Music producer in Sweden convicted of discrimination against gay artist

The music producer, who describes himself as a "fundamentalist baptist", runs a company in western Sweden that customers can hire to write and record music. Earlier this year, a person booked in with the company, but the owner cancelled the assignment when the owner found out that the customer was gay.

In an interview with the newspaper HallandsNyheter this summer, the producer justified the cancellation with a desire to "practice my religion and not have a bad conscience". "For example, I do not work with music containing swearing or glorifying sin. "I do not think that homosexuality is morally correct, and therefore I have chosen not to work with homosexuals."

Discrimination

After the cancellation, the artist chose to turn to the Discrimination Ombudsman (DO). The latter initiated a so-called supervisory case, resulting in a lawsuit submitted to Varberg District Court. Discrimination on the grounds of gender, trans identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual harassment and age is prohibited under Swedish law.

The court followed the DO's line and sentenced the man on December 17. In the verdict, the court writes that the music producer "has admitted the DO's action in the main case and admitted that he has broken the law". The music producer must therefore pay discrimination compensation.

As for the DO's legal costs, the music producer had objected to him paying them. But the district court makes a different assessment and states that the music producer must also pay the DO's legal costs.