LGBT

A gay clergyman who was prevented by the Church of England from taking up a job in the NHS as a hospital chaplain has lost his discrimination appeal claim.

Canon Pemberton, a Church of England priest for more than 30 years, had his permission to officiate revoked after he married his partner in 2014.  This left him unable to take up a job offer as a hospital chaplain.  The Church of England allows priests to be in gay relationships and civil partnerships as long as the relationship is celibate, but they are forbidden from marrying their partners.

Under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, by obtaining a gender recognition certificate, transgender people have the right to have their gender formally recognised in law.  MB was married in 1974, began to live as a woman in 1991 and underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1995 but did not apply for a gender recognition certificate.  In order to be granted a certificate, MB would have had to annul her marriage.  She decided to remain married to her wife and mother of their two children.