Brighton councillor: I was called a ‘fascist’ and ‘bigot’ for opposing equal marriage
An independent councillor in Brighton who protested over equal marriage and was then expelled from the Green Party has torn into her former colleagues.
Christina Summers went against party lines in August 2012 when the Greens were discussing a motion backing the government’s decision to legalise same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
The month before in a Brighton and Hove City Council debate she had said: “When you touch marriage, you’re touching family, and you’re hitting at the very heart of God, and I have an enormous problem with that”.
The staunch Christian had taken part in protests outside abortion clinics in the city.
“I was called everything from a bigot to a fascist,” Ms Summers told The Daily Mail.
“For some of these people, ideology is far more important than personal relationships. They just think anyone identifying as a Christian is against homosexuals.”
“I feel very sad, since our election successes were amazing achievements,” she said of the Green’s 2011 victory in taking control of Brighton and Hove City Council.
Of her party’s current difficulties Ms Summers added: “Unfortunately they have no understanding what being in government means, which is the need to show some compromise: this from a party that claims on its website to be committed to ‘a caring, inclusive and democratic society’ that enables everyone to ‘follow their interests’.”
