Tory MP Mike Weatherley receives death threat over opposition to Russian anti-gay laws
Conservative MP Mike Weatherley has received a death threat on Twitter, after speaking out to push David Cameron to act against recently introduced anti-gay laws in Russia.
After the story went live, one Twitter user who has almost 1,500 followers replied, quoting a link to the story, including a message saying “KILL WEATHERLEY”.
“@pinknews: MP Mike Weatherley calls on David Cameron to speak out against Russia’s anti-gay laws https://t.co/1E1b3MooQO” KILL WEATHERLEY
— Zebs. (@magiczebras) August 9, 2013
The threat has been reported to Sussex Police.
Speaking to PinkNews, Mr Weatherley said: “There are some very nasty people who use Twitter to peddle their hate. Threats like this are totally unacceptable and should be investigated by the police. I will of course continue to highlight the deplorable gay rights record in Russia and push for Britain to lead the world in standing up to intolerance.”
The same user, who tweets from Iceland, the country with the first openly-gay prime minister, Johanna Sigurdardotti, who stepped down in April, previously tweeted to say that David Cameron and Stephen Fry should be sent to “deepest Russia”, for having a “liberal bromance”.
Can we send Stephen Fry and David Cameron to deepest Russia please? Since they’ve now apparently got a liberal little bromance going on
— Zebs. (@magiczebras) August 9, 2013
A spokesperson for Sussex Police said: “We have been made aware of a message on Twitter in which Hove MP Mike Weatherley is threatened. We are investigating the content and source of the message.”
Since this article was first published, the user’s Twitter account has been deleted.
Following Stephen Fry’s open letter to David Cameron on Wednesday, in which he urged the Prime Minister and the IOC to strip Russia of the 2014 Winter Olympics, the government responded by saying it was working closely with organisers to ensure the Games were free from discrimination.
Prime Minister David Cameron has so far not commented publicly on the matter, but US President Obama spoke out against anti-gay legislation in Russia on NBC’s Tonight Show on Tuesday.
He said he had “no patience for countries that try to treat gays and lesbians and transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.”
Last week, along with criticism of Russia’s LGBT stance by the UK Foreign Office, a government source told PinkNews.co.uk that they anticipated the issue of homophobic oppression in Russia would be raised at September’s G20 Heads of Government meeting.
