UKIP Wales adds to gay marriage confusion with statement claiming ‘marriage is for procreation’
UKIP Wales added to the confusion over the party’s policy regarding same-sex marriage, by saying it agreed with a policy opposing it, but gave totally different reasons to explain its opposition.
In an apparent breakdown in internal communication this week, PinkNews received andswers to a readers’ Q&A confirmed by an official spokesman to have been approved by Nigel Farage which stated that the party was reviewing all of its policies including its previously stated opposition to same-sex marriage.
One day later, Mr Farage released a statement reiterating the party’s opposition to same-sex marriage, saying: “UKIP’s objection to same sex marriage was two-fold. First, we did not think it should have been made a political priority at a time of many other pressing issues and pointed out that the measure had no mandate from the electorate.
“Secondly we were concerned that because of the role of the European Court of Human Rights in British law that faith communities which had strong objections were at risk of being forced to conduct gay marriages.”
In response, UKIP Wales appeared to get its wires crossed, as it re-published Mr Farage’s statement on its own website, along with the claim that the policy was based on moral purposes, rather than for legal reasons. The statement also made a disproven claim that children of opposite-sex parents do better than those of same-sex couples.
In one version of the page, posted originally on LeftFootForward the statement said: “UKIP Wales wholeheartedly supports the UKIP policy regarding same sex marriage, that it is not the right of government to define marriage, and that marriage is between a man and a woman for the procreation of children, and to provide a balanced and stable environment for those children.”
In another, it read: “Warwick Nicholson, Chairman of UKIP Wales, reiterated our policy, that: ‘No government has the right to redifine marriage. Marriage is constituted for the union of man and woman, for the procreation of children, and remains the most stable way for children to be raised, and should be supported and protected by government.'”
Sceptical politicians from the Conservative Party and Lib Dems on Tuesday may have been proven right in questioning the motives of the Q&A answers attributed to Mr Farage, as Tory vice chair Michael Fabricant, Tory MP Mike Freer and Lib Dem peer all asked what were the motives behind the answers.
