‘Equality Oath’ threatens supporters of traditional marriage

The Government has backed the alarming idea of introducing an ‘Equality Oath’ for everyone who holds public office. This could include school governors, civil servants, people working in the NHS and councillors. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid is supporting the oath as part of the Government’s ‘British values’ drive. He believes those who do not accept the Government’s narrow definition of these values will “struggle to play a positive role in British life”. The draconian proposal was recommended by the Govt’s integration tsar Dame Louise Casey in her recent report covering integration and extremism. But it’s not clear what good it will do. The most likely effect would be to turn supporters of traditional marriage into social pariahs, excluding them from public life, enforcing political correctness and destroying many people’s livelihoods. ‘Equality’ is often invoked to try to silence people who disagree with same-sex marriage. Just consider how the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland has hounded Ashers Baking Company through the courts. With so many different ideas of what ‘equality’ means out there, an oath is wide open to misuse. This idea is wrong-headed and needs to be stopped before it causes untold damage.