A gay clergyman who was disciplined for violating Church of England teaching on marriage lost his case at the Court of Appeal in mid-March.
Canon Jeremy Pemberton entered into a same-sex marriage in 2014, despite CofE rules not allowing clergy to do so. The Court said the Church had applied ‘its sincerely -held beliefs in a way expressly permitted’ by the Equality Act.
Licence revoked
The long-running legal case began after Canon Pemberton had his licence as a priest officially revoked. The clergyman mounted an employment discrimination case, giving evidence in 2015 that ‘no one has the right to tell you who you can or can’t marry’. But the tribunal rejected his legal arguments, and in 2016 an Employment Appeals Tribunal agreed.
In its ruling, Lord Justice Underhill told Canon Pemberton: ‘If you belong to an institution with known and lawful rules’, it is justifiable that ‘those rules should be applied to you.’ Lady Justice Asplin said the employment tribunal had previously found that there had been ‘lengthy discussions’ over Pemberton’s intentions: ‘Therefore, the consequences in relation to his standing cannot have been much of a surprise.’
The diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, which revoked the licence, welcomed the court’s ruling. The clergyman agreed with the Church not to continue the case – and that the C of E would not pursue legal costs against him.
