The cross-bench peer was widely criticised, including by an openly gay MP, after he made the controversial remarks on X (formerly Twitter) early on Sunday morning.
“If you are gay – and it appears that many are – you do not need to mention it every time!” he posted at 8.39am.
There is no obvious context for the comment which, according to the social media site, was made from Donegal.
If you are gay – and it appears that many are – you do not need to mention it every time!
— Lord John Kilclooney (@KilclooneyJohn) December 31, 2023
On Sunday night, the post had been viewed almost 200,000 times and attracted nearly 500 replies, as well as over 140 reposts. The vast majority of comments were critical or derisory.
Openly gay Labour MP Chris Bryant responded asking: “What is it to you?”
Dozens of other account holders also replied with rainbow flag emojis to tell the former Ulster Unionist MP for Strangford: “I am gay”.
“If you are an idiot – and it appears you are – you do not need to confirm it daily,” one person posted.
The controversy resulted in many users posting raunchy memes and light-hearted comments ridiculing Lord Kilclooney.
“Imagine tweeting this at 8.30am on a Sunday morning,” one post read.
One woman wrote: “I’m gay and when I was a kid I knew of zero gay people in real life and the only gay women on TV usually got murdered. So it was quite difficult to conceive of a world where I could be gay safely.
“Now I mention being gay 100 times a day to normalise that for people and for me.”
The member of the House of Lords, who is also known as John Taylor, has a history of causing outrage online.
In 2020 he was urged to apologise for referring to US vice-president Kamala Harris as “the Indian”.
“What happens if (Joe) Biden moves on and the Indian becomes President. Who then becomes Vice President?” the peer tweeted.
Lord Kilclooney agreed to withdraw the remark, but denied it was racist and refused to say sorry.
“Whilst Biden is proud to be Irish and Harris is rightly proud of her Indian background I certainly withdraw my reference to her as an Indian as it seems to have upset some people,” he clarified on social media at the time.
“I did not know her name and identified her with the term Indian. Most people understood. Racist NO.”
The row followed two other occasions when the former deputy leader of the UUP was accused of racism regarding tweets about Irish premier Leo Varadkar.
In November 2017, Lord Kilclooney referred to the Taoiseach as “the Indian” before withdrawing the post.
But six months later the peer referred to Mr Varadkar as “typical Indian” online.
In October 2023, Ulster Unionist MLA Robbie Butler told Lord Kilclooney that he would be seeking legal advice over what Mr Butler alleged was a “scandalous lie” made by the peer in relation to the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Lord Kilclooney claimed Mr Butler defended “the killing by Israel of children and civilians in Gaza” and appeared to double down when challenged about “an abominable lie”.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
