Equality Bill

My Lords, I agree with the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Winchester—the first and the last time I shall say that in this debate—that the language on sexual orientation may be incorrect: we may be talking about sexual conduct, not sexual orientation. That is what I would like to see as correct in the Bill. The right reverend Prelate asked whether there were any examples of this form of discrimination in the church. I shall give him two: Dr Jeffrey John, required to step down as Bishop of Reading in 2003 in spite of being celibate, and John Reaney, refused a job as a youth worker by the Bishop of Hereford in 2005 in spite of an agreement that he would be celibate. So there are examples, and we need to think about them carefully.