Christianophobia peddled by gay press says “So Macho” preacher
The songwriter-cum born-again preacher George Hargreaves has accused the “pink press” of peddling hatred of Christians.
Mr Hargreaves is standing as a candidate for his Scottish Christian Party in the Scottish parliamentary elections on May 3rd.
“This is not about gay rights, it’s about gay wrongs,” he told The Times.
“It’s not all homosexuals. Just the militant ones. There is a certain type who should stop criticising the Church and get a life. This is Christianophobia, peddled by the pink press.”
He hopes to unseat gay Green candidate Patrick Harvie in the Glasgow region.
Mr Hargreaves has funded the SCP – slogan Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship – with royalties he continues to receive for co-writing and producing the 1980s anthem So Macho, sung by gay icon Sinitta.
The B-side of the single was called Cruising.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Hargreaves defended the thousands of pounds he continues to earn every month from the hit song:
“It says in the Bible that so long as Earth remains there shall be seed time and harvest. You could say that So Macho was the seed I sowed and now I’m reaping the harvest,” he said.
“That money allows me to do the work that needs to be done to advance Christianity.
“What would they prefer me to do? Flush the money down the toilet? That would be ungodly.”
He also denied that So Macho was made a hit by gay fans, claiming that it was Scots who bought the song in large numbers, pushing it to Number 2 in the charts.
His attack on Mr Harvie, one of only a handful of out gay national politicians in Scotland, is based partly on his previous work with gay health charities:
“This is not just a cuddly Green MSP. I do not think that people were fully aware of his whole agenda when he was elected,” Mr Hargreaves told The Times.
“He is a gay fundamentalist who got in using a green card of convenience and I want to expose him.”
Mr Harvie made light of the SCP’s comments. With reference to So Macho, he quipped: “I’d be racked with guilt if I wrote that song too.”
Mr Harvie told PinkNews.co.uk he was not worried by threats from the SCP and their claims to represent a Christian voice.
“I think they represent George Hargreaves. It seems they do not even have enough supporters to put up their own placards as they had a company do it. They are a very small group of extremists.
“They do not represent a threat.”
Mr Hargreaves found God after moving to the Isle of Man to avoid paying tax, and qualified as a Pentecostal minister.
Mr Harvie was a leading voice in the successful campaign to abolish Section 28 in Scotland.
He told PinkNews.co.uk that some sections of the press were responsible for giving groups like the SCP undue publicity:
“On issues like Section 28 or sex education in schools some of the tabloids just go to people like the SCP and then say they represent the majority of Christians in Scotland.
“They are small number of evangelical fundamentalists – they do not represent Scottish Christians who rejected fundamentalism hundreds of years ago.
“I am very proud to be in a party that puts challenging homophobia on page one of its manifesto.”
The 129-member Scottish parliament is made up of 73 constituencies who elect one MSP by a straight majority.
Eight regions also elect seven MSPs each by proportional representation.
Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, the Conservative Unionist Party, the Scottish Green Party, the Scottish Socialist Party, Solidarity, the Socialist Labour Party, the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party, Scottish Voice, UKIP, SCP, the BNP and Independent Muhammad Shoaib are standing for election in the Glasgow region.