Mayor Election 2016 / News
Mayor boycotts debate over alleged homophobia
George Ferguson boycotted a pre-election debate at Woodlands Church in Clifton because of alleged homophobic comments made by the church’s leader.
The leader of the evangelical Woodlands Christian Centre, Dave Mitchell, was recorded in 2013 saying that calling homosexual marriage the same as hetrosexual marriage was “like calling baseball rounders”.
“This seems to me a clear statement of homophobic prejudice against the LGBT community that I deplore, making it inappropriate for me to attend this particular debate,” mayor Ferguson said in an email, seen by Bristol24/7, explaining why he was pulling out of the hustings on Monday evening, which was initially planned to take place at Bristol Cathedral.
Ian Mountford from Bristol Churches Together said the event was hosted by an alliance of churches of all denominations across Bristol.
Mountford told Bristol24/7: “We are quite disappointed that the mayor of Bristol didn’t attend the event and engage with churches of all different denominations across the city and Christians who would have shared his views. To label us all as evangelicals is actually deeply ignorant.”
In his email to organisers the mayor also said he would question why Labour rival Marvin Rees, who attends Hope Community Church in Hotwells, would “attach himself” to the evangelical Woodlands church.
Rees, who attended the event along with four other mayoral candidates, said: “I will not judge an entire religion on the basis of the misrepresented comments of one man. I am happy to go on the record to support equal marriage.”
Bristol24/7 attempted to contact Woodlands and Dave Mitchell, but is yet to receive a response.
Read the mayor’s full email here.
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