Australian political candidate Gurpal Singh has resigned, following the emergence of previous comments regarding rape.

Singh was running as the Liberal Party (which is actually the conservative party) candidate for Scullin, Victoria.

The resignation comes about after Singh previously said he had ‘no sympathy’ for an alleged rape survivor.

‘I totally disagree with the allegation of rape,’ he commented on an SBS Punjabi article published in May last year. ‘Its (sic) shameful that a married woman suffering family violence can go to such extent. No sympathy.

‘Such element (sic) brings bad name to whole community. She skimmed her lover, husband and father of her two children for all these years. And now she alleges rape.

‘Was she kept locked all these year? Not a great and respectful statement. So is the reporting,’ he wrote.

The post has since been deleted, but screenshots surfaced online recently.

Trigger warning… Gurpal Singh is an absolute disgrace. Shame on the Liberal Party for ever endorsing a person of such despicably low character. 😡 #auspol #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/GVGApmmA3I — Stephen #VoteLabor ❤️ (@TheAviator1992) May 9, 2019

As a result, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation contacted the Victorian Liberal Party for comment.

‘Mr Gurpal Singh has been asked to resign as the candidate for Scullin,’ the spokesman said. ‘Mr Singh sincerely apologises for his previous comments and has tendered his resignation.’

Gurpal Singh: Same-sex marriage can lead to pedophilia

Singh was a strong campaigner for the ‘No’ side of the same-sex marriage plebiscite in Australia.

In a 2017 interview with SBS Radio, Singh also said he believes same-sex marriage can lead to child sexual abuse.

‘I think it is also an issue of pedophilia,’ he said. ‘In these situations, the occurrence can be high.’

He said there will be ‘very serious’ implications for kids raised in LGBTI households.

‘When they grow up, how they will reconcile to the situation is beyond comprehension,’ he said.

LGBTI rights advocates have said that Singh’s comments are a demonstration of widespread anti-LGBTI attitudes within the ruling Liberal Party.

As a result of his comments resurfacing, Singh apologized.

He said: ‘I apologize unreservedly for those comments. They were wrong and I am sorry.’

Liberal Party takes down Singh page

When reporters asked the Prime Minister (and leader of the Liberal Party) how he was going to deal with the situation last week, he said Singh would stay on as a candidate.

A journalist asked the PM: ‘What did they do to deal with it, Prime Minister? If you said they dealt with it, what did they do?’

Scott Morrison replied: ‘His candidacy has continued.’

The reporter then followed up: ‘If he’s still in the job though that means you think that those comments are acceptable?’

Then the PM responded: ‘No, I don’t accept that.’

The news of Singh’s resignation also comes about as the Australian Labor Party announced plans to use Grindr to target advertisements for gay and bisexual men.

Among the advertisements were screenshots of Gurpal Singh’s previous comments on same-sex marriage.

As a result of the news of Singh’s resignation, the Liberal Party took down his candidacy page.

The page described Singh as a ‘person of character and integrity’.

It also describes him as someone who wants to be able to ‘feel safe’ to express his values and religious freedom.

Australians will go to the polls to decide their next federal government on 18 May.

See also

Australian Labor Party pledges to ban gay conversion therapy

Election campaign ad tries to link trans rights to child abuse

LGBTI Tasmanians ‘over the moon’ after gender laws make history