A Conservative Party student leader in the UK has been expelled from the party and suspended from university after making homophobic comments on a website. Fergus Bowman, 22, is a politics and religion student at the University of Central Lancashire (Uclan) in Preston, Lancashire. Mr Bowman listed himself as chief political officer on a homophobic group called "Homos burn in Hell" on the social networking site Facebook. Their homepage showed a member of the Klu Klux Klan standing in front of a burning cross and near it were the words "Everyone knows homosexuality is against God's wishes." Bowman had posted comments on the relating homosexuality to the HIV virus and claiming he hates Jews. Another read: "By calling them gays, we are destroying a word from the English language." Bowman resigned as chairman of the student union's Conservative Future branch after his comments came to light. undefined undefined Mr Bowman, a second-year student, has now been suspended from both the university and the students' union pending an investigation, and thrown out of the Conservative Party by national officials. He had also made offensive remarks on the Facebook group's page. A Conservative Party spokesman said: "Fergus Bowman's comments are appalling and we condemn them absolutely. "There's no place for homophobia in today's Britain. The Conservative Party actively supports gay rights." Students' union president Chris Lowden said: "We are committed to equal opportunities. "Fergus's comments breached our constitution. We cannot and will not tolerate such material coming out from one of our members. "We take matters such as these very seriously and I felt it necessary to suspend Fergus while we investigate." Mr Bowman told the Uclan newspaper Pluto he apologised for the remarks and did not mean any offence. He said: "The comments were made as a private joke amongst colleagues in a group. It was not our intention to joke about gay people. "I regret that the comments have caused offence and I deeply apologise to anyone who has been offended by them. I do not advocate homophobia." Ref: BBC News, Pinknews.co.uk (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Saturday, 13th October 2007 - 10:36am