Comment: Chris Grayling's comments create serious doubts about the Tory party's commitment to gay rights
Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell argues that the comments made by shadow home secretary Chris Grayling where he argues for bed and breakfast owners to be entitled to turn away gay couples call into question the Conservative party’s commitment to LGBT rights
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Chris Grayling seems to be remaining as the shadow home secretary despite the views he expressed that he felt B&B’s should be allowed to discriminate against LGBT people.
As a gay man I find this to be reprehensible, but I am intrigued by Conservative blogger Iain Dale who is a gay man as well, I believe.
The Guardian blog has reported Iain Dale has said in his blog: “Do I believe that his [Grayling] views, as expressed, will be damaging. Yes I do.”
So this is the first time that I have seen a high profile LGBT Conservative “acting up” in this way.
It has been horrendous to watch various LGBT Conservatives act as apologists for the Conservative party’s activities in the European parliament.
Now one of them, Iain Dale, is wanting action against Grayling.
I think Iain Dale might be disappointed.
I have long believed that David Cameron has been conning those LGBT Conservatives. He tells them he is liberal and on their side, but he never seems to actual deliver.
The right of the Conservative party is far more important to David Cameron than Iain Dale & Co. and the Conservative right will want to keep Grayling.
The LGBT Conservatives have been utterly dutiful to Dave while his party sh*ts on the rights of LGBT people in Eastern Europe. Will Dave pay them back by ditching Grayling?
Let’s see…
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Cameron and Grayling are of one mind. The reason why Cameron has yet to discipline Grayling in public is that Cameron KNOWS that if he comes out in support of us disgusting vile and filthy queers he will lose the support of that huge part of the British electorate which, below the surface, is seething with hatred of us. Don’t believe it? Go read forums OTHER than Pink News. The bigotry and hostility being expressed out there in the cyberspace by thousands of members of the British public is HORRIFYING.
And yet there are gays and lesbians prepared to give their vote to these cunning Tory public-school boys.
I’ve worked with Tory public-school boys. Their conviction that they are superior to us queers is deeply, DEEPLY, dyed into their very BONES! It is an utter conviction that no amount of “Oh, right, OK, so you’re gay then, Eddy! That’s fine, mate! That’s not a problem! Each to his own! We can’t all be straight” can hide, mask, or eradicate.
Readers may be interested to read Cameron’s ACTUAL track record.
A timeline of David Cameron’s gay rights hokey-cokey
1999 Shaun Woodward, a Conservative frontbencher, is sacked by William Hague for refusing to back the party’s stance that Section 28 should not be repealed. The controversial legislation banned local authorities from promoting homosexuality in schools. Mr Woodward quits the party, leaving the safe Tory seat of Witney available.
2000 David Cameron is chosen as the Tory candidate for Witney and on the campaign trail he attacks both Mr Woodward, in a letter to The Telegraph, and Tony Blair for their pro-gay rights approaches.
He told the local paper: “The Blair government continues to be obsessed with their fringe agenda, including deeply unpopular moves like repealing Section 28 and allowing the promotion of homosexuality in schools. . . Blair has moved heaven and earth to allow the promotion of homosexuality in schools”.
2003 Once he is elected MP, Mr Cameron votes against the Labour Government’s repeal of Section 28 in the House of Commons.
2005 By the autumn of 2005, Mr Cameron is elected party leader and he tells the BBC that he is pleased that Section 28 has been abolished.
“At the end of the day, one section of our community did feel discriminated against by Section 28, and so I’m glad on that basis that it’s gone,” he says.
2008 He then puts his credentials as a modernising politician on hold by voting against a law making it easier for lesbian couples to receive IVF treatment. He sides with the right of his party saying that the issue goes to the heart of his message that Britain’s society is broken.
2009 Mr Cameron appears at a gay pride event and apologises for the Tory record on Section 28. “Yes, we may have sometimes been slow and, yes, we may have made mistakes, including Section 28, but the change has happened,” he says.
2009 Two months later, Tory MEPs refuse to back a cross-party European Parliament vote to condemn a homophobic law passed in Lithuania
2010 In an interview with gay magazine Attitude, he criticises the Church of England over its attitudes to homosexuality, calling for it to accept equal rights for gays.
From the Times.
http://timesnews.typepad.com/news/2010/03/cameron-gay-interview.html
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To my knowledge no statement yet from David Cameron. It is 10:38 am.
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The Police asks people to continue reporting homophobic incidents to them. If you’re being the target of homophobic attacks, report them to the police, as soon as you can.
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A child is not born homophobic….
you can take it from there.
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As a young gay man i think this is not about a B&B it is just most people still hate gays. I was in a bar after work to day with my partner and some people were talking about this story,most people were being homophobic. Next thing people were saying nasty things to me and my partner. Then the Landlord asked us to leave as he did not like queers upsetting his customers. We did not do anythink wrong. All we wanted was a drink after work! I am still so upsett about this why do people have to hate so much???
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Very true
It’s bad enough that Grayling supports “straights only” businesses, effectively gutting the anti-discrimination law, but the echoing silence from the Tory party shows that they either agree with him or don’t care.
Which shows how much faith we can have in them. The Tories – still the party of homophobia
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Well said Peter. Nicely summed-up I thought.
How can you possibly defend discrimination in any form?
I have the right to refuse entry to ANYONE in my own home, but not if I am using my home to run a business, simple, end-of…
It is just wrong… Imagine paying a deposit, traveling miles and miles, only to be refused the service you booked once you arrive, simply because the owner of the business thinks you are gay? Then you have to mess about trying to find alternative facilities when you thought you had ALREADY done so, and had made a contract for those services with the owner of the business. It is not right, it is just plainly wrong.
Sorry, but no-one, in their right mind, in this day and age could possibly think it is okay to discriminate… (and more incredibly, ask us to elect them as the next Home Secretary of the UK!)
Anyone else see something very wrong with that picture?
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B&B owners and et cetera should have the right to turn away gay couples ONLY if they have the right to also turn away blacks, Jews, disabled people and et cetera.
Why doesn’t Chris Grayling defend, for example, the right of racist B&B owners to turn away black people? Why the double standards?
It’s infuriating!
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Has Grayling been expelled from the Tory Party yet?
If not, then it means that the Tories support his bigotry.
Are the Tories disgusting homophobic bigots?
It would appear that the answer is a resounding YES!
The Tories hate gay people.
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David Cameron???
Is there a David Cameron in the room??
Easter Egg for Mr. David Cameron!!!
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