A chaplain who used a sermon to tell pupils they did not have to believe in “LGBT stuff” has reached a legal agreement with the school that dismissed him.
Rev Bernard Randall was sacked by Trent College in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, in 2019, two months after the sermon. He appealed and his dismissal, external was overturned, but he was later made redundant after refusing reduced hours.
After losing an unfair dismissal claim, his case had been set for a new tribunal over possible bias on the panel that made the ruling, and Trent College was ordered to pay Randall about £20,000 in costs, according to a court document.
Advocacy group Christian Concern said a confidential settlement had since been reached.
An employment tribunal heard Randall opposed parts of a programme the school was implementing to try to improve LGBT inclusivity.
Randall told the tribunal he believed elements of the programme – devised by charity Educate and Celebrate – were Marxist, revolutionary, atheist and incompatible with Christian values.
He said some of the terminology within the programme was “ideologically loaded and misleading”, and he highlighted phrases such as “sex assigned at birth” and “cisgender”.
Randall told the tribunal: “Educate and Celebrate went beyond a neutral stance of inclusivity into the implantation of ideas I consider to be identity politics.”
He said he was inspired to write the sermon, delivered in June 2019 to pupils aged between 11 and 17, after he was asked by a sixth-form pupil: “Sir, how come we are told we have to accept all this LGBT stuff in a Christian school?”
Randall included the question within the sermon, which he said concerned school leaders.
He also said, in his sermon: “You do not have to accept the ideas of LGBT activists.”
Christian Concern said Randall’s sermon reflected the Church of England’s teaching on marriage, but it triggered complaints from some pupils, parents and staff members, who said it nearly left them in tears.
Randall was removed from his role as chaplain at the fee-paying boarding school and reported to the government counter-terrorism watchdog Prevent.
The Derby Telegraph reported, external Randall appealed against his dismissal, which was overturned, but he was given a final warning. Trent College then informed Randall it wanted to reduce the chaplaincy role to seven hours, term-time only, which he did not accept and was therefore made redundant.
