Christian party leader says 'stand firm in face of opposition'
21 april 2014
Jeff Green, who owns the Highland Moors Guest House and current Llandrindod Town Mayor with his wife Sue, revealed in the County Times last month that he would take his case to Strasburg after being accused of potentially discriminating against unmarried couples by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Jeff Green wants the European Court to decide if his Christian beliefs and freedom of speech and conscience have or will be suppressed by the new UK equality laws.
The new equality laws have redefined marriage for all of us; this is a very serious thing and it obviously conflicts with my faith.
But he is the one who has been ‘attacked and vilified’ online for taking his case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Since the newspaper article was published Cllr Green says he has faced a series of defamatory comments on the ‘Llandrindod Solutions’ Facebook page, an online petition set up by Gayle Atherfold- Dudley and two reports to the Ombudsman for bringing the town into disrepute and discrimination from Mr Chris Newton and Mr. Jonathan Willis (neither of whom live in the town). The Facebook group which was set up by Chris Maines to provide a place where residents can share ideas of improving Llandrindod Wells saw 88 people comment on a link to the story.
He said: “I was just asking a question regarding the new laws and my Christian values and as a result of that I have been headhunted on social media and bullied by a very vocal militant minority. I have been accused of being homophobic although these people have offered no evidence.’ Last week the Public Services Ombudsman found that there is no case to answer to regarding Cllr Green’s position as Mayor of Llandrindod as the claimants had produced no evidence. They agreed with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Senior enforcement Officer, and Powys Legal that no laws has been broken or discrimination taken place therefore Cllr. Green had no case to answer.
He said:” I have suffered three weeks of vilification for simply asking a question. However I will not be bullied or intimidated into resigning as town Mayor. I don’t even know who these people are. These people have also demanded online that I stand down as town Mayor although none have approached me to voice their views. Why do these people think they can bypass democracy due process and the law by calling for my resignation?” Has democracy been replaced by trial by social media?
Since Cllr Green’s decision he has appeared on several television and radio stations - including 'In the Line of Fire' in America hosted by Dr. Michael Brown, and a number of newspapers explaining his situation. “I have set up my own business so I can’t discriminate; we just supply single beds to comply with the new laws and our Christian beliefs.”
Despite opposition online, Jeff Green says he has received messages of support from local residents and from people all over the world. However, so long as there is a continual undermining of our Christian values and beliefs in this nation, we will come increasingly into conflict with those who would try and silence anybody who has a different opinion, as evidenced in this case. He said: “an amazing number of people have stopped me in Llandrindod and told me that they support my appeal to get the question answered but unfortunately these people are the silent majority. All of this is evidence that the situation is much worse than I thought and I encourage both Christians and non Christians everywhere to become much more vocal, ask more questions and not to be intimidated by social media pressure groups and militant minorities who seem to specialise in name calling and smear campaigns. Having had to endure the attacks of the last few weeks I can say that standing up to these bullies is definitely the way to go. I am honoured to live in Llandrindod Wells and to have served the whole community as Mayor for the last two years.”
It is with great dismay that we hear of the Chief Executive of Mozilla Firefox , Brendan Eich, who has been forced to resign following a targeted campaign by LGBT groups, who opposed his $1000 donation in support of a Californian law upholding marriage between one man and one woman. "This is very serious indeed. In a land where free speech and freedom of religion has been historically treasured, we see a man hounded out of office because of his support for real marriage," says Andrea Williams of Christian Concern. The website, ActRight, has launched a petition asking people to support “the free speech and conscience rights of the Mozilla CEO and everyone's right to free political action free of harm and harassment”, a petition we wholly support.
Sign the petition
The new equality laws have redefined marriage for all of us; this is a very serious thing and it obviously conflicts with my faith.
But he is the one who has been ‘attacked and vilified’ online for taking his case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Since the newspaper article was published Cllr Green says he has faced a series of defamatory comments on the ‘Llandrindod Solutions’ Facebook page, an online petition set up by Gayle Atherfold- Dudley and two reports to the Ombudsman for bringing the town into disrepute and discrimination from Mr Chris Newton and Mr. Jonathan Willis (neither of whom live in the town). The Facebook group which was set up by Chris Maines to provide a place where residents can share ideas of improving Llandrindod Wells saw 88 people comment on a link to the story.
He said: “I was just asking a question regarding the new laws and my Christian values and as a result of that I have been headhunted on social media and bullied by a very vocal militant minority. I have been accused of being homophobic although these people have offered no evidence.’ Last week the Public Services Ombudsman found that there is no case to answer to regarding Cllr Green’s position as Mayor of Llandrindod as the claimants had produced no evidence. They agreed with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Senior enforcement Officer, and Powys Legal that no laws has been broken or discrimination taken place therefore Cllr. Green had no case to answer.
He said:” I have suffered three weeks of vilification for simply asking a question. However I will not be bullied or intimidated into resigning as town Mayor. I don’t even know who these people are. These people have also demanded online that I stand down as town Mayor although none have approached me to voice their views. Why do these people think they can bypass democracy due process and the law by calling for my resignation?” Has democracy been replaced by trial by social media?
Since Cllr Green’s decision he has appeared on several television and radio stations - including 'In the Line of Fire' in America hosted by Dr. Michael Brown, and a number of newspapers explaining his situation. “I have set up my own business so I can’t discriminate; we just supply single beds to comply with the new laws and our Christian beliefs.”
Despite opposition online, Jeff Green says he has received messages of support from local residents and from people all over the world. However, so long as there is a continual undermining of our Christian values and beliefs in this nation, we will come increasingly into conflict with those who would try and silence anybody who has a different opinion, as evidenced in this case. He said: “an amazing number of people have stopped me in Llandrindod and told me that they support my appeal to get the question answered but unfortunately these people are the silent majority. All of this is evidence that the situation is much worse than I thought and I encourage both Christians and non Christians everywhere to become much more vocal, ask more questions and not to be intimidated by social media pressure groups and militant minorities who seem to specialise in name calling and smear campaigns. Having had to endure the attacks of the last few weeks I can say that standing up to these bullies is definitely the way to go. I am honoured to live in Llandrindod Wells and to have served the whole community as Mayor for the last two years.”
It is with great dismay that we hear of the Chief Executive of Mozilla Firefox , Brendan Eich, who has been forced to resign following a targeted campaign by LGBT groups, who opposed his $1000 donation in support of a Californian law upholding marriage between one man and one woman. "This is very serious indeed. In a land where free speech and freedom of religion has been historically treasured, we see a man hounded out of office because of his support for real marriage," says Andrea Williams of Christian Concern. The website, ActRight, has launched a petition asking people to support “the free speech and conscience rights of the Mozilla CEO and everyone's right to free political action free of harm and harassment”, a petition we wholly support.
Sign the petition