Family circumstances

Madam, – The leader of Edinburgh City Council has announced he is to adopt children with his male partner.

Sixteen months ago, Ruth Davidson expressed the hope her pregnancy would normalise the deliberate production of fatherless children.

I responded thus: “In an age obsessed with children’s rights, their basic need for a mum and a dad is trumped by the desire of adults to form relationships and family structures as they wish.

“However, mum and dad are not indistinguishable and interchangeable Parent A and Parent B.

“Male and female role models in the home are important. Despite the best efforts of the liberal sociology establishment to obscure the facts, the negative outcomes associated with same-sex parenting should give cause for concern.

“Our virtue-signalling political elite are predictably enthusiastic, while condemning as a homophobic bigot anyone claiming that kids should, ideally, have a mum and a dad.”

My views were recorded as a hate incident, and Police Scotland also saw fit to express concern about them to my employer.

The General Teaching Council of Scotland also launched an investigation into my allegedly “intolerant, discriminatory and prejudiced” remarks. Over a year later, GTCS is yet to resolve the case.

The temptation is to succumb to the pressure exerted by arms of the state and retreat into silence, but freedom of speech is worth fighting for and the fundamental good of natural family life must be defended.

So, I reaffirm my view that same sex parenting is not ideal.

Richard Lucas. Leader of the Scottish Family Party, Glasgow.