Anti-gay group attempts to unseat Brighton Tory MP for supporting gay marriage
The Coalition for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage, has mounted a campaign to stop a Tory MP who supported same-sex marriage from being re-elected in Brighton.
The group, which failed to stop the introduction of marriages equality – is now trying to void the marriages of gay and lesbian couples who have already married.
According to a report on Breitbart, the group now claims to have 1,500 supporters who have been urged to vote for “anyone other than the Conservatives” in the Brighton Kemptown constituency.
The group has its sights set on unseating Simon Kirby, who has been vocal on the issue of same-sex marriage, and spoke out last year to say that those in civil partnerships should have been allowed to convert quicker.
In urging voters to choose “anyone other than” Kirby, C4M may have missed the fact that the Labour and Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) for that seat both strongly support same-sex marriage.
A spokesman for Labour’s PPC for Kemptown, Nancy Platts, told PinkNews today that she is “wholly in favour” of same-sex marriage.
Lib Dem candidate Paul Chandler told PinkNews; “I support equal marriage an am very proud that Liberal Democrats are part of the Government that brought it about.”
According to the report, “a senior activist in Kemptown” said that same-sex marriage had cost Kirby a number of supporters but that he did not gain a large gay following in the area.
The source said: “It would be unbelievable for the party that brought in gay marriage to pay for it by losing Kemptown but I’m afraid that is what’s going to happen.”
Tory MP Simon Kirby took Kemptown from Labour in 2010 with a majority of 1,328.
PinkNews also reached out to, Green Party candidate Davy Jones, but is yet to receive a reply. PinkNews could not reach Jacqueline Shodeke The Socialist Party of Great Britain
It is Green Party policy to support same-sex marriage, and Mr Jones has campaigned for gay rights.
Dave Hill, the PPC for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition said: “I am in full support of gay marriage.”
Independent candidate Joe Nielson, when asked by PinkNews whether he supports same-sex marriage, said “YES. Love is for everyone.”
Matt Taylor, also an Independent, said: “I could never publicly declare I DON’T support gay marriage, even if it was to win 1500 votes.”
A spokesman for the Coalition for Marriage told PinkNews: “Our plans for the General Election have not yet been finalised, but we hope that the millions of ordinary people who back traditional marriage and the hundreds of thousands of people who signed our petition will, like many others, play a full part in the General Election.
“We would encourage our supporters and more generally all eligible adults to attend hustings and other political meetings and to vote. We hope they will back those candidates, Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem, UKIP or other mainstream parties who backed traditional marriage, or who back meaningful safeguards, to protect people like Adrian Smith, the former housing manager from Trafford, or Brian Barkley, the former Red Cross volunteer.”
