page_title: Julia Gasper
section_title: UKIP candidacy: 2012–13
hierarchical_section_title: Julia Gasper / Political activity / UKIP candidacy: 2012–13
caption_attribution_description: English: Nigel Farage.
context_page_description: Julia Gasper is an English independent academic specialising in early modern literature, and a right-wing political activist affiliated with the English Democrats. She formerly belonged to the UK Independence Party. A vociferous critic of LGBT rights, she has generated controversy with comments widely deemed homophobic and transphobic.
  In 1987, Gasper obtained a D.Phil in English Literature from the University of Oxford after studying at Somerville College. She converted her D.Phil. thesis – a study of the role of Protestantism in the work of Thomas Dekker – into her first book; published in 1990, it received a mixed critical reception. She has since published two further books on eighteenth-century European history, on Theodore of Corsica and the Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, respectively.
  Involved in local politics within the Oxford area, she serves as a parish councillor for Risinghurst and Sandhills. In 2012 Gasper was selected as UKIP's Parliamentary candidate for Oxford East. She was scrutinised for her anti-LGBT blog posts by LGBT-themed news service PinkNews.
context_section_description: In early 2012, UKIP selected Gasper to represent them as their Parliamentary candidate for Oxford East, while she also began campaigning to be elected onto Oxford City Council. Asserting that "my central message is to take back control of this country", she campaigned on a platform of promoting the UK's removal from the European Union, opposing "mass immigration", abolishing university tuition fees, and increasing the state pension.
  During her campaign, a resident in the Oxford area discovered a blog post which Gasper had authored in 2010; concerned about its contents, they contacted the LGBT-themed news service Pink News, which then reported on it. Stating that homosexuality was not a sexual orientation but a "form of behaviour", in her post Gasper suggested that same-sex attraction was a choice, before criticising gay people for "complaining constantly of persecution" and being insufficiently grateful to heterosexuals for creating them. Asserting that legal support for LGBT rights had "gone too far", she condemned same-sex marriage and the adoption of children by same-sex couples as "wholly unacceptable", and argued that there were strong links between male homosexuality and paedophilia. Her statements generated outrage, with a UKIP spokesperson commenting that while the party did not endorse Gasper's views on this issue, it did uphold her right to hold and express them.
  Later that month Gasper complained that readers of Pink News had threatened her, declaring that they should be forcibly institutionalised under the Mental Health Act. In doing so, she compared her situation to that of Salman Rushdie during The Satanic Verses controversy. She then claimed that she had received email death threats and was under police protection, assertions that local police refused to either confirm or deny. Commenting to Cherwell, she claimed her views on LGBT issues were "very, very middle ground" and that she had not said anything homophobic, but been the victim of "a malicious witch hunt". Roweena Russell, former chair of the International Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Youth and Student Organisation, emailed Gasper to discuss the latter's comments, to which Gasper responded that Russell too should be institutionalised. Russell proceeded to condemn Gasper, stating that "as a long-term political activist I'm disgusted she used this kind of language. Using mental health as a slur on top of everything else she's doing is just unacceptable." Rafe Jeune, chair of Oxford's Pride parade, characterised Gasper's comments as "abhorrent" and "disgusting", noting that there was no evidence to link paedophilia and homosexuality.
  In the 2010 United Kingdom general election Gasper came fifth in her constituency with 2.3% of the vote (1,202 votes).
  In January 2013, the Sunday Mirror revealed that in a UKIP members' online forum Gasper had condemned LGBT rights as a "lunatic's charter", while saying that some homosexuals prefer sex with animals over that with other humans, and reiterating her belief in a link between homosexuality and paedophilia. The newspaper characterised the comments as "extremist and offensive" and noted that the forum contained many homophobic and racist statements from UKIP members. When The Sunday Mirror asked for comment, Gasper stated that "I'm not going to talk about them. It's none of your business." Political commentator Nick Cohen, commenting in The Observer, described Gasper as an advocate of "dumb prejudice".
  The forum was shut down, Gasper resigned from her position as chairman of UKIP's Oxford branch, and a number of her supporters were also removed from the committee. A party spokesperson stated Gasper had stepped down "to avoid doing herself or the party any more damage". Gasper insisted the withdrawal was her own decision, adding that she had been the victim of a "press vendetta". UKIP stated that her resignation as Oxfordshire branch chair was welcome, but she would not be forced out of the party altogether. However, UKIP leader Nigel Farage condemned Gasper's "war against homosexuals" as "unacceptable", whil
caption: UKIP leader Nigel Farage: Gasper's "war against homosexuals is unacceptable".[14]
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