Act candidate booed after defending hate speech against transgender people

Act candidate Stephen Berry says hate speech is part of free speech and must not be banned.

An Act Party candidate has told a gay political forum hate speech is part of free speech and must not be banned.

Stephen Berry, who is standing for East Coast Bays and holds the fifth position on the Act list, told a Rainbow Wellington gathering last night it was the price to pay for living in a free country.

He also said if you were taunted to jump off a bridge you were well within your rights to call the person "disgusting".

"Under a free country the freedom of speech is probably about the most important value we have and so that's why we cannot have laws banning hate speech," Berry told the gathering.

"People like Brian Tamaki - he's a scumbag piece of sh*t - but he has the right to express his sh***y views and we also have the right to call him out on how sh***y those views are.

"That's what freedom's about."

He further stunned the gathering when asked if free speech covered inciting people to commit suicide, in particular the transgender community.

"If people tell you to jump off a bridge do you do it? No, of course not," he answered.

"It is disgusting speech but that's part of living in a free country and that's why you have the freedom to tell these people how disgusting they are."

The response drew an immediate uproar from those present who had gathered to find out what parliamentary candidates had done for the LGBTTQIAP+ community in their last term in office and what plans were for their next term.

People could be heard saying it was violence and not acceptable.

On his Facebook page he referred to his comments as "defending freedom of speech in 30 second sound bites".

Those in the community said while the rainbow community had equal rights and protections on paper they still suffered transphobia and intolerance in everyday life, including high rates of youth suicide.