Julia Gasper
When the Sunday Mirror exposed further anti-LGBT comments that she had made on a UKIP members forum, she was denounced by party leader Nigel Farage and stepped down from her position.
Writing in The Yearbook of English Studies, John Stachniewski of the University of Manchester described the book as "trenchant and well-informed" and expressed the view that he found Gasper's thesis – that Dekker's dramatic works subscribed to a militant Protestant ideology – to be "convincing".
[3] John Harmon of Syracuse University reviewed Gasper's book for the English Studies journal, describing it as "crisply researched" and "eminently readable" although thought that she argued "somewhat defensively" that scholars should take Dekker's work more seriously.
While noting that the work was "thoroughly researched, well documented, and densely written", Hill also opined that it was "disjointed, digressive, repetitive, and rambling" and felt that it did not "convincingly illustrate Decker's militant Protestant orientation" in some of the plays that she had discussed.
"[6] Gasper served as a parish councillor for Risinghurst and Sandhills, and had founded the Windmill Road Residents' Association and the Friends of Bury Knowle Library.
[9] Asserting that "my central message is to take back control of this country", she campaigned on a platform of promoting the UK's removal from the European Union, opposing "mass immigration", abolishing university tuition fees, and increasing the state pension.
[9] Stating that homosexuality was not a sexual orientation but a "form of behaviour", in her post Gasper suggested that same-sex attraction was a choice,[9] before criticising gay people for "complaining constantly of persecution" and being insufficiently grateful to heterosexuals for creating them.
[7][9][11] Her statements generated outrage,[7] with a UKIP spokesperson commenting that while the party did not endorse Gasper's views on this issue, it did uphold her right to hold and express them.
"[12] Rafe Jeune, chair of Oxford's Pride parade, characterised Gasper's comments as "abhorrent" and "disgusting", noting that there was no evidence to link paedophilia and homosexuality.
[20] Gasper later lambasted UKIP as being "plagued with transsexuals", a reference to the trans women Nikki Sinclaire and Kellie Maloney, both of whom have served as candidates for the party.
[26] The following month, Gasper commented on the resignation of Brendan Eich as CEO of Mozilla after it was revealed that he had financially supported a group campaigning to prevent the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in California.
Gasper claimed Eich had been "victimised by a queer mafia that takes a vindictive pleasure in bullying and abusing people" and that this "Homo fascism is a threat to fundamental human rights.
"[24][27] Among those she accused of contributing to this campaign were US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the Labour Party, the United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the Bishop of Buckingham Alan Wilson, Pope Francis, the actor Daniel Radcliffe, all European and American universities, and media such as The Guardian, The Daily Mail, and The Huffington Post.
[22][28] Some days later she claimed that in campaigning for legal recognition of same-sex marriage, "queer thugs and gangsters" had "used violence, threats, censorship, abuse, and every form of dirty tactic".
[31] Following the resignation of the Labour councillor for Quarry and Risinghurst on the Oxford City Council, Gasper stood as the English Democrats' candidate for the seat,[32] coming last with 43 votes.
[33][34] After this failure, Gasper returned to her blog to argue there were "far too many homosexual comedians on TV", focusing her criticism on Graham Norton, "the horrid little Alan Carr", and "the unctuous Stephen Fry [...] portly, preening and self-satisfied.
[35] The day after singer David Bowie died in January 2016, she posted on her blog that he was a "famous queer Nazi", adding her view that there was "a remarkable affinity" between Nazism and the LGBT rights movement.
