LGBTQ Breaking News Service

Reverend Bernard Randall, the former school chaplain for private boarding school Trent College. (Christian Concern)

A chaplain at a private boarding school who told kids it was “perfectly proper” to say gay sex is “morally problematic” is claiming he was discriminated against.

Reverend Bernard Randall, 48, was working at the elite Trent College in Nottingham, in 2019, when he decided to give a sermon to the children on LGBT+ rights.

The school had recently adopted the LGBT+ inclusion programme Educate and Celebrate, which provides training for school staff.

Claiming he was responding to a question by a student – “How come we are told we have to accept all this LGBT+ stuff in a Christian school?” – Randall told students: “You do not have to accept the ideas and ideologies of LGBT+ activists.”

He continued: “Indeed, since Trent exists ‘to educate boys and girls according to the Protestant and Evangelical principles of the Church of England’, anyone who tells you that you must accept contrary principles is jeopardising the school’s charitable status, and therefore its very existence.”

Randall added: “It is perfectly legitimate to think that marriage should only properly be understood as being a lifelong exclusive union of a man and a woman… You may perfectly properly believe that, as an ideal, sexual activity belongs only within such marriage, and that therefore any other kind is morally problematic.”

The school chaplain also told the children that his view on marriage and LGBT+ rights was an “ethical position which could also be arrived at independently of any religious text”.

According to Christian Concern, which is supporting Bernard Randall in his legal action, following an investigation and disciplinary hearing, the chaplain received a letter from the school’s headteacher, in August 2019, informing him that his sermon had amounted to gross misconduct, which would result in dismissal.

He appealed, and his dismissal was converted by school governors to a final warning, provided that he comply with requirements including that he not “express personal beliefs in ways which exploit our pupils’ vulnerability”.

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During the coronavirus pandemic, however, Randall was furloughed and eventually made redundant in December 2020.

Christian Concern also claimed that Trent College’s Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) began the process of reporting Randall to Prevent, the government initiative to “safeguard individuals from being drawn into terrorism”, but the report was never completed.

Although the Christian legal group said Bernard Randall was being reported as a “potentially violent religious extremist”, schools have a legal “duty to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”, according to government guidance.

The guidance states: “Being drawn into terrorism includes not just violent extremism but also non-violent extremism, which can create an atmosphere conducive to terrorism and can popularise views which terrorists exploit… Schools should be mindful of their existing duties to forbid political indoctrination and secure a balanced presentation of political issues.”

Bernard Randall is now taking Trent College to court for discrimination, harassment, victimisation and unfair dismissal, with the support of Christian Concern’s Christian Legal Centre which said an employment tribunal hearing was expected from 14 June 2021.

Explaining his decision to launch legal action, the chaplain claimed his “Christian beliefs” had been “blatantly censored”.

He added: “My story sends a message to other Christians that you are not free to talk about your faith.

“It seems it is no longer enough to just ‘tolerate’ LGBT+ ideology. You must accept it without question and no debate is allowed without serious consequences… I 100 per cent see what has happened to me in Orwellian terms.

“Truth matters, but increasingly powerful groups in our society do not care about the truth.

“My career and life are in tatters. I believe that if this is the cross that I have to carry to help prevent others from experiencing the same as me, I have no choice but to pursue justice.”

When approached for comment, Trent College told PinkNews that “it would not be appropriate for the school to provide any further comment at this time, in light of ongoing Employment Tribunal proceedings”.

Mykey O’Halloran had finally saved enough money to buy a small beach house on Australia’s Phillip Island — and he’d settled on a color scheme he thought was perfect for it.

As a proud gay hairdresser whose Unicorn Manes salon specializes in rainbow-hued designs, O’Halloran has crafted hair to resemble tacos, cheeseburgers and fries. So he figured it made sense to give the beige, three-bedroom and attached guest bungalow rainbow stripes from top to bottom.

But after he moved into the house in February, a few of his neighbors in the island community, population 7,071, didn’t agree.

The evening of March 16, O’Halloran said, he heard somebody banging on his door. When he opened it, five angry men confronted him over his plan to paint his house with bright rainbow colors, he said.

“They’d heard about it through a conversation with the painter who was painting my kitchen,” said O’Halloran, 29. “They told me, ‘Don’t do it. Paint your house and see what happens, because next time we meet, it won’t be so nice.'”

“One of them said I would make his house drop in value by $20,000 if I painted my house in ‘stupid’ colors,” he added.

The men shouted homophobic slurs, said O’Halloran, and one of them threatened to kill him if he went ahead with his rainbow project.

“I froze up inside and thought I was about to be seriously injured,” he said.

O’Halloran said he told the men he didn’t feel comfortable talking to them and shut the door. Then he phoned the police. One man was charged a few days later with unlawful assault and making threats to kill, according to a statement from Victoria Police.

O’Halloran decided to share his story about the unsettling experience on Facebook and other social media.

“The positive response filled my heart with love and made me feel supported and not alone,” Mykey O’Halloran said in regard to the support he received. (Mykey O’Halloran)

“I cried myself to sleep last night after feeling so invaded, homophobically attacked and threatened in my very own home,” he wrote.

O’Halloran also wrote that he was not going to allow anyone to bully him out of his island getaway. He would proceed with his plan to paint the house as a big rainbow.

Hundreds of people who read his post agreed, and they volunteered to help him paint it.

“For every rat bag like him, the island has a thousand others who welcome you,” one neighbor commented.

“You paint your house whatever colors you want to! I’m so sorry this happened to you!” commented a woman from Pennsylvania.

Within days, O’Halloran had a small army of volunteers lined up, and the Dulux paint company had donated 12 gallons of house paint in rainbow hues, he said.

On April 18, more than 100 people — including several children, a few home renovators and a couple of police officers — came to O’Halloran’s house and spent seven hours painting the home’s siding, deck and fence in stripes of blue, green, yellow, orange, purple and pink. One donor had eight surveillance cameras installed at O’Halloran’s house in case anyone threatens him again.

Hundreds of others chipped in about $7,750 for a fundraiser O’Halloran organized recently with local businesses to benefit the local community group Phillip Island Community and Learning Centre.

“The positive response filled my heart with love and made me feel supported and not alone,” O’Halloran said. “People were dropping by to shake my hand, say hello and welcome me to the neighborhood.”

Mykey O’Halloran’s rainbow house on Australia’s Phillip Island was done with the help of volunteers. (Mykey O’Halloran)

Linda Wilson, a counselor who lives on the island and facilitates a “Rainbow Connect” support group for the LGBTQ community, was among those who picked up a paintbrush.

“When I heard about what had happened to Mykey, I felt it was important that I be involved and show solidarity and support for him,” said Wilson, 47.

“There was a lot of openheartedness there on the day [the house was painted], and someone volunteered their time with a barbecue to feed all who attended,” she added.

“When I heard about the awful reaction [Mykey] had faced, I threw myself into it wholeheartedly,” said Denni Slorach, 42, who runs a print shop in Grantville, Australia, about 25 miles from Phillip Island. She designed a rainbow house logo and stickers in support of the event.

“The day came from love and joy in life, and the finished house will be uniquely Mykey — a representation of his rainbow soul,” she said. “So many people said they thought it would look awful, but now that they’ve seen it, they’re pleasantly surprised by how well it turned out.”

O’Halloran couldn’t contain his delight when the last bright coat of paint had dried. He and others in the community are hoping to put on the island’s first pride parade.

“I know in my heart that I’m a good person, and I deserve inclusion and acceptance for how I wish to live my life,” he said.

“My message now is don’t let anyone else dull your sparkle, and always stay true to yourself.”