Evangelical Christian who posted gay slurs in supermarket says he is ‘addicted’ to suing – Sunday World
An evangelical Christian and failed election candidate who posted slurs on a supermarket noticeboard calling a national politician a “gay pervert” has said he is “addicted” to litigation after taking dozens of legal cases.
erial litigant Mark J Savage recently took an unsuccessful case claiming his religious beliefs were being discriminated against after a SuperValu store stopped him repeatedly posting the offensive messages on its noticeboard.
It is the latest in dozens of unsuccessful cases Savage has taken and he admitted to the Sunday World he is now “addicted” to litigation and says it’s better than a heroin addiction.
His previous unsuccessful claims include:
- claiming he was discriminated against because he listed “opposition to homosexuality” as an achievement on his CV;
- claiming was sexually discriminated against because he had a ponytail; and
- claiming he was discriminated against for not being allowed enter a young entrepreneur contest at the age of 54.
Last year he posted notices in SuperValu, falsely claiming a politician facilitated “the sexual exploitation of innocent children by gay perverts”. He then went on to write offensive posts about staff members of the shop.
Earlier this month the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) dismissed a case he took against SuperValu under the Equal Status Act 2000 and described it as “entirely frivolous and vexatious complaint”.
The WRC heavily criticised Savage for “homophobic slurs” and said there was not even the remotest suggestion, even by Savage, that the accusations were true.
The Sunday World called to Savage’s home in Swords, Co. Dublin, this week and while he admitted he was against what he described as “the gay lifestyle”, he said he did not see himself as a bigot.
“Just because I’m pro-life and pro traditional marriage doesn’t mean I’m a bigot.
“They’re trying to make it out to look like I’m a bigot. I’m not – I’m a Christian. Of course, I don’t agree with the gay lifestyle. It doesn’t mean I’m going to threaten or discriminate against them or anything.”
Asked if he believed calling a politician a “gay pervert” was discrimination, he claimed the phrase was a play on words.
“I meant a pervert of justice, does favours for insiders… that kind of perversion of justice.
“It’s a play on words. Journalism does it all the time. All I was trying to do was attract attention to my notice. I wasn’t trying to be threatening, abusive or obscene.”
Savage admitted to the Sunday World that he got in the manager’s face when the notice he put up in SuperValu was taken down, but claims it was a “respectful interaction”.
“They’re trying to make it blown up into a big riot ensued down when they took the notice and I got into the situation with the staff and the manager.
“It was all respectful interaction. [They said] I was was in his face shouting. The only reason I was in his face was to talk quietly and discreetly, you know.”
He admits he was closer than two metres to the manger.
Savage, who ran in local elections in 2014, regularly takes complaints to the WRC but has never won a single case.
“I’ve taken nearly two dozen complaints on religion grounds and every one failed.
“I’m addicted to it now. Rather than heroin addiction, it’s better to have this kind of addiction. It keeps your brain working.
“It can get very tedious. The paperwork is building up. Once you become more knowledgeable about the law you see how many times your rights become violated.”
54-year-old Savage once brought a discrimination
case because he couldn’t enter a young entrepreneur competition.
case because he couldn’t enter a young entrepreneur competition.
He said as well as being against gay marriage, he is suspicious about Covid-19 and is an anti-masker.
“I distrust authorities in general. I keep an open mind. I don’t trust the mainstream media. That’s not to say I’m a far-right extremist conspiracy theorist – although I do monitor [conspiracy theorist] Gemma O’Doherty’s website. I’ve been following their judicial review attempts in the court and I’ve read all the judgments.
“There’s endemic corruption in the current justice system. When your sensibilities are not aligned with the current social mores, you’re going to get an adverse judgment against you.”
When asked if the judgments went against him because the cases he was taking were groundless, he said: “They could classify me as a sore loser, like a litigant person who doesn’t understand the law correctly.
“But I’ve been dealing with the courts and just became engrossed in legal textbooks and have a good collection of them now.”
He said as well as the WRC cases, he has taken “about a dozen High Court actions” as well as Circuit Court cases.
Other unsuccessful cases taken by Savage include one where he claimed he was discriminated against because he under the heading “key achievements” on his CV, he wrote: “Standing up for and defending my religious beliefs, which include that abortion on demand is evil and homosexuality is an intrinsic disorder inclined towards evil.”
In another he claimed he suffered “sexual discrimination” when turned down for a job as a security guard because of his ponytail.
In April this year, Savage, who is 54, was unsuccessful in another case where he argued he was discriminated against by not being allowed enter Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition which is open to 18- to 34-year-olds.
He was also unsuccessful in a legal action against Google after he tried to get the search engine to remove a link to a website which described him as “Mark Savage, north county Dublin’s homophobic candidate. Me thinks Mark doth protest too much… I believe he’s running in Swords.”
He said his addiction to litigation stemmed from that case and he has a number of other cases upcoming.
“I could even sue Google for me becoming addicted to litigation.”
Savage said when he appears in court for his various cases, judges have asked him to put on a mask, but he claims he is exempt from wearing one.
However, he told the Sunday World he keeps a mask in his pocket when in court and did put one on after a judge found him in contempt.
“It wasn’t worth the effort. I didn’t want to end up in Mountjoy for the weekend.”
Savage said he saw mask-wearing as “control” and “conditioning”.
“I follow John Waters. I read a lot of his articles.”
While he said he agreed with Waters and O’Doherty on certain issues, he was not anti-immigration.
“No, not at all. I get on great with them. I have no issue with them at all.
“I never took anything down that I put up. If anyone ever identifies me as a far-right extremist, I’d take great exception. That associates me with Nazism and Holocaust and all that.”
He said he will continue to highlight his objections to lifestyles he doesn’t agree with, but claims he will do so within the law.
He added that he was upset after a recent experience when he was in a public toilet cubicle and tissue slid under into his cubicle from the next toilet, which he believes was another man propositioning him.
