After voicing out his thoughts regarding adoption by same-sex couples, Richard Page was removed from position as magistrate in Kent. Now, he's taking a legal action against Michael Gove.
According to BBC, Richard Page, 69, said it would be better for a man and a woman to be the adopted parents when he's still the magistrate in Kent. However, the Christian magistrate was sacked over comments he made on the national television condoning the same sex adoption. Mr. Page, who served in Sevenoaks and Maidstone, sat during the Kent Central family panel and has been the magistrate for nearly 15 years but he's been removed just last month.
Now, Page is planning to sue Michael Gove, Lord Chancellor, through an employment tribunal as written by iTV news. Page found support from Andrea Minichiello Williams, the chief executive of Christian Legal Centre, in pursuing this legal action. Page's argument is based on the decision of the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office saying he's 'intolerant' and accusing Gove with pandering to the new political orthodoxy. He said "To punish me and to seek to silence me for expressing a dissenting view is deeply worrying. I shall challenge this decision as it is deeply illiberal and intolerant."
The Guardian reported that Page said "My responsibility as a magistrate, as I saw it, was to do what I considered best for the child, and my feeling was therefore that it would be better if it was a man and woman who were the adopted parents." A spokesman for Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said his comments were biased and prejudiced toward same-sex couples. However, Page retaliated by saying that he's following based on him being a magistrate and is acting on evidence that a child should be placed before a man and woman.
Richard Page said society is becoming more anti-Christian now and that he's horrified on the way today's things turn. Meanwhile, the issue follows the Adoption and Children Act of 2002 which gave unmarried gay people the right to adopt a child. UK is one of the 14 countries to allow legally adoption of same sex couples.
