Former gay porn star turned far-right ‘men’s rights activist’ bottoms out in Scottish elections
Philipp Tanzer is running for the Scottish Family Party. (BBC Stories/YouTube)
Former gay porn star turned far-right “men’s rights activist” Philipp Tanzer has failed to win a seat in the Scottish elections.
Tanzer was a well-known porn actor and identified as gay until the age of 32 – but he then renounced his sexuality and began dating women.
Now aged 43, Philipp Tanzer tried to win a seat in the Scottish elections for the far-right, anti-LGBT+ Scottish Family Party – but the political group failed to win a single seat.
Tanzer was second on the party’s regional list for the Highlands and Islands, but the seats ultimately went to representatives from the Scottish National Party, the Conservatives, Labour and the Green Party.
The Scottish Family Party claimed just 1,976 votes in the Highlands and Islands regional list vote, compared to a whopping 96,433 votes for the Scottish National Party (SNP).
Tanzer’s anti-LGBT+ party won more votes in the Highlands and Islands than a number of smaller groups – such as All for Unity, Reform UK, Restore Scotland and the Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party – but ultimately ended up falling behind Alex Salmond’s Alba Party, which came out with just 3,828 votes.
The Alba Party also failed to win any seats in the Scottish election.
Ex gay porn star Philipp Tanzer claims he doesn’t ‘hate or disrespect’ LGBT+ people
In March, Tanzer spoke on a Scottish Family Party YouTube livestream, where he claimed he does not “hate or disrespect” the LGBT+ community – despite his political group’s regressive policies.
“I used to be a gay porn actor and I know about the struggles and confusion of growing up, being unsure about my own sexuality and identity,” Tanzer said.
He went on to claim that he fully supports the party’s stance on “removing gay and trans-affirming indoctrination from school” and said the UK’s education system is “forcing LGBT+ lifestyles and pornography on children”.
Elsewhere in the party’s livestream, Tanzer said it is “by no means” correct to affirm LGBT+ people’s identities, and said he pushed himself to date women because he felt there was something “missing” in his life.
On its website, the Scottish Family Party argues that children should be raised by a “mum and a dad” so they can have male and female role models.
The party also claims that the gender pay gap only exists because men “take fewer career breaks” and are willing to do “more dangerous jobs”.
Needless to say, the party also opposes hate crime legislation and is against a ban on conversion therapy, believing LGBT+ people should be free to undergo the pseudoscientific and damaging practice.
The SNP fell just one seat short of an overall majority in the ‘historic’ Scottish election
Ultimately, the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) fell just one seat short of an overall majority in the election, winning 64 seats. Elsewhere, the Greens – which also backs Scottish independence – won eight seats.
On Saturday, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon praised the election result as a “historic achievement”.
“The SNP has won this election emphatically, the message we took to the people has been endorsed, and I now intend to get back to work to deliver on all of what we put to the Scottish people,” Sturgeon said, according to the Press Association.
The SNP leader has previously indicated that she would like to hold a second Scottish independence referendum before the end of 2023.
