Gay Youth Parliament member suspended over porn pictures

A gay member of the UK Youth Parliament website has been suspended after allegedly posting explicit pictures of himself on the internet.

Reace Mcdonnell, 19, put the images on a “porn networking site”, the Plymouth Herald reports.

He was suspended after a mother found them and complained.

The woman, who did not want to be named, told the newspaper: “I am concerned as a mother for my child. He has recently ‘come out’ as gay and has been following the out youth in Plymouth.

“Reace Mcdonnell, who leads this group and is an apparent role model for young teens in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, is on the internet.

“My son has spoken to me about this internet site and thinks that this is ‘cool’.”

Andy Hamflett, chief executive of the UK Youth Parliament, said: “Our primary concern is for the safety of all the young people we work with and we are taking these allegations very seriously.

“The young person in question has been suspended whilst the matter is investigated.”

Mr Mcdonnell has not commented but posted on his Facebook profile yesterday: “I would like to remind people NOT to believe everything you read in the papers.

“I think its really quite pathetic that you should intringe on my life like this, not only at this pivotal stage, but atall, considering im an adult.

“My statment is that the allegation is not based on fact and should be discredited and ignored by all who read it [sic].”

He joined the Youth Parliament in 2007 and said he would campaign for LGBT rights and better sex education.