UK: Blair gives religious employers the right to sack gay workers

Equal rights campaigners were furious when they discovered that regulations intended to combat discrimination in the workplace contain wide-ranging exemptions for any employer "with an ethos based on religion or belief". The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement said that the move would institutionalise homophobia in a way that "makes Section 28 look like a tea party". Others claimed that the exemptions exposed the "dangerous" influence church groups have over the Prime Minister. The 2003 Employment Equality Regulations were originally drafted by ministers with the aim of achieving a historic breakthrough in combating harassment and bias in the workplace on grounds of sexuality or religion.