‘I get upset when called a homophobe’

ARLENE Foster has said she gets ‘very distressed’ when she is referred to as homophobic.

The North’s First Minister was quizzed on her views yesterday during libel proceedings against celebrity doctor Dr Christian Jessen.

The DUP had in the past opposed attempts to allow same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. It was extended to the region due to legislation at Westminster while Stormont was suspended.

DUP leader Ms Foster was yesterday asked if she took the ‘traditional view of marriage’ that it is a union between a man and a woman. ‘Yes, I take the traditional view, the church-based view, yes,’ she responded. Asked if she was homophobic, Ms Foster responded ‘no’.

The politician added: ‘I get very distressed when people do actually call me a homophobe because that’s something I am not... I have many friends who are homosexual, they know my views on same-sex marriage, and in any event, same-sex marriage is now the law here in Northern Ireland and has to be upheld.

‘I have never, in my own political utterances, said anything in connection with people who are homosexual and that’s why I do get quite upset when people call me a homophobe.’