Anti-discrimination Law Update – Votes, Votes And More Votes

Update on the Guernsey proposals for protection from discrimination for individual religious or philosophical beliefs

The States of Guernsey has voted on what types of individual beliefs may benefit from legal protection from discrimination. The vote (by a majority of 20 to 16) concluded that the incoming anti-discrimination ordinance (the Ordinance) will provide protection from discrimination on the grounds of religious belief only. States' members rejected the proposition that the Ordinance should offer protection from discrimination on the grounds of non-religious philosophical beliefs.

This vote was taken on 4 November 2021, at the conclusion of a complex and lengthy debate on the propositions brought to the States by the Employment and Social Security Committee (the Committee), in respect of the proposals to protect the two characteristics of religious belief and sexual orientation. In the original policy timeline proposed for implementation of