Magistrate disciplined after refusing to hear same-sex parenting case

Jan 31, 2017 by

by Patrick Foster, Telegraph:

A magistrate who refused to sit on a same-sex parenting case has been given a formal warning for misconduct.

The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said it had ordered Susan Preston to stand down from hearing future family cases after she “declined to adjudicate on a case… because of her personal views about same-sex couple parenting”.

The disciplinary action against Mrs Preston, who has been a magistrate in South Derbyshire for 16 years, follows the case of Richard Page, a Kent magistrate who was struck off last year for voicing opposition to same-sex adoption.

Mr Page is currently suing the Lord Chancellor for religious discrimination, assisted by Andrea Minichiello Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre.

Mrs Minichiello Williams said the disciplinary action against Mrs Preston suggested that there was a “clear pattern emerging” of “a Christian bar to public office”.

She said: “If you hold the belief that marriage is between a man and woman and that children need a mother and father you are punished. This kind of exclusion is dangerous for society and must be stopped.”

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