Ann Widdecombe is someone who shows up in the media from time to time. Currently, she is a stage actress. However, Widdecombe should be better-known to most people because of her career as a British politician. Here are five things that you may or may not have known about Ann Widdecombe:
Former Politician
Most people who recognize the name of Widdecombe will recognize it because she used to be a politician. To be exact, she served as the MP for Maidstone from 1987 to 1997. After which, she served as the MP for Maidstone and The Weald from 1997 to 2010. Given that Widdecombe is a social conservative, it should come as no surprise to learn that she was a member of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom.
Converted From Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism
Currently, Widdecombe is a Roman Catholic. However, she used to be an Anglican. She claimed that she had a number of reasons for converting from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, but what prompted her to take that final step was the decision of the General Synod of the Church of England to allow the ordination of women. Said issue remains a heated one in some of the regions with the presence of the Church of England, but for the most part, female priests have been accepted for some time now. In fact, a significant percentage of the regions even have female bishops now, with the United States having had its first female bishop in 1989.
Opposes LGBT Rights
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Widdecombe opposes LGBT rights. For example, she is opposed to the idea of same-sex marriages, having stated that the state should have a “preferred model” that could result in children. Furthermore, Widdecombe has voiced her support for conversion therapy, which is pseudo-scientific nonsense intended to change a person’s sexual orientation. Modern conversion therapy is somewhat less horrible than its predecessors, but that says a lot more about conversion therapy in the past than about conversion therapy in the present. After all, there were thousands and thousands of lobotomies performed with an ice pick for the purpose of changing people’s sexual orientation in the 1940s and 1950s, which tended to leave the victims with severe disabilities for the rest of their lives.
Denies Climate Change
Speaking of which, Widdecombe is one of those people who don’t believe in the existence of climate change. In fact, her views on the matter seem to have hardened over time, as shown by the fact that she has mocked the idea in more recent times whereas she used to express nothing more than a sense of skepticism. Widdecombe is one of those people who have claimed that looking out the window proves that climate change isn’t real, which is ridiculous because a single anecdote says more-or-less nothing about overall trends.
Supports the Ban on Fox Hunting
Curiously, Widdecombe does have at least one political view that contrasts with that of other social conservatives in the United Kingdom. In short, she is one of the Conservative supporters of the ban on fox hunting, which is a huge issue in the United Kingdom because of its nature as a sport as well as its association with class issues.
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