NOM BLOG

"Massive Overreaction" Says Lawyer for UK Man Demoted Over Marriage Comments on Facebook

 

The BBC:

"Adrian Smith had his pay cut by 40% when he lost his managerial post at Trafford Housing Trust (THT) and was redeployed as an adviser. Mr Smith, 54, who stated that he was a THT manager on his Facebook page, wrote that "marriage is for men and women". The trust said he had been disciplined for breaching its code of conduct.

... The father-of two, from Bolton, wrote "an equality too far" on his page next to a BBC News Online story with the headline, "Gay church 'marriage' set to get the go-ahead".

... Mr Smith went on to comment on his Facebook page that, "The Bible is quite specific that marriage is for men and women".

"If the state wants to offer civil marriages to the same sex then that is up to the state; but the state shouldn't impose its rules on places of faith and conscience", he wrote.

His solicitor Tom Ellis, of Aughton Ainsworth law firm, said: "It is an extreme and massive overreaction by the trust that a man can lose his job over what I imagine most people would find are not extreme views.

"They weren't intended to be offensive and are an opinion over which he has suffered a huge pay cut."

2 Comments