Magistrate sacked for saying it was wrong for gay couples to adopt to sue Michael Gove

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A Kent magistrate who was struck off after making controversial comments about same-sex couples adopting has said he will sue Lord Chancellor Michael Gove.

Richard Page, 69, from Headcorn, had sat on the family court bench of central Kent, covering Maidstone and Sevenoaks, for 15 years prior to being dismissed.

Last year he was reprimanded and sent on an equality course because said he believed it was “natural and in the interests of a child to be brought up by a mother and father”.

Magistrate sacked for saying it was wrong for gay couples to adopt to sue Michael Gove

Since then, Mr Page, who also works as an NHS manager in mental health services, featured in a BBC Breakfast story where he reiterated his earlier thoughts and added that it “would be better for a man and a woman” to be the adoptive parents.

In a statement about his comments, the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) said Mr Page had been removed from office on March 9.

Now Andrea Minichiello Williams, the chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which is representing Page, has announced that he will sure Mr Gove.

Minichiello Williams said: “He has made the decision to sue the Lord Chancellor for removing him from the bench.

“That will go through the employment tribunal system because he is an office bearer.”

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