Jim Wells: DUP MLA says LGBT community should apologise to him

The DUP's Jim Wells has said he does not need to apologise for any comments he has made about the LGBTQ community.

He was responding to remarks by his party's deputy leader Paula Bradley who said that some of the things said by party colleagues in the past had been "absolutely atrocious".

She said the comments "fed into the hatred" endured by some LGBTQ people.

However, Mr Wells said he did not believe Ms Bradley was speaking for the whole of the party.

Speaking on the Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster, the South Down assembly member said he had "nothing to apologise for".

"The vast majority of comments that have been made by public representatives of the Democratic Unionist Party on this issue have been measured, they have been sensible and they have been reflective of the views of a large number of people in Northern Ireland," said Mr Wells.

He said he was owed an apology from some people within the LGBTQ community who had criticised him in the past.

"I could paper the wall with the most abusive horrible, ghastly and indeed downright offensive comments that have been made against me," he said.

Ms Bradley, who represents North Belfast in the Northern Ireland Assembly, made the comments on Thursday during an online event hosted by Pink News,

She was among representatives of six of the largest parties in Northern Ireland who took part in the discussion about LGBTQ rights.

Ms Bradley, who has previously been described as the DUP's most liberal assembly member, was elected deputy leader of the DUP in May.

DUP party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson backed Ms Bradley's apology during an appearance on the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme on Friday.

John O'Doherty, director of LGBTQ charity The Rainbow Project, welcomed the apology and said he hoped it was "the first step towards significant change within the DUP".

However, Mr O'Doherty said "significant inequalities" were still experienced by LGBTQ people.

He said the Northern Ireland Assembly had consistently failed to ensure equality and equity" for the LGBTQ community and that the DUP "had been pointed to as a barrier to change".

"We hope that Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, unlike his predecessors, will be the first DUP leader to meet with the LGBTQIA+ community and show leadership where it has been sadly lacking," he said.