Kevin Wilshaw, a prominent Neo-Nazi and white supremacist campaigner from the United Kingdom, has come out as gay in a new interview, explaining that he now denounces the movement after experiencing the other side of discrimination.
Wilshaw was a well-known member and organiser of the fascist group National Front in the 1980s, and then joined the British National Party in later years.
Speaking to Channel 4 News in the UK, the long-time white supremacist said that he had quit the far right movement and was leaving the ideologies far behind, due to his decision to come out as a gay man. He spoke out about his sexuality for the first time, and explained that the abuse he experienced within the far-right led him to give up his involvement.
“On one or two occasions in the recent past I’ve actually been the recipient of the very hatred of the people I want to belong to," Wilshaw said.
“If you’re gay it is acceptable in society but with these group of people it’s not acceptable, and I found on one or two occasions when I was suspected of being gay I’d been the subject of abuse.”
He told the outlet that he did not realise abusing non-white people and other minorities was bad, until he experienced it himself.
"It’s a terribly selfish thing to say but it’s true. I saw people being abused, shouted at, spat at in the street, but it’s not until it’s directed at you that you suddenly realise that what you’re doing is wrong," he explained. “Their whole acceptance of me was false.”
Wilshaw also spoke about being Jewish - his mother, who passed away in 2015, was a Jewish woman.
Wilshaw showed the interviewer his application form to join the British National Socialist group decades before, as an example of his religious background having no effect on his far right views. The interviewer read Wilshaw's words off the form: "I am of the opinion that the war against the enemies of my race (The Jews) needs to be waged on a global scale to be effective."
When asked why he decided to speak publicly about being both Jewish and gay, Wilshaw said: “I want to do damage to the people propagating this sort of propaganda. I want to hurt them.”
