'Terror' Threat Against British Equality Leader Results in Suspended Sentence

A man who swore a "campaign of terror" against a British equality leader and vowed to "put a bullet in [his] head" has pleaded guilty to having made a threat against the life of his victim. The same individual also threatened to shoot a gay couple, British newspaper the Guardian reported on Sept. 8.

The threats issued by 42-year-old Anthony Ryan stemmed from an article written by Ben Summerskill the head of British GLBT equality group Stonewall. Summerskill had posted a comment online about the outcome of a case in which a Christian couple who ran an inn denied accommodations to a gay couple.

The initial conflict arose in September of 2008, when Peter and Hazelmary Bull, proprietors of Chymorvah Private Hotel in Cornwall, refused to allow a same-sex couple, Steven Preddy and Martyn Hall, to share a double bed.

The Christian couple said that their refusal had nothing to do with anti-gay sentiment, but rather was based in their belief that unmarried persons should not engage in sexual conduct. The Bulls claim that if an unmarried heterosexual couple had arrived at their establishment, they, too, would have been denied a double bed.

Though British same-sex families are allowed to enter into civil unions, they are not granted full marriage equality. However, British law protects gays from discriminatory treatment in public accommodations, a statute that Christian innkeepers have said in previous cases constitutes an infringement on their religious freedoms.

The same-sex couple took the Bulls to court, where an employee of the establishment claimed that he thought the gay couple and Stonewall had "set up" the Bulls for the complaint they ended up lodging.

But Stonewall told the gay press that they had had nothing to do with the couple's having booked a room at the hotel. Though the Bulls had received a letter from Stonewall in advance of the couple's booking, that letter was in response to reports the group had received about similar occasions of discriminatory treatment from the establishment's proprietors, Stonewall said.

The gay couple won their case in court, and Summerskill posted a comment on a Guardian-run website, opining that "the really important message ... is simply that the appropriate 'balance of rights' for modern Britain is one that keeps private prejudice out of the public space."

Ryan sent Summerskill the threatening note the day after the comment's posting, the Guardian reported.

"With regard to the recent so-called victory that evil sexual weirdos Steven Preddy and Martyn Hall had against decent law-abiding B&B owners Peter and Hazelmary Bull," the note read, "It is my duty to inform your evil organisation that, despite what the government says, according to the holy Christian Bible, homosexuality is in fact illegal.

"I have therefore decided to embark upon a campaign of terror against you Chief Executive Dame Ben Summerskill and all those that seek to support the so-called human rights of the Homosexual community," the message continued.

"It is going to give me great pleasure to put a bullet in the head of Dame Ben Summerskill, Steven Preddy and Martyn Hall and any other homosexual vermin that I have the misfortune to come across."

The message went on to offer a bit of advice.

"I suggest that the people mentioned in this email and indeed all evil bigoted homosexual scum start making their funeral arrangements."

Ryan was sentenced to eight months in jail, but the sentence was suspended for a period of a year and a half. If Ryan avoids further trouble for that period of time, he will not have to serve the sentence. But if he commits another crime, he will have to serve the eight months along with whatever sentence a further infraction might bring.

"I am obviously very relieved this guy has been apprehended," Summerskill said. "It is sad that Christians with extreme views feel sufficiently emboldened in 2011 to arrange this sort of campaign against anyone. There is no reason the rights of religious extremists should trump the rights of gay people to walk the streets of Britain free from fear of attack."

The Bulls were represented in court by The Christian Institute. Mike Judge, who is with the Christian Institute, told the media at the time, "This Christian couple are being put on trial for their beliefs. Equality laws are being used as a sword rather than a shield."

The country's religious leaders also weighed in. "Mr. and Mrs. Bull's understanding of marriage is the same as that of English law and the Christian Church," wrote the Bishop of Winchester, Michael Scott-Joynt, and the former Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, both clerics with the Church of England, in a letter to the Telegraph. "Their guesthouse is also their home. Their policy may seem traditional but, of itself, there is nothing wrong with that."

They added: "Liberty of conscience must not be confined to the mind. It is meaningless unless it includes the freedom to stand by our principles publicly."