Care Homes Should Discourage Christian Workers Who Oppose Gay Rights, Says Regulator

Care homes for the elderly should discourage Christian workers who do not believe in gay rights, say inspectors.

One million men and women work in care homes or help the elderly and disabled in their homes.

State inspectors say they should “support” homosexuals so they feel “able to come out if they wish”.

Those applying for jobs should be “assessed” to ensure they have the right attitude to equality, the Commission for Social Care Inspection says.

It wants care homes to stop referring to husbands and wives and use “neutral” words such as partner.

The commission, which inspects and maintains standards in care homes and care services, issued its call for workers to be forced to sign up to gay rights following a survey of 92 homosexuals receiving care.

Of these, 45 per cent said they had experienced discrimination in care homes or from care workers helping them.

The inspectorate says this meant there was “a need for decisive action from service providers”.

In a guidance document it goes on: “One particularly difficult area is where individual staff have objections to addressing issues or equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people because of religious reasons.

“Four of the people responding to the survey had received negative comments about their sexual orientation from staff who cited religious reasons.”

The report says it is “essential” for gays in care homes to come out to help them “be themselves”.

Churches are concerned that Christians are losing the freedom to hold traditional beliefs in areas such as gay rights.

The Christian Institute think-tank said: “This seems to ignore the fact that many care homes have a specifically Christian ethos. Christians have rights, too.”