Tuesday, November 10, 2015

British Employment Tribunal: Church of England Can Refuse To License Clergy Who Have Entered Same-Sex Marriage

In Pemberton v. Inwood, (Empl. Trib., Oct. 28, 2015), a British Employment Tribunal held that the Church of England had not violated the Equality Act when it refused to grant Rev. Jeremy Pemberton an Extra Parochial Ministry License that would qualify him to be appointed as a chaplain at the Sherwood Forest Hospitals.  The license was denied because Pemberton had entered into a same-sex marriage in contravention of Church of England doctrine. The Guardian last week reported on the decision. [Thanks to Law & Religion UK for the lead.] [Corrected-- an earlier version of this post had the parties reversed.]