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The UK Independence Party has surged to a record high in the opinion polls under its brash leader Nigel Farage.

But a Sunday Mirror investigation today reveals a sickening catalogue of racist and homophobic views held by some of its biggest supporters.

They use the party’s official online “members ­forum” to ­express extremist and offensive opinions on issues ranging from gay marriage to bogus links between ­homosexuals and ­paedophilia.

Their outbursts are exposed as the party gears up against both the Tories and Labour in next year’s European elections, with its flagship policy that Britain should pull out of the EU.

On the forum, senior UKIP member Dr Julia Gasper branded gay rights a “lunatic’s charter” and claimed some homosexuals prefer sex with animals. She added: “As for the links between homosexuality and paedophilia, there is so much evidence that even a full-length book could hardly do justice to the ­subject.”

The former parliamentary candidate and UKIP branch chairman in Oxford now faces the sack over her comments.

Tackled about her remarks yesterday, she said: “I’m not going to talk about them. It’s none of your business.”

Lecturer Dr Gasper is just one of many UKIP members who use the forum to vent their controversial views.

A concerned party insider passed on a selection of the shocking outbursts to the Sunday Mirror.

UKIP member Jan Zolyniak posted: “The evidence is quite clear that the percentage of homosexuals who molest children is very high and cannot be dismissed.”

Approached outside his bungalow in Surrey yesterday, Mr Zolyniak claimed his comments were for “research purposes”. He said: “I put those comments up on the website to get responses.”

(Image: Philip Coburn)

Another member, Douglas Denny from the Bognor Regis branch in West Sussex, used the forum to attack gay sex as “disgusting”. He wrote: “What irritates me is they (sic) way they and their leftie, neo-Commie followers seem to want to force the rest of us to consider them as normal.

“I just wish they would keep their ­homosexual nature and practices to ­themselves and stop trying to ram it down my throat telling me they are ‘normal’ when they are not.”

Yesterday Denny said: “Private forums and private posts should stay private. I have no further comment to make and don’t wish to discuss it with a newspaper.”

Another member complained about the impact of immigration on the NHS, writing: “I am informed by past media that Black Caribbean and not Black African have a higher instance of schizophrenia.

“I wonder if this is due to inbreeding on these small islands in slave times or is it due to ­smoking grass.”

David Cameron has branded UKIP members as “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists”. Only last week he called them “pretty odd people”. But UKIP seized a record 16 per cent share in one recent opinion poll and leader Nigel Farage now wants to join the PM, Labour’s Ed Miliband and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg in TV ­debates before the next election.

However, our revelations will be a blow to the party’s declaration that it doesn’t tolerate racists or bigots. Last night Labour called on Mr Farage to kick out members guilty of abusive remarks.

Vice-chairman Michael Dugher said: “There is absolutely no place for this kind of nasty racism and appalling homophobia in British politics. UKIP’s leadership should condemn this in the strongest terms.”

Mr Farage said his party did not tolerate racism, but it was against the Government’s plans to allow gay marriage.

He said complaints about abusive remarks would be investigated. But party chiefs were clearly aware of the problem last week when UKIP General Secretary Jonathan Arnott banned a discussion on the site on gay issues.

He wrote of his fears that someone “is going to screenshoot comments and send them to a newspaper”. In the last week, two UKIP members have been forced out of the party for expressing support for gay marriage.

Olly Neville, leader of the party’s youth wing, was stripped of his post for ­supporting gay ­marriage in an interview on BBC Radio 4. Richard Lowe, prospective parliamentary candidate for Chester, says he was also forced to resign over the issue.

UKIP was founded in 1993 with a primary objective of withdrawing the UK from the EU. It struggled initially but following the 2009 elections, the party has 12 of the 73 UK seats in the European Parliament. It also has three members in the House Of Lords.

Although UKIP has not yet won a seat in the House of Commons, opinion polls place it above the Lib Dems and they are hopeful of a breakthrough in the 2015 General Election.

We do not welcome racists, insists Nigel Farage

UKIP leader Nigel Farage said last night racists weren’t welcome and vowed to investigate ­complaints.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mirror, Euro MP Mr Farage said: ­“Anybody who makes racist comments isn’t welcome. Anybody with a racist agenda has joined the wrong ­party.”

Asked about racist and anti-gay views on UKIP’s members’ forum, Mr Farage said: “I have never even heard of these people. Julia Gasper is the only one... We’ve had problems with her and her position in the Oxford branch is not ­acceptable and is being changed. Her war against homosexuals is unacceptable.”

Mr Farage said he would have to “look ­carefully” at remarks before giving his view but added: “Catholic doctrine could be ­interpreted as homophobic. If a comment was aggressive towards a group of ­people, I would condemn it. If it’s ­people saying they are against gay marriage because they’re Christian, I’d be more ­tolerant.”