Senator under fire for ‘fairies’ comment

CIVIL rights campaigners have strongly criticised a Fianna Fáil senator who claimed he is entitled to call homosexuals “fairies” and argued that women working outside the home are a contributory factor to youth problems, including depression.

LGBT Noise – who campaign for rights, including same sex marriage for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people, wrote to Taoiseach Brian Cowen calling for the expulsion of Senator Jim Walsh from the parliamentary party over his comments.

In an interview with Christina Murphy for the campaign group’s website, the Wexford senator asked her to explain how gay rights campaigners expect to be taken seriously when “men walk around half naked during demonstrations”. “If I were to call people fairies. I would be called a bigot and all sorts of things, but David Norris says it all the time and nothing is said.”