IRELAND – Irish Fine Gael politician Lucinda Creighton has been heavily criticized for her views on gay marriage. Despite being a party spokeswoman for equality issues, Creighton wrote on Twitter recently that she did not believe gay couples should be allowed to marry.
She also said she “fully supports” civil partnerships but that “marriage is primarily about children, [the] main purpose being to propagate [and] create.”
Reaction to her views was swift and strong and she received very strong criticism on Facebook and Twitter. On her Facebook page, some users called her a “homophobic idiot”, a “c**t” and a “disgusting human being.” One user wrote: “The bigoted comments are regrettable but let’s not forget who started the ball rolling – it was the equality spokesperson from Fine Gael who said yes to second class citizenship.”
Complaining about the criticism she had received Creighton told the Herald, “It’s pretty vicious. I started getting text messages and calls from anonymous numbers last night. I’ve no problem having a discussion but this nastiness has evolved from people who want to whip it up.”
Creighton has claimed it is an orchestrated campaign, but that was quickly discounted by protestors. “None of this is an orchestrated campaign. You just offended loads of people all at once.” One critic wrote on Facebook.
Creighton’s party, Fine Gael, has distanced itself from her views saying, “Lucinda Creighton’s comments represent her own personal views. In 2004 Fine Gael was the first political party to call for civil partnership for same sex couples and has been fully supportive of the civil partnership legislation at all times.”
