UK: Man won’t face charges over ‘vile’ homophobic leaflets

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

A man who was reported to police for posting homophobic leaflets through peoples’ doors will not face charges, local police have confirmed.

A 53-year-old was last week spoken to by police in Stoke-on-Trent for distributing leaflets door-to-door which claimed that homosexuality is “not natural”, and that it is a “rebellion against nature”.

Residents of Longton and Fenton were shocked to discover that the leaflets had been posted through their doors by the man who was spoken to by police, but not charged.

Police in Stoke-on-Trent complied a file which was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, which decided not to take action.

PinkNews was unable to ascertain the reason why charges were never pursued.

The leaflets, which read that same-sex marriage is “contrary to the divine law”, “blasphemy against God”, and a “rebellion against nature”, were condemned by families, church leaders and LGBT rights organisations as “deeply offensive”, “vile” and “sick”.

Fentonantigayleaflet

Some families feared that the leaflets had been posted to target individual gay people, but it later became clear that they had been widely distributed.

The literature also claimed that there can “never be any such thing as gay marriage”, and that homosexuality is “unnatural”.

A Staffordshire Police spokesman said at the time: “We received a number of reports concerning homophobic leaflets being delivered to properties. The leaflets, which caused offence to many people were distributed generally to homes in the area. The man responsible has now been located by officers and interviewed about his actions.”

LGBT police liaison officers have visited the area, and local gay community.