English cleric warns PSNI to avoid repeat of London Pride

Pastor Peter Simpson of Penn Free Methodist Church in Buckinghamshire said Met officers taking part in the London parade on July 8 “speaks unquestioningly of institutional endorsement”.

Police are called upon to be impartial enforcers of the law, he said, but such parades are inevitably in favour of same-sex marriage and which is “blatantly divisive in the political realm”.

Signs carried at London Pride included ‘F**K the DUP’ and also ‘Less May, More Gay’ which are political statements now endorsed by the Met, he said: “The PSNI is putting itself in the same danger.”

Meanwhile, Christian open air preachers are being arrested around Britain for articulating biblical teaching on homosexuality, he added.

Rev T E Kirkland from Ballyclare, who is organising a public protest against the Belfast parade, said PSNI participation in it is “outrageous”.

“Clearly there are constables within the force who openly identify with this parade and whose moral compass will determine how they treat those who oppose [it],” he said. “Justice is virtually impossible in such a circumstance.”

He added: “The Chief Constable is openly declaring that his force is taking sides against the overwhelming majority of society who cannot now expect fairness, justice and equality.”

Meanwhile, TUV leader Jim Allister and DUP Alderman John Finlay have both written letters to the Chief Constable in protest about PSNI participation in the parade.

• See Letters, page 20