Jacob Rees-Mogg attacked gay relationships in Oxford University paper
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A Conservative MP who is talked of as a future Tory leader and British Prime Minister has been exposed condemning gay relationships.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, Conservative MP for North East Somerset, commented in his student newspaper that he did not deem gay relationships to be acceptable while at Oxford University, according to Political Scrapbook.
The Brexit-backing politician has been a prominent opponent of LGBT equality while in parliament – denouncing marriage for same-sex couples.
Jacob Rees-Mogg with former UKIP leader Nigel Farage (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
He later claimed to breakfast TV viewers that “I oppose same-sex marriage, but I’d go to a gay wedding” in an attempt to soften the position.
Now it has been revealed he began speaking against gay couples’ rights while a student.
The comments came in an article on Margaret Thatcher’s Section 28 – a law which which stated that a local authority “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” or “promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”
In the 1991 newspaper article he said: “I don’t think its in acceptance with traditional Christian values.”
British Conservative politician Jacob Rees-Mogg
Other commenters in the story took more progressive views, however, with one commenting “it doesn’t bother me because it doesn’t affect me;” while another said “If people want to live together, that’s fine by me.”
Rees-Mogg caused controversy last year after he appeared on Good Morning Britain and said that his Catholic beliefs stopped him from supporting marriage equality.
The MP for North-East Somerset has always stood against same-sex marriage and while appearing on GMB he insisted it was only because he takes “the teachings of the Catholic Church seriously”.
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“Marriage is a sacrament and the decision of what is a sacrament lies with the Church not with Parliament,” he added.
In the interview, he also said that he does not support abortion, even in extreme cases of rape.
Speaking about equal marriage to the Daily Mail, Rees-Mogg said that he would still go to a “gay wedding”.
He said: “I’ve never been invited to a gay wedding before, but I can’t see why I’d decline.
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“It’s not for me to enforce my morals on others. If someone asked me to a drugs rave I’d refuse because it’s illegal.
“But gay weddings are legal. I wouldn’t get on my moral high horse. If I went, I hope I’d enjoy it.”
PinkNews has contacted Jacob Rees-Mogg MP for comment.
