Northern Ireland: Local candidate who said she would ‘recriminalise homosexuality’ fails with 67 votes

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A Northern Irish independent local council candidate who said she would like to “recriminalise homosexuality,” has been eliminated with only 67 votes.

Susan Anne White, of Trillick, stood as an independent candidate in the Omagh district. She described herself as an evangelical Christian, and has made it clear that she opposes same-sex relationships.

Speaking at the Strule Arts Centre at a Question Time-style debate last month alongside other candidates, White said she would “recriminalise homosexuality”, given the chance.

Eliminated at the first round of transfers, White only received 67 first-preference votes.

White made the claim that gay people “are not born that way, they are out to recruit. We are in danger. One demand after another.”

She also said she opposed same-sex marriage, and gay people giving blood, saying the “gay agenda… One of their goals is destruction of marriage.”

In a previous interview with the Tyrone Herald, White admitted that her chances of being elected were “slim”, but claimed she had received mainly positive feedback door-to-door.

“My campaign will be run along the lines of ten bible-based principles and among them will be that we need to keep safe from the destructive homosexual agenda,” she said.