Keir Starmer faces legal challenge from Christian charity over Pride marches
"No one can deny that the LGBTQ+ Pride movement and its hard-line gender ideology," wrote the deputy director of The Christian Institute
By Aaron Sugg
Christian charity, The Christian Institute, has filed a High Court challenge against prime minister Keir Starmer, seeking to stop Civil Service officials from participating in Pride marches.
The charity argues that taxpayer-funded participation in Pride events breaches civil service impartiality rules, as officials march during work hours while wearing official “civil service pride” attire.
According to the charity, the “current practice of officially supporting and funding participation during work hours while displaying ‘civil service pride’ on T-shirts and banners violates civil service rules on impartiality.”
“Civil servants must maintain impartiality” – Simon Calvert, deputy director of The Christian Institute on Pride marches
Simon Calvert, deputy director of The Christian Institute, said in a statement: “The law is clear that civil servants must maintain impartiality on controversial political issues.”
He added: “Whether one agrees with it or not, no one can deny that the LGBTQ+ Pride movement and its hard-line gender ideology are profoundly political.”
“Pride London, the one attended by Whitehall-based civil servants, even banned political parties because they don’t support their political demands, which include puberty blockers and gender self-ID,” he continued.
Pride organisations in London, Birmingham, Brighton, and Manchester have said they will suspend political party participation in 2025 Pride events as a show of “unequivocal solidarity” with the transgender community following the April Supreme Court ruling.
“It certainly does not communicate the kind of neutrality that taxpayers expect” – Calvert calling for civil servants to stop participating in Pride marches
Calvert highlighted political involvement, stating: “Despite Pride being so politicised, the social media feeds of Government departments still feature images celebrating their participation in the movement.”
He added that participation and LGBTQ+-themed lanyards do not represent a neutral political stance: “It certainly does not communicate the kind of neutrality that taxpayers expect of civil servants.”
The Christian charity also cited Scottish Parliament staff (who are not civil servants) being no longer permitted to wear rainbow lanyards at Holyrood, highlighting the Civil Service Code.
The Code states that civil servants are appointed on merit through fair competition and must carry out their roles with integrity, honesty, objectivity, and, importantly, impartiality.
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