I’m gay… and a Tory
We all know the stereotype, that anyone who isn’t 100% straight will vote for labour. I’ve heard it all before. I’ve had people say to me “you’re gay and a Tory? That’s f*cked” … And many times, I’ve been told “you’re a traitor to the cause!”
I would be lying if I said they didn’t hurt, but I’ve got more important things to worry about.
The idea that LGBT people don’t vote conservative is not only wrong, it’s insulting. We are all individual people who are capable of thinking for ourselves. The idea that we all follow the same politics is just wrong. By saying that LGBT people are stupid for voting conservative you are implying that we aren’t allowed to think for ourselves. Why should who a person chooses to love or what gender someone wants to be influence their opinion on the economy or government spending? If a LGBT person chooses to vote a different way to you, there’s no need to paint them as an idiot, just simply ask why. And the chances are people respond better when you ask why did they did something rather than insult them for doing it.
I’m not going to avoid it, yes, the conservatives don’t have a perfect record when it comes to LGBT rights. We oversaw the implementation of section 28. If you don’t know section 28, it was a law that amongst other things was a way to avoid talking out LGBT people in schools. It was an awful law that we should never have implemented. But times have changed, and for the better.
The modern-day Conservative party does still unfortunately have some homophobia in its membership, but they are a small minority. Whilst in government under Prime Minister David Cameron, the U.K. brought in Marriage equality allowing same sex couples to marry, with equal rights, as opposite gender couples. This was groundbreaking legislation, and as David Cameron said: “I don’t support gay marriage despite being a conservative, I support it because I am a conservative”
The Modern Day Conservative party is a much better place for The LGBT community, but as with anything, we still have work to do, and I have no doubt we will continue to make progress.
Ben Hawkes
"Gay Pride Flag" by zeevveez is licensed under CC BY 2.0