Homophobic NI (christian) MP outs herself

19 June 2008

Northern Ireland, that bastion of (arguably religiously supported) sectarian bullshit can now proudly lay claim to another religious born-again bigot, this time in the form of DUP Strangford assembly member Iris Robinson.

Robinson, a born-again christian (apparently she didn’t quite get it right the first time) is quoted as saying that homosexuality was an abomination when being interviewed by the BBC.

Using such words, I suspect that she has pulled this wholesale from her bible and not actually given the matter much thought which, considering the shit that some people come out with when using scripture as a basis for opinion, really doesn’t surprise me whatsoever.

She was also recorded as saying that she has a very lovely [christian] psychiatrist that works in her offices, and that both she and he would be glad of the opportunity to cure any homosexuals.

Police have confirmed that they’re investigating a complain made about Robinson’s statements on homosexuality.

[Edit: this is the conversation that has been reported to the police]

The portion of Mrs Robinson’s radio interview that was reported to the police as a hate crime was the following:

Stephen Nolan: Do you think for example that homosexuality is disgusting?
Iris Robinson: Absolutely
Stephen Nolan: Do you think that homosexuality should be loathed?
Iris Robinson: Absolutely
Stephen Nolan: Do you think it is right for people to have a physical disgust towards homosexuality?
Iris Robinson: Absolutely
Stephen Nolan: Does it make you nauseous?
Iris Robinson: Yes
Stephen Nolan: Do you think that it is something that is shamefully wicked and vile?
Iris Robinson: Yes, of course it is, itâ€™s an abomination.

Source: Pink News

[/end of edit]

A petition to have the PM issue a reprimand has appeared on the 10 Downing Street web site.

Various news articles linked from this Facebook group.

This also leads me to wonder if we should take a leaf from The Little Book of Popular Mealy-Mouthed Sanctimonious Apologist Soundbites for Christians: they have “love the sinner, hate the sin”, so shouldn’t we of a more liberal (as in freedom) have something similar? “Love the bigot, hate the bigotry” has a nice ring to it.

Saying that, I don’t love this â€” or any other â€” bigot. I detest her and others of that ilk precisely because they are bigots.

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Tags: Arkell v. Pressdram, BBC, bible, bigotry, government and politics, hate, homophobia, Northern Ireland, petition, scripture, UK, web

Comments

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4513 Responses2008-06-19+09%3A38%3A33nullifidian to “Homophobic NI (christian) MP outs herself”

Reed Braden on June 19th, 2008 2:19 pm

Woah! You guys actually consider hatred of gays a hate crime?! This new concept blows my mind.
nullifidian on June 19th, 2008 2:35 pm

Not hatred per se, which would be tantamount to a thought crime, but if such sentiments are expressed publically and can be used to influence others (which they certainly can when uttered by a Member of Parliament on a regional radio programme) to commit acts contrary to the public good (anything from breach of the peace and upwards) then yes, it appears so.

Personally, I think that she should be investigated under the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006, seeing as she admitted that it was her religion that induced her to form this opinion and thence make these statements.
TW on June 19th, 2008 9:08 pm

Woah! You guys actually consider hatred of gays a hate crime?! This new concept blows my mind.

Why wouldn’t the expression of gay hatred be a hate crime? If she had said that about Jews, Gypsies, Blacks (etc) it would be. Why should it be any different.

Null, I take on board your point about “thoughtcrime” however she wasn’t thinking this… :-)