‘The only thing worse than a gay person with power is a woman,’ candidate says
One Nation candidate Stuart Bonds
A candidate for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party in Australia once declared that women with power are “the only thing worse” than gay men with power.
Stuart Bonds is the far-right One Nation Party’s candidate for Hunter, New South Wales, ahead of Australia’s federal election on May 18.
However, Nine News revealed on Friday (April 25) that Bonds had made anti-gay comments in a YouTube video.
One Nation candidate Stuart Bonds: There’s a reason I don’t have a gay boss
In the clip, he declared: “The only thing worse than a gay person with power is a woman. I don’t have a woman boss and I don’t have a gay boss, and there’s a reason for that.”
The news outlet also reports that Bonds uploaded videos raising conspiracy theories about the death of Osama bin Laden, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the 9/11 terror attacks.
Bonds insists he is “absolutely not” a homophobe or a misogynist, but when Nine News asked if he regretted the contents of the video, he said: “No, no, no.”
One Nation candidate Stuart Bonds.
In a Facebook post, Bonds suggested the news coverage, based on videos he published on YouTube, was “totally dishonest reporting.”
He said: “These people do not have a monopoly on what you can and cannot talk about. They do not have a monopoly on the truth. They cannot control what you joke about or what you find funny.
“You are a free person and it is your god given right to say what you are thinking and question things.
“After seeing what they did here you know why you need to question everything these people say.
“I look forward to fighting for your jobs and future infrastructure projects in the Hunter. Keep an open mind and eyes open guys and thanks for everyone’s support.”
Many of his YouTube videos appear to have been removed.
One Nation declined comment about the candidate.
The current MP for Hunter, Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon, said the comments were “appalling and offensive to so many people.”
One Nation has had a string of anti-LGBT candidates
One Nation has faced pressure over candidates with homophobic views in the past.
In 2017, it emerged that a One Nation Parliamentary candidate attacked gay marriage as “poof poof marriage.”
One Nation candidate Richard Eldridge tweeted: “Gays [sic] marriage certificate could be called the poof proof certificate or the licker letter of law.
“You see when we consummate a marriage kids are generally born 9 mths later when gays consummate its [sic] just bum sex for enjoyment.”
Eldridge, who also referred to gay relationships as “poo games,” later claimed his comments were “locker room talk”—the same phrase used by US President Donald Trump after his infamous comments about grabbing women by the p***y.
Also in 2017, One Nation candidate Michelle Meyers made the news by claiming “Norwegian homosexuals” are behind a “mind control program” based on strategies “developed by the Soviets and then the Nazis.”
The candidate, pictured multiple times with party leader Pauline Hanson, claimed on social media that Nazi mind control is the reason why “even some Christians are being swayed by the gender industry’s pitch and push for same sex ‘marriage’ and acceptance of fake families.”
