MEP considers pictures of gay couples with children ‘offensive’
THE ROW between Euro MP Marios Matsakis and the European Parliament’s “homosexual lobby” reached the plenary at Strasbourg yesterday.
Matsakis raised the issue of the right of homosexuals to adopt children at the plenary, while being heckled by British MEP Michael Cashman, who shouted “Shame! Shame!”
The dispute began last week when Matsakis received a number of emails promoting an exhibition on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families.
The Cypriot doctor ruffled a few feathers when he replied to the emails, asking not to be sent any more as he found pictures of gay couples with children “offensive”.
A few days later, Matsakis was stunned to find that the walls outside his office had been plastered by the “homosexual lobby” in Brussels with tens of the “offensive” posters depicting homosexual families pinned up all over the corridor and also shoved under his door. Matsakis was none too pleased and reported the matter to the President of the European Parliament.
The Cypriot MEP said he suspected the campaign against him was as a result of his “emotional speech given four five years ago in favour of the rights of children”.
“My party, the Liberals, played a determining factor in the matter,” he said, referring to the vote against giving adoption rights to homosexuals.
“It’s a controversial issue, which needs answers. I raised it again yesterday while Mr Cashman shouted ‘Shame! Shame!’ while I was speaking,” said Matsakis.
“He also declared himself to be a gay man, which is the first time I have heard him say it,” he added.
Matsakis noted that the gay lobby in Brussels has always kept an eye on the Euro MP, ensuring he was fully informed in all their activities.
“They keep sending me things, inviting me to functions, perhaps giving me more attention than others.
“Just yesterday I got an email inviting me to a meeting on transgender citizens in Europe, whatever that might mean,” he pondered.
The former DIKO deputy added that there might be more to the issue than his views on homosexual rights to children.
“Cashman is always at odds with me because he’s very pro-Turkish. I always get a reaction from him when I mention the occupation,” he said.
