Czech Social Democratic MP says "homosexuals" want to legalize sex with children, PM not yet calling for her resignation
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, the chair of the governing Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), says he wants to meet with Czech MP Pavlina Nytrová (ČSSD) to discuss her recent remarks about “homosexuals”. The PM says he does not want her to continue making such comments.
Sobotka announced his intention to meet with Nytrová to the Czech News Agency yesterday. He also said intolerance and prejudice must be combated with “real arguments”.
Nytrová told the lower house, among other things, that “homosexuals” are mostly promiscuous, that they have an above-average tendency to consume alcohol, and that there is a higher degree of mental disorders among them. She also alleged that “homosexuals” will gradually do their best to legalize sex with children.
Speaking on Czech Radio, the MP then declared that a “homosexual lobby” is undertaking gradual steps to establish dominance over heterosexuals. Other Social Democratic politicians have distanced themselves from her remarks, as have members of other political parties.
Czech Labor Minister Michaela Marksová, who is vice-chair of the ČSSD, said Nytrová should take such opinions “with her to another party”. Sobotka also said he decidedly does not share the MP’s opinions or prejudices.
“Ms Nytrová is under no circumstances expressing either the policy or the position of the ČSSD. I want to meet with her. I do not want her to make such remarks,” the PM told the Czech News Agency by text message.
Sobotka said he believes intolerance and the ubiquity of prejudice is a problem that must be combated. “Not militantly, not through activism, but through patient debate and real arguments,” he said.
“MP Nytrová’s appearance in the Chamber of Deputies was full of insults, nonsense and unsupported assertions. I absolutely, fundamentally reject any manifestations of homophobia. Each of us should also reflect on the possibility that our own children may also have minority sexual orientations and that they can decide to register their partnerships, and that they might want to have children and to raise them. The equal rights of those children are what the bill under discussion was supposed to ensure,” Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (ČSSD) said.
Nytrová said she does not want to leave the party. She also said voters might understand calls for her to resign as a sign that the ČSSD has no tolerance for differences of opinon and is undemocratic.
“I decidedly see no reason why I should leave [the ČSSD] ranks,” Nytrová told the Czech News Agency, adding that she also believes there is not a unified opinion within the Social Democrats about registered partnership and the proposed option for registered partners to be able to adopt each other’s offspring. The MP said she asked her fellow party members about this matter last year in her district and that the “vast majority” of them were against such a bill.
Czech Deputy Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who heads the ANO movement, part of the governing coalition, also responded to Nytrová’s appearance on Twitter, calling her remarks “total nonsense”. “I attended the wedding of two men last year and I have many homosexual friends whom I respect,” he tweeted, sending a snapshot from the wedding to his followers.
