by Sunny Hundal

This was Tory MEP Roger Helmer a few hours ago on Twitter:

Why is it OK for a surgeon to perform a sex-change operation, but not OK for a psychiatrist to try to “turn” a consenting homosexual?

Several hundred people on Twitter have since condemned Helmer for his homophobia.

But Roger Helmer MEP has a long history of such nonsense.

A couple of years ago Helmer said that the word homophobia was a “propaganda device”. He wrote on his blog:

And while we’re mentioning semantic issues, let me point out that the neologism “homophobia” is not so much a word as a political agenda. In psychiatry, a phobia is defined as an irrational fear. I have yet to meet anyone who has an irrational fear of homosexuals, or of homosexuality. So to the extent that the word has any meaning at all, it describes something which simply does not exist. “Homophobia” is merely a propaganda device designed to denigrate and stigmatise those holding conventional opinions, which have been held by most people through most of recorded history. It is frightening evidence of the way in which political correctness is threatening our freedom.

Mr Helmer is regularly allowed to spout his views on websites such as ConservativeHome.