Councillor at centre of school chaplain row to face hearing

A hearing date has been scheduled for a conduct investigation into an Angus councillor’s spat with a school chaplain who he accused of being an “extreme anti-LGBTQ+ activist”.

Carnoustie Independent Brian Boyd was reported to Scotland’s ethical standards watchdog earlier this year over remarks he made about town minister the Rev Mike Goss.

Mr Boyd accused the clergyman of “working against inclusion in his own church” and using “hurtful and discriminatory language” in public comments and subsequently refused to apologise for the remarks when put under pressure to do so.

The Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland, which received a complaint about Mr Boyd from Mr Goss, has now referred the case to the Standards Commission for Scotland.

A hearing date has been set February 20.

At the hearing, Mr Boyd will have to justify his conduct to a professional committee.

If he is found to have breached the for standards expected to be upheld by a councillor, he could face censure, suspension or the ultimate sanction of disqualification.

The row over Mr Goss started after pupils at Carnoustie High School launched a petition to depose him as the school chaplain.

Pupils said they wanted him removed from the position over claims he was homophobic and had made disparaging comments about gay people in the past.

The chaplain had started a formal protest over the Church of Scotland’s move to back same-sex marriages in 2016.

And in an interview last year, he claimed “same-sex relationships are not what God has planned for us as human beings”.

The petition was unsuccessful and Mr Goss remains in his post.

He previously described the petition as a “tissue of lies” and said the allegations were “potentially actionable”.

The parties have declined to comment ahead of the hearing, a venue for which has yet to be set but is likely to be in Angus.