Suspended Pride is sin tweet councillor King Lawal takes legal action

King Lawal said he had been suspended by the local Conservative Party and was expecting the national party to hear his case

A Tory councillor who tweeted during Pride month that "Pride is not a virtue but a Sin" said he is taking legal action after being suspended the party.

North Northamptonshire councillor King Lawal, 31, said he tweeted after seeing images of naked men at what he believed were Pride events, often near children.

Mr Lawal, a Christian, said: "I was appalled by some of the illegal activity I saw online at these events."

The Conservative group said it would be "inappropriate" to comment on his case.

In relation to the images he had seen at unspecified Pride marches, he said: "I had real concern for the children witnessing it who will grow up believing this is OK."

He said appearing naked in public was illegal and would not be tolerated in other circumstances. Pride in London issues a code of conduct for participants that says "nudity... is not allowed".

The Christian Concern group, which is supporting him, said Mr Lawal had been "cancelled by seven organisations, including being suspended by the Conservative party pending an investigation".

It said he would "launch legal action after having his life torn apart for sharing one tweet which gave the Christian and biblical position on LGBT Pride events".

Mr Lawal's now-deleted tweet said: "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."

Mr Lawal's legal team said he would be taking legal action to defend his freedom of speech

Mr Lawal, who represents Wellingborough's Brickhill and Queensway ward, took to Twitter to defend his stance and said: "When I referred to Pride as a sin in my previous post, it may have been misinterpreted as hateful. Let me explain why it is not.

"When Christians refer to 'sin' or 'sinners' we are speaking of ourselves. We are not singling out specific people or groups of people as sinners.

"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.

"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."

'Brutal'

Christian Concern said the "repercussions faced by Councillor Lawal are unprecedented, demonstrating that Christians who hold public office can no longer express their beliefs without having their careers and lives dismantled".

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which is working with Mr Lawal, said: "What has happened to Councillor Lawal has been brutal and is a clear case of viewpoint discrimination against a standard expression of Christian belief.

"Where is 'diversity', 'tolerance' and 'inclusion' here? We have only a monoculture which requires approval, allegiance and promotion of LGBT Pride no matter what."

Jason Smithers, Conservative leader of North Northamptonshire Council, said: "It would be inappropriate for us to comment on this specific case at the current time."

He added that the council was committed to reducing inequality and that they "fully support our LGBTQ+ community, as we support all communities".

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