Elderly councillor suspended for criticising the public display of LGBT flags

An 81-year-old Conservative councillor has been suspended for saying she did not want multicoloured LGBT flags along her local Essex high street.

Former chairman and current member of Braintree District Council, Angela Kilmartin, made the remarks after a man attempted to give businesses rainbow flags to display in their shop windows.

She said: “I don’t want Pride sex flags along my High Street. I don’t even want heterosexual flags along my high street. Sex is for the bedroom and private life, not for displaying preferences in public.”

‘Flaunting sexuality’

Kilmartin told The Daily Telegraph, she had been contacted by those who are “sick of this insistence of flaunting sexuality in ordinary public life”.

I don’t want pride sex flags along my High Street. I don’t even want heterosexual flags along my High Street.

Speaking to the BBC, she emphasised “I stand by what I said”, but clarified if “shop owners want to put up flags they can”.

The Conservative group at the council stated that it has suspended her pending an investigation.

‘Lawful debate’

Last week, the Government said that everyone should be able to engage in “lawful debate” on hot button issues such as same-sex marriage and the reality of biological sex without “police interference”.

In a new code of practice on non-crime hate incidents (NCHI) laid before Parliament, the Government made clear that causing offence is not enough to warrant the police including someone’s personal details in an NCHI.

According to the code, any interference with a person’s “right to freedom of expression” needs to be “proportionate and necessary”.