in the news
from April 2008

Regular readers of Shout! will remember that we reported on the resignation of Sheffield magistrate Andrew McClintock (pictured) a couple of months ago. McClintock had resigned from the bench of the family panel because he was not allowed to discriminate against lesbian and gay couples when considering placements for children in the care system.

McClintock had decided that he was forced to take such a decision because he was being discriminated against as an orthodox Christian. He had therefore decided to take his case to an industrial tribunal.

This case was heard at the end of February and McClintock and his supporters did not hold back. They flew in from America an ‘expert’ witness. This sage was a Dr Dean Byrd who was described as Clinical Professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine and Vice President of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. Byrd told the tribunal that ‘the placement of children in such settings begins a slippery slope filled with potential harm for children that society simply cannot afford to take’.

The National Association, it seems, is an American group of fundamentalist Christians who believe that lesbians and gay men can be reprogrammed to change their sexuality. They produce numerous publications promoting their cause and run reprogramming workshops for unhappy lesbian and gay people. They then dress themselves up as an academic research group. McClintock lost the hearing.

In their conclusion to the case, the panel hearing the case said: ‘If a judge personally has particular views on any subject he or she must put those views to the back of his or her mind when applying the law of the land impartially as their judicial oaths of office require them to do.’

John Rossington