This gay MP had a brilliant response to homophobic hate mail
Ged Killen MP
An MP had a brilliant response when he was sent anti-LGBT literature.
Earlier this week PinkNews revealed that leaflets claiming that being gay or transgender leads to “misery and death” have been sent to MPs.
The pamphlets compare being LGBT to “smoking, adultery, lying, violence, stealing or overeating” and urge politicians to oppose LGBT-inclusive sex and relationships education.
It is understood that the shocking leaflets were sent to a string of MPs from different parties.
But Labour’s Ged Killen, the out Member of Parliament for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, had a great response to the hate.
Mr Killen, who is the first openly gay man to serve in the constituency, revealed that he would be keeping the leaflets – and indulging in a very gay tradition: upcycling.
The MP explained that he had cut up the leaflets into snowflake shapes to hang in his office.
He tweeted: “Thanks to whoever sent me the anti-gay propaganda leaflets. I’m turning them into little snowflake decorations for the office”.
The leaflets claimed that “most gay partnerships are unstable and have a strong tendency to be unstable.”
They said: “The influencing of impressionable young minds bought about by the teaching of such lifestyles erodes the ability to form future stable male/female relationships.
“Therefore, to encourage or facilitate a child to consider opting for a gay lifestyle or to undergo a medical sex change procedure is bordering on institutional child abuse, which will leave the individual unable to function properly as either sex.
“Contrary to popular opinion, it is far kinder to confirm a child in their true biological sex than in pander to destructive notions in a child’s mind; bought on mainly by living in an over sexualised society.”
Mr Killen, who is married to a Northern Irish man, recently challenged the ban on same-sex couples getting married in the region.
The MP explained that he and his partner plan to one day retire to Northern Ireland. However, if one of them dies, under Northern Irish law their death certificate would pretend that their marriage simply never existed.
He said: “If my husband and I stick to our plans to one day retire to his hometown in Northern Ireland, upon my death my better half would lose a husband in every sense of the word.
“The registry confirms no reference to the marriage would be included on any certificate issued. My husband would be recorded simply as a surviving civil partner. Years of marriage wiped out by the stroke of a pen.”
Referencing the DUP’s position on Brexit, he said: “Does the minister agree with me that if the DUP are so keen on no regulatory divergence from the UK, this is a good place to start?”
Mr Killen said: “The Government, despite its stated commitment to advancing LGBT rights in Northern Ireland, refused to take steps to provide for the recognition of UK same sex marriages.
“This is a disappointing response showing that while the Government talks the talk of advancing LGBT rights in Northern Ireland it will not walk the walk.
“The recognition of our marriages is a hard fought and hard won right for the LGBT community and for the Government to stand aside while the public recordings of the marriages of UK same sex couples are effectively stuck off should they choose settle in Northern Ireland is simply not good enough.”
