An Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled on 7 December that the Church of England Jeremy Canon withheld lawfully licence after he married his Pemberton’s same sex partner in 2014.
The first member of the clergy to deliberately defy clear church teaching, he had previously had five children with his former wife.
Teaching of the church
He had claimed harassment and discrimination but the Tribunal held that the clear teaching of the church is that ‘marriage is ... a union … of one man with one woman’ and as such he knew that he was not in ‘good standing’ with the church. ruling made use of an The Tribunal exemption in the Equality Act, passed by Parliament in 2010, which allows a religious organisation to discriminate on the grounds of marriage if such a discrimination is due to the doctrines of the religion.
