Bank closes Pastor account due to gender criticism: idea.de

LONDON (IDEA) — A Bank of Britain has closed the account of a clergyman in June after he criticized the bank for promoting transgender ideology. British media reports.

The victim was Richard Fothergill (Bath), retired Anglican minister and founder of UK evangelical network The Filling Station. The 62-year-old had written to his bank, Yorkshire Building Society. He told the British newspaper Daily Mail that he was politely opposed to the transmission of transgender ideology to children.

Four days later, he was informed in writing that his account had been closed after 17 years of use. The company was cited as having a “zero-tolerance approach to discrimination” and its relationship with the customer was “irretrievably broken”.

Fothergill criticized the bank’s behavior to the British newspaper “Times”: “I think they should focus on managing money instead of promoting LGBT ideology.” LGBT is an acronym for lesbian, gay, lesbian, adopted from the English-speaking world, bisexual and transgender.

A spokesperson for the bank denied Fothergill’s allegations, saying, “We never close savings accounts based on differing beliefs or opinions from our customers.” We only do so if a customer is “rude, abusive, violent or discriminatory.” .

Finance Minister warns banks

A bank earlier froze the account of TV presenter and British politician Nigel Farage, which had been around since 1980. According to him, this must have happened because of his role in Brexit, which the bank denies.

According to Christian Today, UK Treasury Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants to urge banks to protect freedom of expression. A Treasury source told the Daily Telegraph it was worrying banks and lenders were turning away customers with unpopular views. “We will take action on this matter in the coming weeks” can be assumed.