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15
Apr
'I have changed': Conservative candidate disavows homophobic views
Anthony Murphy, the prospective Conservative town councillor in the spotlight for historic homophobic social media posts, has broken his silence to say that he no longer holds those views.
Last Thursday, the Stray Ferret revealed that Mr Murphy, who is the Tory candidate for the Duchy ward in the forthcoming Harrogate Town Council elections, has a history of publishing homophobic posts.
In 2015, he posted that it was a “perennial truth that homosexual sex are acts of grave depravity”. He added that “tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered’”.
Three years later he urged bishops to “purge the filth from the Church”.
Mr Murphy, who lives in Harrogate and is the editor of the Catholic Voice magazine, appears to have made the comments following the passing of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, when some churches were struggling to arrive at a consensus view on the subject.
But the views he so forcefully expressed contradict the Conservative Party’s own stated values.
The Stray Ferret tried to contact Mr Murphy before we published last Thursday’s story, but received no reply.
In a response shared today by the Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative group, he said:
There are circulating some historic comments made at a time of intense debate and high emotion, generally in religious communities and particularly the Catholic Church.
I am a practicing Catholic. Alongside many of my faith and of other faiths, I hold beliefs about the nature of marriage that lead me to oppose same-sex marriage. I uphold a specific religious definition of marriage rather than any animosity or prejudice towards gay people.
When the same sex marriage legislation was the centre of national debate my church was very exercised. So was I. The comments I made then reflect that.
But they are not my views now. I have changed, and those comments could not be further away from my views now.
When I look back on those comments I find it hard to recognise myself and can understand other people’s views on them.
He said that the local Conservative Party was aware of his past views before his selection as candidate for the Duchy ward.
He said:
We discussed the comments and I made clear that my views are long changed. It is not just in words but in both words and deeds I show my current views. I have demonstrated it by going out campaigning for LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual. trans] candidates who are friends I want to see elected.
Past views are just that, the past. If I were to be elected, I would proudly represent our whole community and be a strong voice for everyone within it.
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