Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
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New equalities legislation comes into force today
New legislation comes into force today which provides protection from sexual orientation discrimination and discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief that is on a par with protection already provided on grounds of race and gender.
Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly said:
"The goal of these regulations is to ensure that when accessing goods, services and facilities, everyone is treated fairly and with respect, no matter what their sexual orientation, religion or belief.
"I am confident that they strike the right balance to some of the most sensitive challenges we face today and tackle the real, everyday problems which have, for too long, been faced by lesbians and gay people. It cannot be right in a decent, tolerant society that a shopkeeper or restaurant can refuse to serve a customer because of their religion. Equally it cannot be right for a school to discriminate against a child because of their parents' sexuality or not to take homophobic bullying as seriously as they should. These are rights that the majority of people take for granted."
The guidance which accompanies the regulations make it clear that businesses simply need to provide services in a non-discriminatory way - like the vast majority already do. Discriminating does not make good business sense and most businesses have already taken steps to make sure that they treat everyone fairly. The new regulations are very similar to existing anti-discrimination measures that provide protection from race and sex discrimination in service provision.
The regulations mean that business must not -
* refuse to supply your normal service to someone, or treat them
less well than others, on ground of their actual or presumed
sexual orientation, or that of someone with whom they are
associated or on ground of their religion or belief (or their lack
of religion or belief);
* apply provisions, criteria or
practices which put, or would put, people of a particular sexual
orientation or people of a particular religion or belief at a
disadvantage compared to others;
* treat civil partners on an
unequal basis to those who are married, or treat same sex
unmarried couples on an unequal basis to mixed-sex unmarried
couples, in either case on grounds of their sexual
orientation;
* treat someone less well because they have been
involved in making, or supporting, a complaint about
discrimination of this kind; unless they were acting maliciously
in knowingly making a false complaint;
* advertise in a way
which indicates an intention to discriminate unlawfully or get
someone else to do any of these things.
Notes to Editors
New Measures to Outlaw Discrimination on Grounds of Religion or
Belief, Part 2, Equality Act 2006 can be accessed at http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1510068
The accompanying guidance on New Measures to Outlaw
Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation, Part 3, Equality
Act 2006 can be accessed at http://www.communities.gov.uk/staging/index.asp?id=1510066
Public Enquiries: 020 7944 4400;
News Releases: http://www.communities.gov.uk
