Christian preacher awarded damages over axed Glasgow show

A Christian preacher whose arena event was axed will receive more than £97,000 in damages. Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) successfully sued the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) after a sheriff decided that they were the victims of discrimination.

Franklin Graham, 70, had been due to appear at the Glasgow venue on May 30, 2020 as part of a UK tour.

But, the event at the Hydro arena was cancelled in January 2020 citing security fears.

The BGEA claimed SEC breached the Equality Act by not letting Graham perform.

The organisation initially chased £200,000 in compensation or have Graham perform as per the July 2019 contract.

A civil hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court was told that BGEA was due to appear at six other UK venues.

Other venues had cancelled their bookings while four rescheduled.

BGEA paid SEC a £6,000 deposit for the hire of the city's Hydro arena which would have cost £50,000.

The "private" event was to be non-ticketed where members of the public could enter free of charge.

The event was described as "an evangelistic outreach event to profess and promote religion or philosophical belief."

Sheriff John McCormick stated in his closing remarks: "The intended audience was the general public, irrespective of any religious belief or none and irrespective of sexuality."

The SEC became aware of opposition to the event in November 2019 through press, social media and emails.

Mr Graham also became aware of the backlash posting on Facebook: "It is said by some that I am coming to the UK to bring hateful speech to your community. This is just not true”.

He added that he invited “everyone in the LGBTQ

community” to the event. He concluded “You are absolutely welcome."

Preparations were made to cancel the event on January 28, 2020 with head of PR for SEC telling Glasgow City Council: "We have made a decision not to go ahead with this.”

The decision to cancel was postponed until the next day following a meeting with city council members including leader Susan Aitken and former head Frank McAveety.

Sheriff McCormick stated: "At that meeting, the view of Glasgow City Council was conveyed to all present in unambiguous terms that the event should be cancelled."

Minutes from the meeting show that comments were made such as "there was a scale on the message that was being preached which is darker than seen before”, “contractually we may be in breach” and “it’s about 'doing the right thing' notwithstanding the contractual position."

Miss Aitken told the court proceedings: “My overriding concern, and I suppose the factor that ultimately was the most decisive for me in taking the view that the event should be cancelled was because I thought that – not just the expression of the views, but also the knowledge of, or the expectation that the views may well be expressed or could be expressed, which would have real life consequences for people in Glasgow.”

It was also revealed that the Hydro's principal sponsor did not want to be associated with the event and there were fears artists may refuse to play the arena as a result of the event.

Glasgow City Council, as the venue's majority shareholder, contacted SEC requesting the event be cancelled.

The letter made no mention of security concerns.

No security concerns were raised with BGEA, the police, or G4S at the time.

The termination letter to BGEA also failed to mention security concerns.

It mentioned “adverse publicity” which was “reviewed with our partners and stakeholders."

Sheriff McCormick said: "The event was cancelled because of the religious or philosophical beliefs of BGEA and Franklin Graham as viewed by the SEC's reaction by others to the religious or philosophical beliefs professed by BGEA and/or Franklin Graham.

"By terminating the agreement, SEC directly discriminated against BGEA in that it treated them less favourably than it would have treated others.

"SEC had hosted other religious events but here it terminated its agreement because of a protected characteristic, namely, the religious or philosophical beliefs of BGEA and Franklin Graham.

"It acted under pressure from others."

BGEA lost a total of £97,325.32 as a result of the event's cancellation which Sheriff McCormick has ordered SEC to pay.

He stated: "The Equality Act applies to all, equally. It is an Act designed to protect cornerstone rights and freedoms within a pluralist society.

"It applies to the LGBTQ+ community as it does to those of

religion (including Christianity) and none.

"It follows that in relation to a protected characteristic

(religion or philosophical belief) no section of society can discriminate against those with whom he, she or they disagree.

"Whether others agree with, disagree with or even, as was submitted on behalf of BGEA , find abhorrent the opinions of the pursuer or Franklin Graham is not relevant for the

purposes of this decision.

"This applies even where, as I heard evidence, members within the Christian community may not agree with the pursuer. The court does not adjudicate on the validity of religious or philosophical beliefs."

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