The TUV has faced a backlash after appearing to criticise UUP members for attending a gay pride event in Belfast.
tweet from the TUV Fermanagh page posted a picture of several UUP members including MLAs Mike Nesbitt and Doug Beattie, posing for a picture at a previous event with the caption: “UUP, the Gay rights Party!”
UUP office manager Stephen McCarthy, who was also in the picture, replied: “Listen @TUVFermanagh if you’re sitting on a Sat night thinking about gay rights & tweeting pictures of some of the finest men in the UUP maybe you need a chat. Not with me, I think you’re a dick. But do talk about it.”
Referencing a recent Stormont vote on gay conversion therapy, he added: “Thanks to (Doug Beattie) your [sic] not even at risk of being cured!”
The TUV Fermanagh account has since been deleted, and the party has yet to respond to a request for a comment.
Several other UUP members quickly took to Twitter to say they were more than happy to have attended the event.
Doug Beattie, seen by many as the likely new party leader, said: “What a great bunch of people, a lovely day and wonderful picture. We are a union of people.”
UUP councillor Michael Palmer, who has previously spoken publicly about being gay, commented: “I and many others joined the UUP for its inclusion of LGBT people. So many unionists wonder why pro-union voters aren’t voting for unionist parties and then make tweets like this. LGBT people will be crucial to maintaining the union. That needs to be remembered.”
Last month, MLAs passed a motion proposed by the UUP calling for a ban on gay conversion therapy “in all its forms”.
The main UUP motion was not supported at the time by the DUP or TUV.
TUV leader Jim Allister had said he had no problem condemning “gruesome practices historically associated with conversion therapies” but said he objected to any attempts to “criminalise preaching in accordance with the sexual ethics that are set forth in holy scripture”.
Belfast Telegraph
