A Christian magistrate has been removed from office by the Lord Chancellor, Michael Gove, in March after sharing his conviction in a media interview that there is not enough evidence to show that placing children in the care of same sex couples is in their best interest.
Richard Page, who for 15 years was a magistrate and sat on the Family Panel of the Kent Central Magistrates Court, had less than a month to run as a Justice of the Peace. It is ironic that the interview for which he was dismissed occurred as part of a TV debate about Christians being squeezed out of public life.
Mr Page was first challenged in late 2014 when, after hearing an adoption case, he could not agree with his fellow magistrates that placing a child into the care of a same sex couple was ‘in the child's best interest’. He was subsequently reported for his actions, reprimanded, and forced to attend ‘re-education training’, which he duly did.
In the March interview he stated that there is a lack of reliable psychological or educational research concerning the effects on children, as in the UK not enough of the children placed in same sex households over the past ten years has yet reached an age beyond puberty.
