UKIP Scotland's new energy spokesman is under fire after he accused "selfish" gay people of being "deeply hostile to heterosexuals" and of wanting to "destroy our society".
Michael Haseler also claimed that politicians in favour of same-sex marriage wanted to "redefine marriage in their own perverse concept of society".
MSPs last night described the remarks as "beyond the pale" and "poisonous".
Friday's local government election results confirmed UKIP as a political force in England, with the anti-EU party winning more than 140 council seats and polling an average vote share of 25%.
This success was in spite of one Conservative Cabinet minister dismissing his party's rivals as a "collection of clowns", as well as allegations that the Tories had been smearing potential UKIP candidates.
The party has never made inroads in Scotland and won less than 1% of the vote at the last Holyrood election. Nigel Farage, UKIP's flamboyant leader, admitted recently that Scotland had been a "graveyard" for the party, but insisted it had attracted "some fresh talent".
One of the new recruits is Haseler, who in the past has been a candidate for the Scottish Greens and the Liberal Democrats in England.
He joined UKIP in March and was recently appointed as the Scottish wing's energy spokesman.
On his personal blog, Scottish Sceptic, Haseler claimed to be "an agnostic on man-made [global] warming" and also aired his views on same-sex marriage.
He wrote: "Why would these polticians [sic] seek to destroy the family unit and asset [sic] their illegitimate power to redefine marriage in their own perverse concept of society?"
He continued: "Why are gay people so selfish that they cannot see the benefit of long-term couples for the many people who are not gay? Why are they so hostile to hetero-sexual couples - that they feel they have to destroy marriage and replace it with McDonald's plastic-relationships one-size fits everyone 'marriage'."
Haseler, who wrote the blog entry around a month before joining UKIP, described civil partnerships as a "great idea", but claimed: "I didn't realise that gay people are actually deeply hostile to heterosexuals. Perhaps that is because of the way they have been treated, but personally, I've become less sympathetic to gays, the more they try to destroy our society - the society that gave them the right to be proud of themselves."
He concluded: "My belief is that this is just another group of zealots who are doing no real good for most of the people they claim to represent who have yet again got the ear of the idiots in parliament and are yet again railroading their idiotic ideas through parliament."
In a blog discussion with Mike Scott-Hayward, the chairman of UKIP Scotland, Haseler also criticised the party. He said: "It's too late for me to say this politely, but your economic policy sucks. It's all motherhood and apple-pie and I see nothing there that gives me any confidence that the policies will improve the Scottish economy (perhaps because it wasn't actually written for the Scottish context?)."
Speaking to the Sunday Herald, Haseler said his blog comments on same-sex marriage were "personal positions" aimed at "gay activists".
He said: "I was putting it there [the blog entry] to provoke discussion. People have to consider other points of view. I am pro-marriage. I am not against homosexuals."
Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: "This is an extraordinary rant from someone who appears to have some quite confusing 'issues' to deal with - UKIP's candidates have compared same-sex relationships to child abuse, called for new homophobic laws, and suggested that gay people should be 'cured' by PE lessons. Mr Haseler is clearly aiming to fit right in."
Drew Smith MSP, Scottish Labour's social justice spokesman, said: "These comment are beyond the pale and the leadership should distance themselves from this man if they have - aspirations of making an impact in Scottish politics."
Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie said: "I think Mr Haseler will find that the real hostility will be directed at him and his poisonous and divisive views about equal marriage. Scotland is a modern, tolerant nation."
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