Ex-Lewisham Mayoral candidate sues former employers over anti-gay marriage leaflet

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A former mayoral candidate who was sacked from her job after publishing an anti-gay marriage leaflet has claimed she is a victim of “cancel culture”.

Maureen Martin is suing L&Q housing association, her employer of 13 years, claiming she was unfairly dismissed after it allegedly fired her for “discriminatory” views expressed in an election pamphlet.

Ms Martin, who was standing as the Christian People’s Alliance (CPA) candidate in Lewisham’s Mayor election, distributed a leaflet in April which claimed wedlock between a man and woman was “fundamental” for a successful society to homes across the borough.

The pamphlet was widely criticised by people on social media at the time and Labour Mayor of Lewisham Damien Egan argued the CPA’s policies were “bigoted.”

Three complaints were lodged against Miss Martin to her employer. Two are believed to be from tenants of housing association L&Q and a third from a colleague of Miss Martin.

They allegedly described Miss Martin as “bigoted,” said she should receive “anti-oppressive training” and called for her to face disciplinary action.

Miss Martin claims she was summoned to a meeting with housing association bosses where she was allegedly interrogated about her beliefs.

She was also challenged about previous tweets in which she commented on transgender sports and retweeted a CPA post saying it was “disgusting” for the USA’s Vatican embassy to show the LGBTQ+ flag.

She was sacked a few weeks after the election in May, where she finished second to last with one per cent of the vote.

L&Q claimed Miss Martin had damaged the company’s reputation, failed to declare her political interests and breached its social media policy.

In her dismissal letter, Miss Martin was told her views could be “perceived to be discriminatory, hurtful and offensive views towards members of the LGBTQ+ community, non-traditional families, and abortion”.

But Miss Martin, 56, argued she was the real victim of discrimination.

She said: “It’s unjust. I’m being persecuted. My Christian values were not being regarded in terms of the equalities act. They were being ignored. L&Q have breached human rights laws. Article 9 and Article 10 [of the European Convention on Human Rights] they’ve completely ignored that.”

Miss Martin is now suing her former employer L&Q for unfair dismissal, discrimination and harassment.

Her case is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre – an organisation which provides support to Christians who believe they’ve been discriminated against because of their faith.

Fiona Fletcher-Smith, L&Q Group chief executive, said: “Whilst we respect that individuals’ freedom to hold particular religious or other beliefs is absolute, we do not tolerate it when these beliefs are manifested in a way that is derogatory or offensive to others. Several of our residents raised complaints with us after reading the leaflet.

“L&Q therefore has a zero-tolerance policy on discrimination of any kind – whether that be shown through actions or words in the workplace, made public on social media channels, or shared in other publicly available materials or forums.”

Pictured top: Ex-Lewisham Mayor candidate Maureen Martin was sacked from her job following the distribution of an anti-gay marriage leaflet Picture: Christian Concern