Christian Concern 10 Sep 2012
Christina Summers, a member of Brighton and Hove City Council, has been dismissed from the Green Group over expressing her views on same-sex marriage in a free vote.
The Green Group of councillors announced its decision today (10 September) which was held off until the end of the Green Party conference to avoid negative publicity.
Several Green Councillors called for her dismissal when she voted against a motion in support of the Government’s plans to introduce same-sex marriage at a council meeting in July.
At the launch of the Party’s disciplinary Inquiry Panel, shortly after the vote, Councillor Summers explained that her decision was based on her Christian convictions, stating “I’m accountable to God above any political party”.
In response to the news of her expulsion, Councillor Summers said:
“I have been waiting for weeks for my colleagues to make a clear and public decision. “They have no idea how much I have been wanting to say to them and how many emails, blogs and tweets from the wider party membership I wanted to refute and respond to. But there is a time to speak and a time to be silent.
“In view of the Green Party’s own special interpretation of equality, my expulsion from the Green Group of councillors should not, in the end, come as a surprise.
“Nonetheless, I can’t help but feel crestfallen. After at least two intimate years of campaigning and then serving together in administration, my own colleagues, who should know me well by now, have chosen to believe a lie. “Party policy, however vague, is sovereign”.
http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/religious-freedom/christian-ousted-from-green-party-group-of-councillors
