Party leader of the far-right Vlaams Belang, Tom Van Grieken, reacted to the statements of new Member of Parliament Dominiek Sneppe, in which she questioned the acquired LGBTQ rights to marry and adopt.
"That may be her personal opinion, but it is not the party's point of view. We will never touch those acquired rights," Van Grieken said in VTM NIEUWS. "It is her right to think that, but I think she phrased it in a very clumsy and awkward way," he added.
The comments came at a bad time for Van Grieken, as he is having conversations about the formation of the new Flemish government. "It is beyond doubt that the statements bother me. However, I am involved in conversations about the Flemish government, and LGBTQ rights are not a Flemish jurisdiction," he added.
Saying that marriage and adoption was "a step too far" was perhaps a wrong word choice, Sneppe admitted. “But I said what I said," she added. When she was asked about adoption for LGBTQ couples in a radio interview, she said: "We are not in favour of that. I am certainly not, and neither is my party."
N-VA vice-president Lorin Parys already expressed his dissatisfaction about the statements. If Vlaams Belang wants to reverse the rights of LGBTQ people during any government negotiations, "the negotiations would become very brief," he said.
Sneppe was asked by the West-Flemish party department of Vlaams Belang to stop commenting. "A moment of radio silence is best," said Van Grieken.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
