With a clear majority, Swiss voters approved a proposal on Sunday to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or identity into an already existing criminal law against hate crime. 

Evangelicals have warned that it contradicts with freedom of expression.

In the referendum, more than 63.1 percent supported the proposal and 36.9 percent voted against the referendum, according to BBC.

The Swiss Evangelical Alliance reflected on the results by calling it “problematic and superfluous”.

“Extending criminal protection against hatred and discrimination to members of sexual minorities is problematic and superfluous. On the one hand, the existing law already offers sufficient possibilities for punishment and, on the other hand, a conflict with freedom of expression is foreseeable”, the SEA-RES said.

The evangelical body (which represents churches, organisations and individuals) emphasised that evangelicals “condemn all forms of hatred and violence against people of all sexual orientations” because “such behaviour is not compatible with Christian ethics”, according to Evangelical Focus.

However, “it must remain possible without hesitation to adopt a critical attitude towards certain lifestyles, in accordance with the understanding of the Bible, and to recommend a privileged treatment of marriage between men and women compared to other forms of partnership”.

The historic Protestant Church of Switzerland (or EKS), however, which is theologically liberal in its teaching on sexuality, supported the changes in the law and encouraged voters to vote “yes” in the referendum, the article says.

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