Labour MEP’s anti-homophobia drive gets the Stephen Fry twitter endorsement

Fancy getting the endorsement of none other than British ‘national treasure’, film star, wit and all-round television darling Stephen Fry!

Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer is hitting the high notes, with his stand against homophobia inside the EU – starting with his clap-back at Hungarian leader Viktor Orban – being given an international audience on Fry’s Twitter account, with 12.6 million followers. Imagine that!

"Under the guise of a tedious and deceitful "anti woke" sentiment, countries like Hungary and Poland are beginning to strangle the precious rights and freedoms of their LGBTIQ citizens - I stand with brave and good MEPs like Mr Engerer here," Fry said.

Under the guise of a tedious and deceitful "anti woke" sentiment, countries like Hungary and Poland are beginning to strangle the precious rights and freedoms of their LGBTIQ citizens - I stand with brave and good MEPs like Mr Engerer here... https://t.co/PGpiF64VxZ
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) March 10, 2021

Last week the right-wing party Fidesz resigned its membership in the European People’s Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament over an intra-party vote on suspending errant member parties.

Later, in a letter sent to all MEPs, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán said that the EPP “has become an annexe of the European left.”

“Our task is clear. Now – without the EPP – we must build a European democratic right that offers a home to European citizens who do not want migrants, who do not want multiculturalism, who have not descended into LGBTQ lunacy, who defend Europe’s Christian traditions, who respect the sovereignty of nations,” the Hungarian president said.

Reacting to the letter, MEP Cyrus Engerer called Orbán’s statements “disgusting”.

“A small word to homophobes in Fidesz and other parties of the same ilk: we are not going back into the closet, we will not hide and we will not rest until we are treated equally in every Member State,” he said. “This is what our Union is founded on – the values of solidarity, equality and unity in diversity.”

Stephen Fry, one-time half of the British comedy duo Fry & Lauria, was an early adopter of Twitter: in 2009 he was crowned the “unofficial champion” of Twitter when he broke the 100,000 follower mark... then the second most followed person on the planet on Twitter after US President Barack Obama. “I’m the vice president of Twitter,” Fry quipped at the time.

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