Lesbian ally of the EDL’s Tommy Robinson standing to be UKIP leader
A lesbian who served as deputy leader of a far-right anti-Islam group is running to be UKIP leader.
Anne Marie Waters, who says she is a gay rights activist, is running to replace former party leader Paul Nutall, alongside gay Scottish MEP David Coburn.
Nutall resigned as the party’s leader after a disastrous result in the June 8 General Election.
Ms Waters has been a prominent activist in the anti-Islam Pegida movement, and has also praised far-right leaders Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders.
She served as deputy leader of the UK arm of Pegida, the far-right and anti-Islam group partly set up by Tommy Robinson which founded the English Defence League.
Other leaders of Pediga, in its native Germany, have been accused of using the “battle rhetoric” of Nazis and causing “violence and brutality”.
Last weekend she spoke alongside Tommy Robinson at a rally in Manchester organised by the Gays Against Sharia movement, which was accused of exploiting the Orlando shooting to promote hate.
Ms Waters was selected as UKIP’s candidate for Lewisham East, south London, in the General Election, but later removed due to her past involvement in the far-right Pediga organisation.
Now she has vowed to defy the party’s bosses and be elected leader.
In recent days she has shared supporters’ posts calling for “Anne and Tommy Robinsons voices to be heard” in UKIP.
https://twitter.com/AMDWaters/status/864702640248291329
Ms Waters, who says she has been a gay rights activist since university, told PinkNews: “There’s a problem today and that problem is that gay rights campaigners, even prominent ones, are sanitising and ignoring religious homophobia, particularly from Muslim communities.
“There is much evidence to show that there is an alarming level of anti-gay sentiment among Muslims in Britain and across Europe, and large scale migration to Europe in recent years, has been from countries where high numbers of people believe that homosexuality should be criminal, some even supporting the death penalty.
“This matters, and it will affect our future.
“I will continue to speak out and raise awareness of this, in the interests of everyone’s liberty, including gay people.
“There are very few, if any, people involved in Electoral politics who will address this important issue, but I have, and will continue to.”
If elected, she wouldn’t be the first out leader of a anti-immigration party in Europe.
Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) picked a 38-year-old lesbian as candidate for Chancellor the upcoming elections.
