A teacher and former Tory candidate who said homosexuality is not the norm and Christians shouldn’t be penalised for their views has been given a written warning by his employer.
Philip Lardner, who was dumped by David Cameron because of his opinions, intends to appeal against the warning for the sake of other teachers.
In April he was suspended from his teaching job, at Rashielea Primary School in Renfrewshire, because of his comments on homosexuality which he explained on his website.
Deselected
Now, following a disciplinary hearing, the Scottish Daily Mail has reported Mr Lardner will be allowed to stay in teaching with a formal warning.
But Mr Lardner says he will appeal, commenting: “If I don’t challenge this, other teachers will never be able to voice personal opinions in the future.”
Back in April Mr Lardner defended his comments on homosexuality saying: “This is still a broadly Christian country, and I believe parents should have the right to oppose the promotion of homosexuality in schools.”
Christian
He said: “By suspending me as a Tory, David Cameron appears to be saying there is no place in the Party for anyone with Christian beliefs.”
Whilst standing as a Conservative candidate during the general election Mr Lardner had written on his website: “I will always support the rights of homosexuals to be treated within concepts of (common-sense) equality and respect, and defend their rights to choose to live the way they want in private, but I will not accept that their behaviour is ‘normal’ or encourage children to indulge in it.”
He also wrote: “Christians (and most of the population) believe homosexuality to be somewhere between ‘unfortunate’ and simply ‘wrong’ and they should not be penalised for politely saying so – good manners count too, of course.”
When news of Mr Lardner’s comments broke, Mr Cameron deselected the aspiring politician, and the Scottish Conservative Party also criticised his comments.
Disproportionate
But Tim Montgomerie, of the influential Tory blog Conservative Home, said the Conservatives’ response was “disproportionate”.
Mr Montgomerie said at the time: “I see no evidence for hatefulness in Mr Lardner’s remarks, even though I disagree with his choice of words.
“Although he’s probably wrong to say ‘most of the population’ share his views, they are shared by many conservative Christians and people of other faiths. His suspension by the Scottish Conservative Party seems a disproportionate response.”