UKIP e clean about why they really oppose gay marriage - Left Foot Forward: Leadg the UK's progrsive bate

Contents:

• UKIP E CLEAN ABOUT WHY THEY REALLY OPPOSE GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE: NIGEL FARAGE REF TO SAY 'I DO'
• UKIP URGED TO CUT TI WH CHRISTIAN GROUP OVER GAY ‘PRAVY’ MENTS

UKIP E CLEAN ABOUT WHY THEY REALLY OPPOSE GAY MARRIAGE

For several years, the party attempted to distance self om homophobic views often exprsed by s reprentativ, but lear Gerard Batten has lnched a new manifto that swgs the party’s directn heavily agast LGBT+ rights. Sign up for the View om Wtmster email for expert analysis straight to your boxGet our ee View om Wtmster emailChari reprentg lbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgenr (LGBT) people have cricised UKIP for beg the only one of the seven ma polil parti to not mentn gay people s policians e unr creasg prsure to tackle issu facg the LGBT muny, Ukip’s track rerd has been marred by a strg of embarrassg gaff. Earlier this month, Ukip’s prospective parliamentary ndidate Kendrick 'Dickie' Bird was acced of llg former Liverpool and Chelsea Fernando Torr “a gay boy like the rt”, acrdg to a report by the Oxford party appears to have ma no attempt to mend s image over LGBT rights s manifto.

In parison, the Liberal Democrats dited an entire page to showsg s efforts to support those who intify as LGBT, while the Labour Party has promised to ntue tacklg homophobia at home and ls of a statement than the other parti, the Conservativ mentned LGBT rights s sectn on s Big Society policy, a paragraph on “equal rights”, and remds rears that the Coaln troduced of gay marriage. Ukip has released a mi-manifto for Christians, sayg would extend protectn to those who want to oppose gay marriage bee of their relig document is published on the webs of some ndidat and the electn page of Christian Concern, a group that is agast abortn and same-sex manifto for Christians says Ukip would not seek to reverse gay marriage, even though the party was opposed to beg troduced.

However, would offer special protectn to those who wanted to object to gay marriage or exprs other matters of relig nscience the urse of rryg out their says don’t plan to ‘un-marry’ lovg upl. Photograph: AlamyThis uld clu the Christian owners of a bakery who did not want to bake a Bert and Ernie gay marriage celebratn ke or Christian relatnship unsellor who wanted to unsel only heterosexual manifto says: “We will not repeal the legislatn, as would be grossly unfair and uhil to ‘un-marry’ lovg upl or rtrict further marriag, but we will not require church to marry same-sex upl. UKIP's opposn to gay marriage is not for pragmatic reasons, but is based on outdated bigotry.

GAY MARRIAGE: NIGEL FARAGE REF TO SAY 'I DO'

First his party ma an apparent U-turn over s earlier opposn to gay marriage when, durg a qutn and answer ssn wh Pk News, a statement attributed to Farage said that the party would not, after all, mpaign to abolish same-sex marriage. Farage went on to say that UKIP’s opposn to gay marriage was two fold:. “Sendly we were ncerned that bee of the role of the European Court of Human Rights Brish law that fah muni which had strong objectns were at risk of beg forced to nduct gay marriag.

So on the one hand UKIP are opposed to gay marriage bee ’s a bad time to foc on (there are more important issu), and on the other hand bee “fah muni” risk beg “forced to nduct gay marriage”.

UKIP URGED TO CUT TI WH CHRISTIAN GROUP OVER GAY ‘PRAVY’ MENTS

In other words, UKIP oppos gay marriage for practil rather than moral reasons (not that that’s OK or anythg). But someone ought perhaps to tell UKIP Wal this, for their objectns to gay marriage are rather different.

Don’t vote UKIP if you’re a gay uple and want to get married. Nigel Farage has sistepped attempts to force him to say whether he supports gay marriage, argug would be a matter for the Hoe of Commons to normally opnated Ukip lear appeared to want to avoid g down one si or the other partly due to divisns wh his party's ranks, and fears that whatever posn he adopts will alienate some of his issued a statement to Pk News two weeks ago, thought to have been cleared wh Farage, sayg the party was reviewg s opposn to gay marriage.

Speakg on LBC rad, Farage highlighted the dangers of supportg gay marriage while Bra was the EU, sayg was likely the European Unn would force church to hold gay marriage ceremoni agast their said: "We are openg up a very big n of worms here, wh many very big risks. I n't prejudge what will happen there, but possibly forced to nduct gay marriag those church agast the will of vast majory of churchgoers.