Susan King, Liberal Democrats candidate who thinks chemicals in our drinking water is turning people gay (Picture credit: Shropshire Star/YouTube)

A Liberal Democrats candidate has suggested plastic residue in drinking water is turning people gay.

Susan King, vying for the Tory-held Shropshire seat of Telford, suggested ‘feminising hormones’ in the mains supply can change sexuality, she told the Shropshire Star during a live webchat.

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She said: ‘People’s choice of lifestyle is again down to their personal preferences.

‘I do feel environmental influences are affecting reproduction. All the pollution is having an effect on our DNA and our population is changing and evolving.’


Her comments came as the party’s leader Tim Farron again dodged questions over whether he believes homosexuality to be a sin.

Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron was involved in a heated discussion about his views on homosexuality during a radio call-in show (Picture credit: Isabel Infantes/PA Wire)

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Born-again, evangelical Christian Mr Farron’s leadership has been dogged by questions over his views on gay sex (Picture credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

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She added: ‘There are a lot of feminising hormones getting into the environment and that has to be taken into consideration.

‘It’s affecting people’s sexuality basically. People are at liberty to interpret how they want to live themselves.’

She said chemicals used in making plastic products, such as children’s toys, were already affecting the gender of fish stock.

The Labour candidate for the constituency, Kuldip Sahota, demanded an immediate apology from Mrs King over her remarks.

Lib Dems leader Mr Farron said he was an ‘active LGBT campaigner’ but many have questioned his views on the subject (Picture credit: Amanda Edwards/WireImage)

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Mr Sahota said: ‘To suggest that our water supply is affecting people’s sexuality is absolutely unacceptable.’

He added: ‘This is not the first time the Lib Dems have been out of touch on LGBT issues.

‘The Lib Dems have clearly chosen an out of touch candidate whose basic understanding is both warped and harmful.’

A tweet on Mr Farron’s account in 2015 made similar comparisons to animal life in a debate on homosexuality, which said ‘most sexual disorientation is caused by chemical leaching..check out the fish and frogs’.

The born-again evangelical Christian insisted he had not written the post and that he must have been hacked.

Today he was dragged into a heated discussion on LBC’s Leaders Live with Nick Ferrari slot, when he refused to be drawn on whether being gay was wrong.

But he hit back, saying he had been an ‘active campaigner for LGBT rights’.

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Full list of candidates for Telford:

Conservative: Lucy Allan

Liberal Democrats: Susan King

Labour Kuldip: Sahota

Green Party: Luke Shirley

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