A High Court judge is allowing an appeal by anti-lgbti group Family First against its deregistration as a charity, due to a precedent set in a similar case involving Greenpeace. Justice Collins has directed the Charities Board reconsider Family First’s case in the meantime, pointing to the Supreme Court decision that Greenpeace was allowed to remain a charity, despite its political advocacy. In that case, the majority ruled “it was not a criterion for registration as a charity that the advocacy undertaken or views expressed by the entity were generally acceptable and not ‘controversial’.” The Charities Board moved to deregister Family First in 2012, because it existed to advocate and promote a political viewpoint which was not a charitable purpose. It argues its main purpose is to promote points of view about family life, which it says is a non-charitable political purpose that does not have a public benefit – something necessary for charitable status. Family First believes one of the key reasons it lost charitable status was its failed opposition to marriage equality. Justice Collins says the Charities Board’s fundamental position that Family First’s political objectives could never be charitable cannot be reconciled with the approach taken by the majority of the Supreme Court in the Greenpeace decision. “The Charities Board’s decision was based upon a fundamental legal proposition that has subsequently been found to be incorrect. The Charities Board’s view that political purposes could not be charitable underpinned its decision. In view of the Supreme Court’s explanation that political purposes are not irreconcilable with charitable purposes, it is appropriate for the Charities Board to reconsider the position of Family First in light of the Supreme Court’s judgment.” The decision allowing the appeal to go ahead has been released a day after Family First launched a transphobic report to “warn parents and schools” on the issue gender identity, which has been described as “seriously harmful” and “hate speech” by various leaders in the lgbti community.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 1st July 2015 - 9:45am