Politician ‘regrets’ suggesting ban on gays in toilets… but George Michael still not allowed
A politician on the Isle of Wight has apologised for suggesting that bathroom attendants be hired to keep homosexuals out of the public toilets.
Cllr Chris Dupre, an independent councillor who sits on Sandown Town Council, originally made the comments to the Isle of Wight County Press last week.
Speaking about the local public toilets, he said: “What we need is attendants to stop paedophiles, homosexuals, pigeons and all sorts going on in there.”
However, after the comments were condemned by the local LGBT community, the councillor insisted he was talking about “George Michael” homosexuals and not all gay people.
According to the newspaper, he said: “I really do apologise for using the general word homosexuality.
“I do regret it, I have gay friends and I have worked with gay people. They are lovely people.”
He clarified he meant homosexuals who had been found using toilets inappropriately, saying: “What I meant was, George Michael for instance, was found in a public toilet.”
There have been no reports of sexual acts in the town’s toilets.
A gay local resident who did not wish to be named told PinkNews previously: “We do have a gay community on the island who are appalled by this”.
He added that people feel “upset and fear being targeted.”
The Isle of Wight Gay Men’s Chorus had also spoken out against the comments.
The group said that “likening Homosexuals to Paedophiles is extremely offensive”, suggesting Cllr Dupre clarify how he would “spot what a homosexual actually looks like so he can ban them from his precious toilets”.
They added: “We also wish to extend an open invitation to Cllr Chris Dupre to our forthcoming Summer Concert so that he can discover we have better things to do with our time than hang around Sandown Public Toilets.”
The Isle of Wight, located off the Hampshire coast, has a population of 140,000.
Actress Emma Thompson famously upset Isle of Wight residents in 2010 after joking that they stone gay people and shoot the Irish.
She made the quip when TV host Craig Ferguson described Santa Catalina, an island off the California coast, as “”kind of like the Isle of Wight”.
She joked: “Oh, so they stone homosexuals there? Nice.
“I think they are still allowed to flog them, which of course some of them enjoy. I think they are allowed to shoot Irish or Scottish people if they arrive on the island – it is still in the rules.
“They are allowed to torture people. It’s lovely, you should go.”
