Hazel Blears stands by gay Tory against hate
11 Dec 2009
Salford MP shows solidarity with opposition candidate Matt Sephton against homophobe Richard Carvath.
Speaking exclusively to LGF Online, Hazel Blears MP said, "I am shocked and dismayed at Richard Carvath's unwarranted personal comments about Mr Sephton. I have personally always voted to support the rights of gay and lesbian constituents and to tackle the discrimination so many have faced."
This was in response to the shockingly homophobic and relentlessly personal attack on Salford and Eccles Conservative candidate Matt Sephton by Richard Carvath, an independent standing in the same constituancy, on his blog.
UPDATE 20/12/09: It was brought to lgf.org.uk's attention on Friday 18 December that Mr Carvath's offensive blog entries had been taken down. However, on Saturday 19th December, Mr Carvath has posted a new blog entry entitled "Heterophobia. The hatred of the militant homosexuals." It is a "dossier" of events relating to the negative media response to Mr Carvath's homophobic blog entry and manifesto. In the "dossier" Mr Carvath says: "I do not hate homosexuals. I love homosexuals as people whilst at the same time I oppose their evil, corrupt and self-destructive homosexual attitudes and behaviour. I pity those who suffer the self-inflicted tragedy of the gay lifestyle and who are so consumed by hatred."
He adds: "Let’s get real: moral truth, medical knowledge and common sense all affirm that homosexuality is a perversion – and it is not a crime to say so. Homosexuals are really heterosexuals in need of healing. It is not hateful to want to help and to heal homosexuals. But healing cannot begin until homosexuals first recognise that they are sick."
Hazel went on to say: "I am proud that our Labour government has created civil partnerships, equalised the age of consent, scrapped the homophobic section 28, and outlawed discrimination in goods and services amongst a wide range of measures to ensure lesbian and gay people are rightly treated with respect and dignity.
"The next election in Salford and Eccles will be about the real choice facing local people - whether they want a Labour MP who speaks up for them and brings jobs and investment to the City, or a Conservative who supports deep and savage cuts to our schools, police and hospitals.
"Attacking Mr Sephton on the grounds of his sexuality has no place in our politics, and I hope Mr Carvath will retract his statements."
We asked LGBTory chairman Matt Sephton what he has to say on the matter.
Matt responded, "As an unknown POTENTIAL candidate, Mr Carvath is an irrelevance in this election campaign.
He has been spouting nonsense and trying to spread hate in much of his campaigning so far and this is simply the latest example of it. I believe it is unacceptable for anyone wishing to represent the people at Parliamentary level to be behaving in this way."
He adds, "I think the people of Salford and Eccles are mature and responsible people. They are not interested in the sexuality of any of the candidates, they are interested in the issues that matter and in electing somebody who can do a good and effective job at representing them in the House of Commons.
"At the moment our economy is in a dreadful state under Gordon Brown and there is high youth unemployment. I believe that the sitting MP, Hazel Blears, still has questions to answer over her expenses claims and these are the issues that I am concentrating on for the benefit of all the people in Salford, Swinton and Eccles."
The story has reached the Pink Paper website and mainstream press with the Salford Advertiser picking up the story.
Adrian Tippetts, gay rights commentator and writer for pinknews.co.uk and The Guardian, comments on the Advertiser story: "Name me one peer reviewed study that backs up this incoherent babble. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
"Another ridiculous claim: that being gay is caused by a troubled childhood and a distant father.
"This is extremist religious propaganda, long since debunked and certainly not supported by any scientific study, in any peer reviewed journal. It is totally rejected by every professinal body in the Western World.
"He doesn't know what he is talking about and he isn't remotely qualified to talk.
"When interviewed, he cannot even string a sentence together. I don't believe that, even if he were to see the scientific evidence that supports the evolutionary explanations for homosexuality, he would have the intelligence to understand it."
Post your comment
When commenting, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. Your email address, if supplied, will not be published or passed on to anyone outside of LGF Online but may be used to respond to you if required – see our Privacy Policy for more details.
"At a public meeting in September the Hazel Must Go Campaign adopted a list of 10 demands that shape the outlook of our campaign. We called it a "Charter for Salford". One of those demands is for an end to divise politics and that is a demand we feel very strongly about.
We oppose any form of prejudice or discrimination and that of course includes opposition to Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. We reject the notion presented by establishment politicians that prejudice on the grounds of sexuality is history and the stereotype presented by the corporate media that "the pink pound" has led to a wonderful standard of living for all gay people.
We certainly view the opinions of Richard Carvath as disgusting and plainly homophobic - if he were to make similarly inflamatory comments on the grounds of race we would not expect it to stand - in our view homophobia is as equally unwelcome in Salford as racism.
Whoever we select as a candidate to fight this election will have to agree with the Charter and that will mean that the Hazel Must Go candidate will be an active opponent of prejudice and discrimination."
Steve North
Secretary - Hazel Must Go Campaign, Salford
Posted by Steve North, 08/01/2010 12:35pm (8 months ago)
Is there any suggestion whatsoever that Channel M or any other broadcaster of repute will give Mr Carvath airtime? I suspect not and he's just desperate to try and provoke a few people who might help him get some. Just as he tried to latch onto the Hazel Must Go meeting.
Like all of these extreme Christians and other people who have a problem with gay men he seems to be obsessed with 'widge-up-bum and widge-in-mouth behaviour between two men', as he describes it.
Blimey, he seems to spend more time thinking about these activities than I do and I'm a 100% red-blooded gay man! Also he fails to mention the safer option of mutual masturbation. But maybe that doesn't seem so 'depraved and perverse' (and exciting)?
I had to look up the word 'widge' at urbandictionary.com.
Although, as expected, the first definition is 'penis'. The second is:
'Verb: to milk all the enjoyment from an activity by doing it many times to the point of near-obsession.'
Now I doubly understand why Mr Carvath likes the word so much.
Posted by Gary, 15/12/2009 7:35pm (9 months ago)
Why should Channel M be a megaphone for fanatics like you in the first place? They deal with serious news and informed opinion, not deluded village idiots. You are just not qualified to make any claims about human psychology, that's why I doubt they will be interested in you.
Act like an adult, and explain all the whacko unfounded claims you made in your unreviewed, unpublished and unpublishable 'book' which you seem to have cobbled together from Christian Institute pamphlets and extremist American propaganda. The claims are listed for all to laugh at in the comments thread on the Salford Advertiser. Explain how you know they are true. I don't think you can.
And keep your nose out of other people's private affairs, which do not concern you. That's all there is to be said in your case - no debate required.
But if any media outlet is foolish enough to give you any airtime - then fine, anytime. Put a proposal to them and see how far you get.
Adrian
Posted by Adrian Tippetts, 14/12/2009 5:37pm (9 months ago)
Hi LGF,
Just thought you should be aware of this:
http://richardcarvath.blogspot.com/2009/12/carvath-defeats-guardians-tippetts.html
Kind regards,
Richard Carvath.
Richard Carvath ~ Prospective Independent MP for Salford and Eccles.
Posted by Richard Carvath, 14/12/2009 2:17pm (9 months ago)
I talked with Richard Carvath at the recent Hazel Must Go talk by Martin Bell. Mr Carvath was there presenting himself as an alternative candidate for Salford.
In my opinion he doesn't express his more extreme views to you face-to-face. It isn't until you go to his website that you discover them.
So this is a perfect example of why there does need to be coverage of the more extreme political parties in the mainstream media (and on websites like this one). Otherwise how many potential voters meet and talk with him, but don't go to his blog and so maybe never find out how extreme his views really are?
Posted by Gary, 12/12/2009 5:05am (9 months ago)