A British civil servant, Lillian Ladele, a Christian, applied to the London Labour Court to be exempted from celebrating gay marriages. An interesting case, because, if Ladele lost the case, this would set a precedent in the British law, under which a civil servant would be forced by the employer to act against his/her conscience. It happened in Islington, north London, where Ladele has been working 16 years for the local authority, which now wants her to celebrate gay marriages even if this is against her faith. "My Christian conscience explained Ladele to the Catholic weekly magazine Tablet prevents me becoming an active part in marrying a gay couple. I am not trying to prevent such marriages taking place, because I have many colleagues who would be prepared to do that". Until a few months ago, the employee managed not to celebrate such marriages, by asking her colleagues to replace her during her working hours. After the government enforced a law last December, which overrules religious objection to gay marriage, this has become impossible. The employee had her wages cut down and was prevented from celebrating any kind of marriage. Gay marriage was introduced in the United Kingdom in 2004 and is considered equivalent to any other registry-office marriage.
