November 19, 2010
A Christian doctor is bringing a case of religious discrimination against Northamptonshire County Council.
Dr Sheila Matthews, of Kettering, had been a community paediatrician with the council since 1991. She resigned from the county’s adoption panel and is bringing a case of religious discrimination against her former employer on the grounds of their disapproval over her attitude towards same-sex adoption.
Dr Matthews was on a panel responsible for interviewing couples hoping to adopt but asked permission to abstain from voting in cases where a homosexual couple made an application.
She began researching same-sex adoption in 2004 and has since held the belief that children placed with same-sex couples are more likely to become gay themselves.
The fifty-two-year-old lost her job last year but was partially reinstated to the panel without any voting rights. She later resigned in March.
The doctor told the hearing in Leicester: “I believe that I am being discriminated against on the grounds of my religion or belief, a belief that is supported by rational scientific research.”
She told the tribunal of her beliefs commenting: “The child is likely to be subjected to attitudes and influences which promote homosexual relationships rather than heterosexual relationships.
“This means children are more likely to consider or be involved in homosexual relationships themselves.”
Dr Matthews said she believed a marriage between a man and a woman was the most appropriate environment in which to bring up children and based her beliefs on the teachings in the bible.
She believed the gay lifestyle “attracted risk” for children and increased their chances of mental health problems, substance misuse and even certain cancers.
Martin Pratt, the council’s former Head of Services for Children, Young People and Families, told the tribunal: “I asked her whether she could consider applicants on their merits. She said she could not.
“She did not believe it was in the interests of the child to be adopted by a same-sex couple.”
The three-day hearing is expected to finish today.
