A Christian who was dismissed as a magistrate after expressing his view that it was in a child’s best interests to be raised by a mother and a father, began legal action in August after being blocked from returning to his role as an NHS Trust director,
Richard Page, who had nearly 20 years' experience as a finance director in the NHS, was suspended from his role as a non-executive director of Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust in March 2016.
The Trust believed that expression of his views about family life had ‘undermined’ the confidence of staff, particularly LGBT staff.
At a preliminary hearing in January 2017, a judge said that Mr Page’s case was ‘crying out to be heard’.
Claim of discrimination
Mr Page, from Kent, is bringing a claim of discrimination, harassment and victimisation against the NHS Trust Development Authority, under the Equality Act 2010.
A four-day hearing started on 1 August at Croydon Employment Tribunal. Mr Page was represented in court by a Christian Legal Centre lawyer. Mr Page, 71, has worked for various NHS Trusts for almost 20 years.
In 2016, Mr Page appeared on television programmes to defend his position that children should ideally be raised by a mother and father. He had expressed this view during a closed-door consultation in an adoption case while serving as a Justice of the Peace.
He was later sacked for serious misconduct by the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice, who said his comments suggested he was ‘biased and prejudiced against single-sex adopters’. In August 2016, he was told that an NHS panel, convened to consider his suitability to return to his role as a non-executive director, unanimously agreed it was not in the interests of the health service for him to serve.
