Shrewsbury MP would 'die for the right of young people to be confident in their sexuality'

Daniel Kawczynski, who came out in 2013 and who is due to marry his long-term Brazilian partner in the House of Commons next month, said during a radio interview that he would 'die for the right of young people to know and to be confident in their sexuality and not to be threatened or punished or blackmailed about their sexuality'.

Green Party leader Jonathan Bartley was arrested after joining the Extinction Rebellion protests in Trafalgar Square earlier this week and that prompted LBC listener, Iain Dale's to ask what cause Mr Kawczynski and his fellow panellists on the radio station's Cross Question debate what they would be willing to get arrested for.

But going one step further, the Polish-born MP said that he felt so passionately about gay rights that he would give his life for them.

"I feel very passionately about this," he said.

Tolerance

"I was born in a very homophobic country, Poland, in Communist times where the Roman Catholic church and Communist state tried to explain to you that if you were homosexual, you were a deviant and you would be punished, that you would go to hell for being homosexual.

"This is a very personal issue for me. I have seen first hand what happens when society conditions people against others and the damage that that can do.

"My researcher told me of a friend who had self-harmed because he did not know how to broach the subject with his family.

"I was extremely fortunate in that I had a marvellous response of kindness and tolerance when I decided to speak about myself.

"I think that is a very important issue for the next generation. It is fair to say that this has a very strong resonance for me."