King Lawal, a UK-based councillor who had been suspended by his local Tory Party after posting a tweet critical of Pride month, is taking legal action alleging multiple violations of his rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, British media report.
Lawal, 31, who had been a Tory Party councillor on the North Northamptonshire Council for the past two years and is a Bible-believing Christian, on June 29th had tweeted:
When did Pride become a thing to celebrate. Because of Pride Satan fell as an arch Angel. Pride is not a virtue but a Sin. Those who have Pride should Repent of their sins and return to Jesus Christ. He can save you. #PrideMonth #Pride23 #PrideParade.”
The post included an image with a Bible verse—Isaiah 3:9—and the text: “Whatever God calls ‘Sin’ is nothing to be Proud of.”
Lawal later clarified that by him having referred to pride as a sin in his previous post, he was not “singling out specific specific people or groups of people as sinner,” since, when Christians refer to ‘sin’ or ‘sinners,’ they are speaking of themselves.
He continued that,
Sin according to the bible includes, lying, stealing, gossip and hatred, not just things like homosexuality, adultery and sex outside of the marriage. Jesus said that even to have unholy thoughts that we never act on is sinful. Therefore every single one of us is sinful by this standard, including myself.
“So when Christians say ‘repent’ and believe in Jesus or refer to something you associate with as ‘sin’,” he added, “it’s not because they hate you. it is because they love you and want to see you saved from punishment the same way they have been saved.”
He then concluded: “I therefore do not come against those celebrating Pride to attack who they are, my intention was to say that I would not celebrate this any more than I would celebrate a month of gossip or anything else the bible calls sin.”
Lawal’s initial tweet was posted in response to a tweet thread by Anglican commentator and broadcaster Calvin Robinson, who expressed concern about the sexualized nature of Pride events, at which children are often present.
Christian Concern, an advocacy group for British Christians facing persecution for their faith (like it did for Joshua Sutcliffe, a Maths teacher who had been banned from teaching in England indefinitely for misgendering a pupil) is committed to supporting Lawal through its legal service, Christian Legal Centre.
The organisation says that Lawal had “received a potentially illegal ultimatum by a local authority which said that he must resign from his own business or face a substantial contract being scrapped,” and had even been banned from speaking at the local library and removed as a trustee for an organisation that helps disadvantaged children get access to green spaces.
These repercussions, it added, were “unprecedented, demonstrating that Christians who hold public office can no longer express their beliefs without having their careers and lives dismantled.”
In a statement published on Christian Concern, Lawal’s first in the weeks following the backlash, he noted: “It is now almost impossible to say something biblically truthful on sexual ethics in UK society without being cancelled and having your life ruined.” Lawal further explained:
During Pride month, I was appalled by some of the illegal activity I saw online at these events. I had real concern for the children witnessing it who will grow up believing this is ok. It is very rare for me to take to twitter, but I saw that the pride movement was silencing any questioning or dissent and I could no longer be silent. What I said was biblically sound and a protected expression of the Christian faith.
What has happened shows that I am not free and that this is not a free country anymore. If it was free, I would be able to speak. The message my story sends is that Christians must stay silent on these issues, or else. What I expressed was not something I made up in my mind, it is what it says in the Bible.
Remarking that his ordeal must “ring alarm bells and should concern everybody who cares about Christian freedoms and free speech as this can now happen to anyone that is not in support of this extreme LGBT movement,” he however expressed his determination “to fight for justice, to clear my name and to ensure that this does not happen to another person.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, remarked that what had happened to Lawal had “been brutal and is a clear case of viewpoint discrimination against a standard expression of Christian belief.”
Pointing out how the UK had become a “monoculture,” which demands “approval, allegiance and promotion of LGBT Pride no matter what,” speaking against it can mean you can become a ‘non-person’ within a week, she said.
When asked for comment, Jason Smithers, Conservative leader of the North Northamptonshire Council that had suspended Lawal, said that “it would be inappropriate for us to comment on this specific case at the current time,” adding that they [the council] “fully support our LGBTQ+ community, as we support all communities.”
While perhaps not as egregious since he has not been formally accused of a crime, Lawal’s case brings to mind another well-known example of modern-day white martyrdom.
After two years of legal wrangling, in March last year, former Finnish Minister of Interior and Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen was acquitted of having incited hatred against homosexuals following a tweet in which she decried her church’s support for a Pride march.
