This gay SNP MP has the sassiest put-down for anyone concerned about the coronavirus ‘rainbow crisis’
A child paints a rainbow in their window while under coronavirus lockdown. (Twitter/@Mammy_of_boys)
A gay SNP MP sent the sassiest response to an email from a member of the public who was deeply concerned about the coronavirus “rainbow crisis”.
As the coronavirus pandemic affects people’s lives more and more drastically, MPs are fielding questions on topics ranging from job security to government regulations on social distancing.
But one person emailed gay MP John Nicolson about their most pressing concern – the “rainbow crisis”.
Children’s drawings and paintings of rainbows have been springing up in windows across the UK after a trend started online.
Hundreds of schools have encouraged their pupils to join in and “spread hope” to those unable to leave home during the pandemic.
While the trend might seem heartwarming, this member of the public was insistent that it must be is a conspiracy to sexualise children.
Nicolson, who is the MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, shared his incredible response.
He wrote in an email: “The rainbow crisis which you identify certainly does put coronavirus into context.
“I confess I’d never before considered a link between rainbows and developing sexual orientation.
“That said, the repeat playing by my own parents of Andy Williams’s hit single ‘I Can Sing a Rainbow’ when I was a toddler in the mid-1960s may have done me untold damage.
“By the time Cilla Black re-released it in the late 1960s, I suspect I was lost to the world of homosexuality. Or perhaps not.”
John Nicolson, SNP MP for Ochil and South Perthshire.
Nicolson took the opportunity to educate the anti-LGBT+ conspiracy theorist on the fact “that sexual orientation is inherent, not taught”.
He continued: “No amount of cajoling, threatening, or persecution makes heterosexuals gay or homosexuals straight. In my own case, I knew that I was gay from an early age.
“No amount of prayer, mockery by school gym teachers, classroom bullying, or tabloid fury could alter that fact. Even the repeat, overt, public flaunting of heterosexuality by Margaret and Dennis Thatcher in my youth left me resolutely gay.”
He finished his email by writing: “So let the NHS fly the rainbow flag, I say. Schools too. I’ll encourage them at every turn. And I hope, perhaps, that we’ll produce a happier and less angry generation than yours or mine.
“But if, by any chance, you do manage to find a link between rainbows and sexual orientation, get on to the Nobel Prize Committee without delay. You’ll be a shoo in.”
The sender of the email is not the only one who has been spiralling into a bizarre panic over the rainbow paintings.
One anti-trans Mumsnet user, who claims the rainbow flag is a “weapon”, wrote on the forum last month: “For the past few years the rainbow has sadly become a symbol of silencing, sexual stereotyping and oppression for a lot of women and those in the LGB community.
“If you’re thinking of putting one up, please think about how that may make women feel… I just saw two on my walk just now and it made me feel like s**t. Not the intended effect I’m sure.
“Please consider something else: the sun coming out from a cloud, or a simple landscape.”
