UKIP leadership candidate: Personally I want to ban same-sex marriage

A UKIP leadership candidate has said that he personally supports a change in the law to outlaw same-sex marriage in England and Wales.

The comment comes from John Rees-Evans, who is one of the eleven candidates who have put their name forward to replace Paul Nuttall as head of the pro-Brexit UK Independence Party.

Answering a survey from a group of ultra-conservative UKIP supporters known as ‘Support 4 the Family’, Mr Rees-Evans said he “personally” wants to ban equal marriage.

The decision would have a chilling effect on the thousands of same-sex couples who have already tied the knot in the country since the first weddings were allowed in 2014.

Asked about re-banning same-sex marriage, Mr Rees-Evans said: “We first need to make the argument to our membership and seek their consent for this stance. I would press for this personally, but S4TF need to assist in the work of presenting compelling evidence to our members.”

Mr Rees-Evans also called for sex education in schools to be “limited to the biology involved in reproduction”, effectively outlawing gay-inclusive sex ed lessons.

He said: “Sexual health should be taught in the context of lessons about human health and disease. Further, that chastity, fidelity in relationships and marriage are all as a matter of undisputed fact, preservatives against the spread of STV’s [sic] and unwanted pregnancies.”

He added: “The Schools Inspectorate should have an ethos of respect for Christian, Jewish and Muslim Faith Schools if they have a traditional sexual ethics syllabus.”

Meanwhile, the candidate insisted that he “rejects the notion sexual orientation is fixed at birth”.

He said: “LGBT campaigns ought to be cautious about professing ‘gender-fluidity’ while at the same time professing sexuality is absolutely fixed, as this is clearly a contradiction in terms.”