Tory MEP apologises - but still believes homophobia is ‘militant gay propaganda’ | Lesbilicious - the web’s tastiest lesbian magazine

The Conservative MEP at the centre of a homophobia scandal has been forced to defend his views after several national newspapers including the Guardian and the Independent picked up the story.

Writing on his blog, Roger Helmer claimed that “‘homophobia’ is not so much a word as a political agenda” which “describes something which simply does not exist”.

Speaking yesterday (11 August 2009) to the Northampton Chronicle and Echo, the regional newspaper for his East Midlands constituency, Helmer backtracked on his previous comments.

“I was not claiming that there is no discrimination, and that homosexuals do not suffer violence and prejudice from people because sadly, we all know that is not the case,” said Helmer.

“What I was saying was that the word homophobia has no meaning. I have never met anyone with an irrational fear of homosexuals, it is just a propagandist word created by the militant gay rights lobby.”

Paul Crofts, chairman of the Northamptonshire West Hate Incident Forum and equality advisor for the University of Northampton, said Mr Helmer’s views would be deeply offensive to victims of homophobic crimes.

“To many gay and lesbian people in this county, homophobia is real and it has very real consequences,” said Crofts.

“We have dealt with incidents of violence against people which have been motivated purely by the fact they are homosexual.

For Mr Helmer this may be a matter of semantics, but for gay and lesbian people this is a real issue.

“I would have thought someone like him, who is a member of the European Parliament and is in an influential position, would realise he has a responsibility to condemn homophobia.”

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