A member of Switzerland’s conservative Christian Democratic People's Party (CVP) has caused controversy this week, stating that gay men were "not ok".
According to reports from Swiss publication The Local, it all began when CVP politician Michael Kaufmann tweeted a photo of the former Swiss president Ruth Metzler-Arnold, accompanied by a message calling for the Swiss parliament to ensure same-sex couples had full equality.
The message didn't go down so well with fellow CVP member Christian Ineichen, who replied with a since-deleted tweet saying that “we should stay within the limits of biology”.
When asked by Kaufmann to explain what he meant by the “limits of biology”, Ineichen clarified: “Man+Woman: OK. Woman+Woman: sort of OK. Man+Man: not OK.”
While Michael Kaufmann described the comments as “un-Christian”, local LGBTIQ+ rights organisation Pink Cross said the CVP was starting to display a “backward-looking, deeply conservative face”.
Ineichen, who has since closed down his Twitter account, told Luzerner Zeitung that he believes “many people share my opinion” that “family policy should be guided by the rules of biology”.
He added that he was “open minded” about gay people but has "trouble with it if suddenly the whole family picture is to be flipped upside down”.
Despite Switzerland introducing civil partnership for same-sex couples in 2005, marriage equality has yet to be achieved, with the subject slated for discussion in parliament next year.
