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The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has been expressing its support for the retention of legislation preventing discrimination against gay people in access to goods, facilities and services.
Human Rights Commission backs gay equality legislationDiscrimination in employment has been unlawful for some time, but protection in relation to these additional fields came only on 1 January, with the entry into effect of the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland).
On Tuesday 9 January the House of Lords will consider a motion to annul the regulations, thus effectively re-legalising discrimination.
Professor Monica McWilliams, Chief Commissioner, said:
There are two very important principles at stake here. One is equality, which has always been a central tenet of all human rights law. Any difference in treatment between individuals must be objectively justifiable, and if it is unjustified, it amounts to discrimination. Gay, lesbian and bisexual people are entitled to full equality of treatment and there is no justification for allowing them to be treated less favourably in service provision, the sale of goods, or access to facilities.
The commissioner stated that the removal of the extra protections that came into effect on New Year’s Day would conflict with the general principle of non-regression. This establishes that equality and human rights law can only move forward. For Parliament to withdraw this protection barely a week after it came into effect, and less than two months after the regulations were laid before the House, would be unthinkable.
The Human Rights Commission’s consistent position has been that the same protection against discrimination should apply in relation to goods, facilities and services as in the employment field, where only a genuine occupational qualification can justify different treatment. The commission wants to see a strengthening and simplification of discrimination and equality law through the long-awaited Single Equality Bill for Northern Ireland, but until that comes, measures such as the Equality Act Regulations can help to redress some of the shortcomings in the present range of laws and regulations.
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