Barclays has agreed to pay more than £20,000 in compensation after it was accused of caving in to LGBT activists by closing a Christian ministry’s account in a row over conversion therapy.
In July 2020 the bank suspended its facilities for the Core Issues Trust and the International Federation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice. The trust is a non-profit Christian ministry, based in Northern Ireland, which supports men and women who voluntarily seek to change their sexual preference, expression or gender identity. It is the only Christian ministry of its kind in the UK and a registered charity, but LGBT activists claim it is carrying out conversion therapy, a practice set to be banned by the government.
The trust claimed Barclays, which is a top-ranked LGBT employer according to the charity Stonewall, as well as one of the main sponsors of London’s Pride parade, had given in to demands from LGBT campaigners to cancel its accounts.
After a Twitter user drew attention to the accounts, the trust said it had received more than 300 nuisance phone calls and other intimidating messages, including a text to its chief executive, Dr Mike Davidson, that expressed a hope that staff members’ relatives would be raped and killed.
The threats were said to have gone on for days, until July 13, 2020, when Davidson received a letter from Barclays cancelling his account. He had banked with Barclays his whole life, opening an account for the trust in 2011 and one for the counselling federation, which operates internationally, in 2017.
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Davidson began a legal claim against the bank, with lawyers claiming that the closure of the accounts was “an act of unlawful discrimination”. The lawyers said Davidson’s professional and public work was undermined by the withdrawal of banking services from the trust and federation on the grounds of his religious beliefs and political views.
More than 70,000 people signed a petition calling on Barclays to reinstate the account and to stop discriminating against the Christian ministry. However, Barclays refused to apologise or reinstate either account, citing its contractual right to close accounts with two months’ notice.
The bank “wholly denied” that it discriminated against Davidson “directly or indirectly on the grounds of any religious, philosophical or political belief”. This week, before the case was due to be heard at the High Court, it made a settlement offer of £21,500 in compensation with legal costs to follow, which Davidson accepted. His bank accounts were not reinstated and Barclays has not apologised or admitted liability.
Davidson said: “We reject Barclays bank’s implied accusations of ‘conversion therapy’, directed at our work and charity. This case must serve as a warning to the government of what is coming if it proceeds with publishing and enforcing its ‘conversion therapy’ ban.”
Barclays said: “This is a commercial settlement, predicated on our assessment of the costs of defending this claim to conclusion against the cost of settling the matter today.”
