East Midlands
Proud Newsletter no. 12
25 May 2004
It’s been some 3 months since the last newsletter, and I’m
very aware of the fact! By way of excuse, I have taken up some new union
roles and become more active on my local branch committee. I have also
been waiting on issues to report back to you, so here we go…
Legislation
You may
already have read that the legal challenge on the sexual orientation
discrimination legislation, brought by PCS and other unions, was, very
disappointingly, rejected by the High Court on 26 April.
PCS (and six other major unions) argued that various exemptions in the
Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Equality Regulations 2003 were
incompatible with the obligations imposed on the UK by the EU Equal
Treatment Framework Directive 2000 and also conflicted with provisions
of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Honourable Mr Justice Richards rejected the unions' arguments and
held that the exceptions to the general prohibition on discrimination
were lawful.
The exceptions
challenged were (in summary):
· reg 7(2): where being of a particular sexual orientation was
a genuine and determining occupational requirement
· reg 7(3): where the employment is for the purpose of an organised
religion, and either religious doctrine prohibits a particular sexual
orientation, or appointment of the individual would offend the strongly
held religious convictions of a significant number of the religion's
followers
· reg 20(3): admitting students into religious training, where
the religion meets the conditions of reg 7(3)
· reg 25: nothing in the Regulations shall render unlawful anything
which prevents or restricts access to a benefit by reference to marital
status
However, the Governments’ arguments around regulations 7(2), 7(3)
and 20, all of which cover religion and belief, were held by the judge
to all have limited scope, which is the outcome the unions were looking
for. This means that the judge accepted the argument that the regulations
cannot be used to sack a teacher or caretaker working in a religious
school, much to the chagrin of the Evangelical Alliance, who had even
presented biblical extracts as evidence in support of their case, but
which the judge had, thankfully, ruled as inappropriate.
With regard to regulation 25, which is the regulation specifically challenged
by PCS, the Government argued that the cost of allowing pension survivor
benefits to unmarried couples is prohibitive. At the same time, the
introduction of Civil Partnership appears to partially resolve the issue.
I say partially, because although a registered partner will be eligible
for survivor benefits, the benefits will only run from the time the
couple registered their partnership, not as in heterosexual relationships
from the time the deceased partner began paying into his or her pension.
PROUD is campaigning against the inequity of this. As to the defeat
of the challenge, the union has to consider its position and may appeal.
Regional
PCS
West Midlands rep., Owen Brown and myself went along to the PCS Birmingham
Regional Centre in March to meet the friendly staff, in particular office
manager Helen Purcell and Regional manager Dave Cliff. We discussed
ways in which Regional Office could lend its support to our work in
the region, and we’ve already made a good start by having an article
about PROUD reproduced in the Regional Newsletter. This all helps in
getting us known by Branch Secretaries, who will in turn hopefully make
our contact details available to their members. We can also potentially
have input on future Equal Opportunities courses in the region. Since
our visit, Owen has sadly resigned from his role, so I am effectively
Midlands rep. until we find someone to take his place.
Inland
Revenue Training Day
I was very kindly invited to give a lengthy talk on sexuality and the
work of PROUD at East Midlands Revenue Branch’s Training Day in
Nottingham held in April. During my talk, I asked how many of the representatives
present knew someone fairly close to them who was gay, and I was quite
astonished to see most hands go up! That’ll teach me to make assumptions.
It was an excellent day, and the reps. took away lots of materials and
PROUD posters to put up in their offices. I was very impressed, as were
all the reps., with an Iranian speaker from The Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
Refugee Forum who gave a talk on the work of the Forum, which seeks
to support asylum seekers who are often fleeing desperate and inhuman
situations in their own countries (often instigated by countries such
as America and Britain) only to find themselves effectively jailed when
they arrive here. I would encourage any Branch to invite a speaker along
to one of their meetings or to give support to the Forum. They can be
contacted at nnrf@yahoo.co.uk, and their web site can be found at www.nottsrefugeeforum.org.uk/index.htm.
Steering Committee
The Steering Committee got together at the beginning of May, that is,
what’s left of the Steering Committee as there has been a rash
of resignations for various reasons. More of that in the next PROUD
Magazine!
Now that there is no membership fee to join PROUD, we have to look at
new ways of raising funds so that we can buy stock for our stalls and
purchase stationery etc. So any ideas, as usual, get in touch. I frivolously
suggested putting together a PROUD Calendar, and Wash volunteered Philip
as ‘Tractor Boy’ (he blushed), so if anyone else would like
to take part in such a disgraceful venture… I’m here, get
in touch.
We were joined at our meeting by PCS Organiser for the MOD, Mel Taylor,
who had some useful suggestions to make. We’ll see if we can’t
make an impact on some of the more ‘traditional’ branches
in the region with Mel’s help! Mel has asked to come along to
future Steering Committee meetings, so we shall look forward to seeing
her at those.
The Committee discussed the Civil Partnership Bill and it’s shortcomings,
and shall be seeking to issue a Briefing to all Branches on this. We
also discussed London Pride, and PCS has agreed to a sponsorship of
the event on the basis of it becoming a ‘Community’ event
once more, and not for profit. And we discussed the arrangements for
this years’ AGM. It was actually a long and lively meeting, but
I have summarised it as best I can because this Newsletter is a BIG
one.
East
Midlands Pride
I have booked a stall for PROUD to be present at the Leicester Pride
event to be held on Saturday 19 June at Victoria Park, London Road.
I will be setting up from around 10.30 onwards, so if anyone wants to
come along and help that would be great. It was my first Pride last
year, as I’m sure you’ll remember me telling you, and I
had a fantastic time! Nottingham is having its’ Pride on 24 July,
but I will be on leave at that time so shan’t be able to do much.
However, if any of you Nottingham types would like to hold a stall that
day, then let me know and we’ll try and organise something…
Training
I have had very positive feedback from members who attended the Stage
1 Course held in Eastbourne in April. I would encourage any member who
has not yet attended any PROUD training to give it serious consideration.
The next event is the Stage 2, to be held in Nottingham! I have not
got the dates for this yet, but will keep you posted.
I have just come back from a Lay Tutor training session along with several
other PROUD members and representatives, including Jay and Craig from
the East Midlands (who were both stunning!) which was held in Birmingham
on 18 and 19 May. So we will now be able to Tutor the ‘Dealing
With Sexuality Issues in the Workplace’ course for union representatives
and help better equip PCS to take care of it’s LGBT membership
and create awareness of our issues.
East
Midlands Meetings
Well, things seem to have been going according to plan and everyone
is turning up in the right place and on the right day, except some of
us are turning up a little late because of being waylaid! So we’ll
leave our arrangement ticking over. Just to update our alternating venues…
next meetings… Saturday 1.00pm lunchtime…
June 5 – ‘Rainbow & Dove’, Northampton
Square, Leicester
July 3 – ‘Coco Lounge’, George Street, Nottingham
August 7 – ‘Rainbow & Dove’ … etc
And now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for…
Pink & Pinkish water holes of the
East Midlands (compiled version)
By David Shaw – PCS Proud, Inland Revenue, Nottingham
Jude
Jackson
