Supreme Court rules in favour of Ashers – BBC News

‘The Christian owners of a Northern Ireland bakery have won their appeal in the so-called “gay cake” discrimination case.’

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BBC News, 10th October 2018

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Reflections on the state of family law – Family Law

‘This year has seen momentum grow towards family law reform following a series of landmark Supreme Court decisions. Until now, this has not prompted the government to change the law, with ministers instead opting to take soundings.’

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Family Law, 5th October 2018

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

Claims Of Homophobic Discrimination At Work Double In A Year – Rights Info

Posted September 19th, 2018 in employment, employment tribunals, news, sexual orientation discrimination by sally

‘The number of people claiming to have suffered homophobic discrimination of work has almost doubled in the last year, according to The Times.’

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Rights Info, 18th September 2018

Source: rightsinfo.org

Speech by Dr Victoria McCloud, Master of the Senior Courts: Rainbow Lives, Monochrome Laws – Reflections on law and identity – Courts and Tribunals Judiciary

‘Speech by Dr Victoria McCloud, Master of the Senior Courts: Rainbow Lives, Monochrome Laws – Reflections on law and identity.’

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Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, 21st August 2018

Supreme Court decision in Steinfeld and Keidan v Secretary of State for International Development: The Civil Partnership Act is incompatible with Articles 14 and 8 of the ECHR – Zenith Chambers

‘The Supreme Court issued a unanimous landmark judgement declaring that the provisions in the Civil Partnership Act 2004 preventing opposite sex couples from entering into a civil partnership is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.’

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Zenith Chambers, 29th June 2018

Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk

Steinfeld and Keidan: what happens next? – Family Law

‘Five Supreme Court Justices have ruled in favour of a heterosexual couple whose three and a half year legal campaign challenged legislation preventing opposite-sex couples from entering into a civil partnership. The court unanimously agreed that the Civil Partnership Act 2004 is ‘incompatible’ with the European Convention on Human Rights as it applies only to same-sex couples and therefore amounted to discrimination.
This judgment will likely put the Government under significant pressure to change the law and allow heterosexual couples to become civil partners. Currently, opposite-sex couples may only marry, whilst same-sex couples may opt to marry or enter into a civil partnership.’

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Family Law, 28th June 2018

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

Case Comment: R (Steinfeld & Anor) v Secretary of State for International Development [2018] UKSC 32 – Supreme Court Blog

‘Often, the road to equality is long and arduous, just ask the same-sex couples who had to wait until the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 for recognition of the right to marry or those whose right to legal recognition will still feel a long way off. On any view, the road to equality in civil partnerships will be shorter. But that route has had its own difficulties and the significance of the success of this appeal should not be underestimated.’

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Supreme Court Blog, 28th June 2018

Source: ukscblog.com

Supreme Court declares Civil Partnership Act 2004 incompatible with human rights law – Family Law

‘The Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that lack of provision in the Civil Partnership Act 2004 for opposite-sex couples to enter into a civil partnership is incompatible with human rights law.’

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Family Law, 27th June 2018

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

The ‘straight civil partnership’ challenge: All you need to know before the Supreme Court Judgment – UK Human Rights Blog

‘The Supreme Court will hand down Judgment on Wednesday 27th June 2018 in R (on the application of Steinfeld and another) v Secretary of State for the International Development (in substitution for the Home Secretary and the Education Secretary).’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 25th June 2018

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Ban on heterosexual civil partnerships in UK ruled discriminatory – The Guardian

‘A heterosexual couple who were denied the right to enter into a civil partnership have won their claim at the UK’s highest court that they have suffered discrimination.’

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The Guardian, 27th June 2018

Source: www.theguardian.com

UK plan to extend civil partnerships revealed in government report – The Guardian

Posted May 14th, 2018 in civil partnerships, news, sexual orientation discrimination by sally

‘A confidential report drawn up for the former equalities minister Justine Greening proposed extending civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples and building “a consensus for legislation”, according to internal policy documents seen by the Guardian.’

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The Guardian, 13th May 2018

Source: www.theguardian.com