Richard Page, 68, a British Justice of the Peace and evangelical Christian, has been suspended from his duties and required to take a one-time reeducating class after he said that a child would be better off raised with a heterosexual couple, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.
During an adoption case, Page told his coworkers in private that he thought it would be better for the child to grow up with a traditional mother and father than with a same-sex couple.
He was then reported to the judges' watchdog group for expressing prejudiced views and was supended from sitting on the bench in further family court cases.
Page has been found guilty of serious misbehavior by Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling, who has previously spoken in support of a Christian couple turning away a gay couple from his bed and breakfast. He must also go back to a course on equality before he can enter the courtroom again.
The sworn oath that all Justices of the Peace must make when they start was violated by the judge, as he let his religious views guide him to a stance against the same-sex adoption case.
"They said I had a closed mind because of my Christian beliefs," Page said. "They said I could not put my Christian beliefs above the rights of single-sex couples. They said I had to open my mind. But I think when you order someone to open their mind, then you are the one with a closed mind," Truth Revolt reported. "What I did was put the interest of the child first. I thought he'd be better off with a mother and father. I put that above the interest of the single-sex couple."
