Brexit Party criticises using Remembrance Poppy to promote LGBTQ rights
GARETH ICKE
'A Brexit Party candidate has said the Remembrance Poppy should not be used to promote political issues or groups such as the LGBTQ community.
Nicholas Goulding is running as the party’s candidate for Eddisbury, Cheshire in the forthcoming December 12 General Election.
An unofficial version of the Remembrance Sunday poppy is being used to represent soldiers from the LGBTQ community and is being sold online.
However, Trevor Coult - a former solider and military cross recipient - posted a tweet expressing his outrage, which the Brexit Party hopeful Mr Goulding retweeted.
The original tweet said: "If your gay, bi, trans or whatever, I don’t care.
"You have a pride month to celebrate who you are. Please don’t take over the one day a year where i get to remember my friends and all those that died for this country. Leave the poppy alone and have some respect."
Speaking to Yahoo News UK, Mr Goulding explained he supported Mr Coult's tweet because the symbol of remembrance should be "kept outside the political frame" - as it is a symbol of unity that represents everyone in the country.
The Brexit Party candidate said: "It, the poppy symbol, has been established as an emblem of remembrance and it shouldn’t be adulterated for other means. It shouldn't be used for other purposes, no matter what that purpose should be.
"It should be there to unite everyone in the country. If you take an emblem and use it for political controversy, then you are undermining a symbol for the nation."
Mr Goulding explained that he is not against other campaigns - but feels that the poppy should be used to remember those who gave their lives in conflict.
He continued: "That's not to say I'm against other campaigns, it's to say I think remembrance day and poppy emblem should be kept outside the political frame.
"When you see the leaders sitting next to each other at the Cenotaph that’s acceptable as they display national unity.
“The people who died died for the country as a whole and their immediate friends and comrades did so without making reservation as to who it was for.
“We shouldn’t use that to make any point. I may be from the Brexit Party - but I’m not using that as a handle.
“It is a symbol for everybody, and it also represents the Liberal Democrats, or the Greens, or the Tories. They all share the same heritage."
https://www.davidicke.com/article/5...-using-remembrance-poppy-promote-lgbtq-rights
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/ukne...py-to-promote-lgbtq-rights/ar-AAJXdzq?ocid=se