Gay UKIP candidate defends party homophobe who claims ‘gay parenting is child abuse’
UKIP Mayoral hopeful Peter Whittle has defended a party candidate who claims same-sex adoption adoption is “child trafficking” and compares gay people to child abusers.
Alan Craig, the former leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance, is standing as a UK Independence Party candidate for the London Mayoral Assembly – despite his extreme anti-LGBT views.
The preacher consistently appears in the media to argue against LGBT rights, hitting out at the “Nazi expansionist ambitions” of the “gay-rights storm troopers”, comparing same-sex adoption to “child trafficking”, attending ‘gay cure’ events, likening gay people to child abusers, and claiming “all gay marriages are counterfeit”.
But UKIP Mayoral candidate Peter Whittle – who is gay himself – incredibly tried to defend Mr Craig’s long history of homophobic comments in an interview with London Live.
Mr Whittle was challenged over why he was standing on the same platform with someone who had directly attacked LGBT rights on hundreds of occasions.
He said: “It tends to prove there’s nothing homophobic about my party. I am the only gay candidate standing for Mayor. I was selected in an organic process that took a long time. There were a lot of people going for this position and indeed for the GLA.
“I think that Alan Craig – he’s explained to me ‘I’m very live and let live’ – he’s not how he’s been characterised.”
He added: “I am the Mayoral candidate, I’m number one on the list, I have never come across homophobia in UKIP. There are lots of gay people in UKIP, we have our own LGBT section.
“I have shared a platform with this guy and I don’t necessarily agree with his remarks.
“I for example believe in gay marriage, there are people in my party who are not… but the point is the party accepts what the law is now. It’s not even an issue anymore.”
