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Sweden Democrat MP under fire after claiming Pride is linked to pedophilia

Multiple Swedish government ministers have spoken out against claims by Björn Söder, a senior Sweden Democrat MP, on Wednesday that the Pride movement has "close and legitimate" links to pedophilia.

Published: 3 August 2023 11:01 CEST

Sweden Democrat MP under fire after claiming Pride is linked to pedophilia

Sweden Democrat MP Björn Söder. File photo: Tim Aro/TT

“Björn Söder’s tweet this evening is disrespectful, undignified and wrong,” Foreign Minister Tobias Billström, from the Moderate Party, wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“He owes an apology to everyone who he in a sweeping statement has accused of such awful things.”

The Liberal Party leader and Employment Minister, Johan Pehrson, described Söder’s comments as “drivel”.

“Intolerance is un-Swedish,” Pehrson wrote. “In my Sweden, all are allowed to love who they want and be who they want.”

There are currently three parties in the Swedish government: the Moderates, Liberals and Christian Democrats. The Sweden Democrats are not in government, although the government is reliant on them for support and is governing on the Tidö Agreement, which was drawn up and presented by all four parties.

KEY POINTS: What’s in Sweden’s government coalition deal?

Märta Stenevi, joint leader of the Green Party, said it was “sickening” that Söder was “vomiting out lies about pride”, and “hypocrisy on a bizarre scale” that the three parties in the government were now expressing their outrage.”

Söder wrote on Wednesday evening that he defends the rights of homo- and bisexuals.

“But I will never defend Pride and it’s close – and now legitimate – links to pedophilia and the involvement of children in the sexual world of adults,” he added.

He has previously described “the gay lobby” as “sexual deviants”, comparing homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia in a now-deleted blog for the Sweden Democrats’ member newsletter, SD-kuriren, written in 2007.

On Wednesday, Söder also accused parliamentary speaker Andreas Norlén, and prime minister Ulf Kristersson for legitimising pedophilia in a post on X, which he later deleted.

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'Very little debate' on consequences of Sweden's crime and migration clampdown

The Liberties Rule of Law report shows Sweden backsliding across more areas than any other of the 19 European Union member states monitored, fuelling concerns that the country risks breaching its international human rights obligations, the report says.

“We’ve seen this regression in other countries for a number of years, such as Poland and Hungary, but now we see it also in countries like Sweden,” says John Stauffer, legal director of the human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, which co-authored the Swedish section of the report.

The report, compiled by independent civil liberties groups, examines six common challenges facing European Union member states.

Sweden is shown to be regressing in five of these areas: the justice system, media environment, checks and balances, enabling framework for civil society and systemic human rights issues.

The only area where Sweden has not regressed since 2022 is in its anti-corruption framework, where there has been no movement in either a positive or negative direction.

Source: Liberties Rule of Law report

As politicians scramble to combat an escalation in gang crime, laws are being rushed through with too little consideration for basic rights, according to Civil Rights Defenders.

Stauffer cites Sweden’s new stop-and-search zones as a case in point. From April 25th, police in Sweden can temporarily declare any area a “security zone” if there is deemed to be a risk of shootings or explosive attacks stemming from gang conflicts.

Once an area has received this designation, police will be able to search people and cars in the area without any concrete suspicion.

“This is definitely a piece of legislation where we see that it’s problematic from a human rights perspective,” says Stauffer, adding that it “will result in ethnic profiling and discrimination”.

Civil Rights Defenders sought to prevent the new law and will try to challenge it in the courts once it comes into force, Stauffer tells The Local in an interview for the Sweden in Focus Extra podcast.

He also notes that victims of racial discrimination at the hands of the Swedish authorities had very little chance of getting a fair hearing as actions by the police or judiciary are “not even covered by the Discrimination Act”.

READ ALSO: ‘Civil rights groups in Sweden can fight this government’s repressive proposals’

Stauffer also expresses concerns that an ongoing migration clampdown risks splitting Sweden into a sort of A and B team, where “the government limits access to rights based on your legal basis for being in the country”.

The report says the government’s migration policies take a “divisive ‘us vs them’ approach, which threatens to increase rather than reduce existing social inequalities and exclude certain groups from becoming part of society”.

Proposals such as the introduction of a requirement for civil servants to report undocumented migrants to the authorities would increase societal mistrust and ultimately weaken the rule of law in Sweden, the report says.

The lack of opposition to the kind of surveillance measures that might previously have sparked an outcry is a major concern, says Stauffer.

Politicians’ consistent depiction of Sweden as a country in crisis “affects the public and creates support for these harsh measures”, says Stauffer. “And there is very little talk and debate about the negative consequences.”

Hear John Stauffer from Civil Rights Defender discuss the Liberties Rule of Law report in the The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

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