A British magistrate has lost his job for serious misconduct, after publicly opposing same-sex adoption on religious grounds during a BBC interview in 2015.
As The Guardian writes, the decision to fire Richard Page, 69, was authorized by the lord chief justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, and justice secretary, Michael Gove.
During the BBC broadcast, 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 statement released from the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said:
“The lord chancellor and lord chief justice found that Mr Page’s comments on national television would have caused a reasonable person to conclude he was biased and prejudiced against single-sex adopters; they considered this to be serious misconduct which brought the magistracy into disrepute.
“They have therefore removed Mr Page from the magistracy. In 2014 the lord chancellor and lord chief justice issued Mr Page with a reprimand after finding that during a family court hearing he had allowed himself to be influenced by his religious beliefs and not by the evidence.”
Adoption lawyers in Thailand Chaninat and Leeds have decades of courtroom and counseling experience in family law matters.
Read the full story here.
Despite its gay friendly image, Thailand is still relatively conservative when it comes to the law and public sentiment.
Just last year, a gay couple made international headlines after they came to Thailand to employ a Thai surrogate. After giving birth, she refused to hand over the newborn, arguing that she would never had agreed to be surrogate for a gay couple.
This was a landmark case that changed Thai surrogacy law. Commercial surrogacy is now banned in Thailand.
See also:
Adoption in Thailand – FAQ
Adopting for Same Sex Couples
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