Czech MP distances herself from “There has been enough anti-discrimination”

The name of Christian Democratic MP Michaela Šojdrová on an invitation to the upcoming “There has been enough anti-discrimination” event is a misunderstanding. “I was never asked to become a supporter of the event,” Šojdrová told news server Deník Referendum. Šojdrová said she intends to contact the organizers to clarify how her name ended up among the supporters listed on the invitation. Věra Tydlitátová of the League against Anti-Semitism has criticized her for her participation.

Šojdrová sent a letter to the organizers today in which she officially distances herself from the gathering. “I consider the fact that my name was listed as a supporter of this event to be a misunderstanding. Mr M. Semín offered me the opportunity to speak at a demonstration against registered partners being allowed to adopt children. I expressed my agreement with that appearance. I understood it solely as an opportunity for me to meet my obligation to endorse that particular topic. However, no one ever asked if my name could be listed on an invitation to the demonstration in front of the Office of the Government. If I was to have been listed as the supporter of an event which concerns far more than the aforementioned topic, I should have been notified,” Šojdrová wrote in a letter sent today to the organizers of the D.O.S.T. event. The letter goes on to explain the reasons Šojdrová will not be participating.

Šojdrová said that, pressed for time, she made the mistake of not learning more about the broader context of the event as a whole. “Had I been given the opportunity to see a draft of the invitation in advance, I can assure you I would not have wanted to have been listed in that context,” Šojdrová said.

Šojdrová also sent a copy of the letter to Věra Tydlitátová, who appreciated the MP distancing herself from the gathering. “Nevertheless, I am rather disturbed that you lent your good name and reputation as a Christian politician to such an event on the basis of one SMS message, and that you did not first look into the organizers and their intentions for this event. I truly expect more discretion and foresight from elected officials,” Tydlitátová said.