Piers Morgan slaps down ‘homophobic’ judge sacked over gay adoption row
Good Morning Britain host, Piers Morgan, has challenged a sacked magistrate who is suing the Justice Secretary over his views on same-sex adoption.
Former family bench judge, Richard Page, who was sacked as a magistrate in Kent because he said same-sex couples shouldn’t be allowed to adopt, appeared on Good Morning Britain to explain his views.
He is currently taking legal action against Michael Gove – claiming the Equality Act had been breached over his religious views.
While explaining the judicial oath, Mr Page said that the last four words “so help me God” meant he wasn’t discriminating against LGBT couples adopting.
Challenging him on remaining impartial, Mr Morgan said: “Whether you like it or not, same-sex adoption in this country is legal. It’s not for you, is it, to say that my religious beliefs mean I don’t agree with the law?”
Mr Page claimed that his “responsibility” was to “do what’s best for the child, not for the parents.”
He continued that “a man and a women were the natural way of having a child”.
When Mr Morgan then asked the former magistrate, “do you believe being gay is unnatural?”, Mr Page replied, “in scripture it doesn’t say being a homosexual is good or bad, but what is wrong is homosexual activity, as sex outside marriage isn’t right.”
Throughout the interview, Mr Page continued to reiterate that what he thought was best for the child was to “be with a man and a woman”, to which Mr Morgan concluded, “what is concerning everybody is not what is best for the child, but the person who’s job it is to determine this, clearly is homophobic”.
He added that “you have just stated things which are homophobic, you are the one that will have the final say and yet, you are homophobic. You don’t think gay people make good parents, do you?”
When asked what he would do if one of his children was to come out as gay and wanted to get married, Mr Page said: “I certainly would not have been happy with that by any stretch of the imagination.”
Mr Page tried to defend his actions by stating that there was “evidence” to show that gay parents weren’t as good as mixed-sex ones.
“There are huge problems when children go through puberty [in same-sex families],” he added.
Concluding the interview, Mr Morgan, said: “You’re basically homophobic. You don’t agree with same-sex marriage, you don’t agree with same-sex adoption…and to clarify you’re sitting on a family bench that is supposed to be allowing same-sex adoption if they meet all the criteria. Clearly, I can see why you’ve been sacked, with all respect.
In his parting words, Mr Page said his religious views were allowed under the Equality Act on exactly the same basis as anti-LGBT discrimination.
Mr Morgan replied, “I don’t think it is, so good luck with your case but I think it’s pretty obvious why you got sacked.”
