A Christian magistrate who claimed he was forced to resign rather than place children for adoption with same-sex couples is to take his legal fight to the Court of Appeal.

Andrew McClintock, 63, stood down from dealing with family matters in Sheffield after he was refused permission to opt-out of cases that could result in a same-sex adoption.

The father of four, a member of the Christian People's Alliance council, had served as a magistrate in the family courts in Sheffield for 15 years where his role included deciding whether children needed to be taken from troubled families and put into care.

But the new civil partnership laws led to a situation where he could have inadvertently sanctioned the removal of a child from its natural family to be placed in the care of a gay couple.

Mr McClintock said that contradicted both his personal religious beliefs and his duty as a magistrate to put the child's welfare first.

His request to be excluded from such cases was refused and he believed he had no option but to resign from those responsibilities.

Mr McClintock lost his claim that he had been discriminated against on grounds of his philosophical and religious beliefs at a tribunal.

In January, a Sheffield Employment Tribunal refused to accept the Court had acted unreasonably and a subsequent appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal was quashed today.

Mr McClintock has now instructed his barrister, Paul Diamond, to file papers for a hearing in the Court of Appeal.

He said: "I am deeply disappointed with the decision. For 18 years my Christian beliefs have been well known to both my fellow magistrates and to court officials and it was no surprise to them that when the Civil Partnerships Act enabled same-sex couples to adopt and become foster carers, I was simply seeking some form of recusal from cases where I would be forced to act contrary to my conscience.

"The Lord Chancellor's office is advertising for new magistrates from all sections of the community, but unless they are prepared to take into account the legitimate conscience needs of magistrates from Christian backgrounds, and others, they could well see not only a huge drop in recruitment but resignations from serving magistrates."

Mr McClintock's appeal is likely to be heard in the New Year.

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