Sarkozy {France} To Expel Homophobe MP
UMP deputy Christian Vanneste, right, with French president Nicolas Sarkozy in Lille last month. Photograph: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
President Nicolas Sarkozy's party is to expel an MP who said gay people held too much sway in France and downplayed the persecution of gays during the second world war.
The comments by Christian Vanneste unleashed an outpouring of criticism from left and right and embarrassed Sarkozy's conservative UMP party just as the president announced he would seek a second term.
Vanneste, who is part of the influential hard-right wing of Sarkozy's party, looks set to be ousted from the UMP and could lose his seat in parliament.
In a video broadcast on a French website, Vanneste said gays were "at the heart of power" in France, manipulating the media and making humankind "lose its dignity".
He said the media overplayed "the famous legend of the deportation of homosexuals" from Nazi-occupied France, saying German gays were sent to concentration camps, but "there was no homosexual deportation in France".
Gay rights groups denounced him and UMP members said he had crossed a line. In response, Vanneste said he was being unfairly targeted by a "gay lobby".
UMP secretary general Jean-Francois Cope said Vanneste would be expelled because of his "deeply shocking and intolerable comments" after a meeting next week.
Vanneste is likely to be barred from running as the UMP's candidate for parliament from his district in northern France in legislative elections in June.
Vanneste has made remarks seen as disparaging to gays in the past, but touched a particularly sensitive chord by referring to the second world war.
The uproar puts Sarkozy's party in a tough position as he seeks to garner support from the far right to bolster his weak re-election chances.
Sarkozy condemned the remarks on national television, saying he was "horrified by anything that from near or far could appear to be homophobia".
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