UKIP Councillor who was ‘baffled’ by lesbians and ‘queers’ says he respects ‘lifestyle choice’
A UK Independence Party councillor in West Yorkshire who was “baffled” by Britain’s social acceptance of homosexuality and said that he found “female homosexuality” even stranger – denies accusations of homophobia.
Last week, Cllr Sam Fletcher, a UKIP Town Councillor for Keighley, for Bracken Bank and Ingrow Ward on Keighley Town Council, said on Facebook: “I suppose British society has become far more complex and harder to immediately understand since it became socially acceptable to be openly homosexual. I have no shame or embarrassment in admitting I’m baffled at times, in terms of my personal understanding, but I accept people’s right to be different and I welcome diversity.”
He added: “Au contraire, I find female homosexuality more strange, personally, if anything.”
Suggesting tolerance towards gay people was a bit like learning to enjoy different types of food, Cllr Fletcher said: “Well actually ordinary mushrooms have grown on me in recent years. I used to really hate the texture when I was a child. Now I can tolerate them.”
He crudely joked: “Did you hear about the chap who went to the doctors, he said ‘Would it be possible for me to contract AIDS from a toilet seat?’ The doctor said ‘Well, only if you sit down before the other bloke stands up”.
The councillor then began to talk about having an affair with an unnamed woman, and also about his difficulties in using appropriately sized condoms.
He also later said: “I am not homosexual or bi-sexual. I don’t want to think about queers, thank you.”
When asked to comment about his remarks on homosexuality, Cllr Fletcher emailed PinkNews.co.uk to say:-
Dear Mr. Roberts,
I hold your stitch up and total hatchet job of an article in complete contempt, frankly.
If you’re interested in my real opinions about homosexuals and the LGBT community, I respect everyones right to pursue their own lifestyle choice and I believe in individual liberty. I actually stated on the Facebook comment thread that I think its very good that people can be openly homosexual, which has not always been the case, because societal attitudes have liberalised over the past 40 or 50 years.
Many thanks,
Samuel.
