Tim Farron was forced to apologise after a tweet sent from his personal account compared gay people to frogs and fish and suggested that homosexuality was curable.
The message was sent in response to the British Humanist Association sharing an article about thousands of health workers in the UK believing that gay people can be "cured".
A reply from the leader of the Liberal Democrats account read: "They can be, most sexual disorientation is caused by chemical leaching…check out the fish and frogs." The tweet has since been deleted and no other unusual activity was detected on his Twitter account. Farron suggested his account had been hacked and apologised for any offence caused. "I am investigating after a fake and malicious tweet appeared to be posted from my account this evening," he later tweeted. The newly elected leader and devout Christian has previously come under fire for abstaining on a series of crucial gay rights measures, including the vote on allowing gay couples to adopt and the final reading of the same sex marriage bill. The Times has dubbed him the "illiberal democrat," arguing that his "consistent failure to embrace the quintessentially liberal idea that every person has equal moral worth should trouble his party". Last week, Farron failed to respond when Channel 4's Cathy Newman asked him three times whether he believed gay sex to be a sin. "To understand Christianity is to understand that we are all sinners," he said.
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However, he has since told Pink News that he regrets some of his decisions regarding gay rights and has promised to put the fight for LGBT rights "at the top of my agenda".