It is time that LGBT tories stop being told how to think
Recently my university association in Aberdeen held a Q&A with Lord Duncan of Springbank. Not only is Lord Duncan a member of the House of Lords but he is also patron of the LGBT Conservatives. I got the opportunity to ask him about his position and what his experiences had been as gay man within the party.
Jokingly, he replied that in most cases if under the age of 30 and in the Conservative party “you might not know it yet, but you’re probably gay”. His slight exaggeration is, however, somewhat accurate. The party has come a long way from where it was many years ago and it frequently does not get credit for it and it has done a lot.
It was under David Cameron that we saw the introduction of same-sex marriage. Something that he has described as one of his “proudest” achievements during his time in Number 10. On top of this, the Conservatives currently have the most LGBT MP’s than any other party with 20 out 45 LGBT members sporting blue. We must also not forget about former Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson. It was her, a 5ft former Territorial Army signaller that led us in 2017 to our strongest result in Scotland for years. Oh, did I mention she is married to a woman?
With these achievements and new legislation currently in the pipeline to address conversion therapy and many prominent LGBT members it is clear that the party is firmly behind supporting gay rights.
However, despite all of this I still find myself being told that I am some sort of ‘self-hating gay’ – when looking at some of my ex’s I might do on those occasions. My sexuality does not define my politics. What does, is my support for the free market, individual liberty, and equality of opportunity. It is because of these values that I am a Conservative.
Yet, we often see people from the left go on about how the Conservatives are inherently homophobic and then point to legislation implemented in the 80’s as a reason for why I shouldn’t be a Tory.
I wasn’t even alive in the 80’s! and the Conservative party that exists today is far from what it was then. I recognise how lucky I am to be in a country where I can be myself thanks to those who came before me that opposed legislation like section 28. Yes, the Conservatives have had a poor record historically on gay rights but so has almost every other party that has been around since the 60’s. Just look back to 2013, MP’s across party lines voted against same-sex marriage, be them liberal democrat, Labour or Conservative.
Despite this history, even during the 80’s and 90’s there were Conservative MP’s that fought for gay rights such as Edwina Currie who, in one of her more triumphant achievements than her ill-fated TV show ‘Currie night’, tabled an amendment to reduce the legal age of consent for gay men to 16.
If we see that today the Conservative party is almost as camp as Christmas, then where does the stigma come from? That would be from within the LGBT community itself. Many gay Tories will surely have many stories in which they have found themselves at the other end of some outrage from others in a community that is supposed to be inclusive and represent all creeds of LGBT people.
I myself was inundated with abuse on a certain dating app due to my political views. Similarly, I was once accused of sending “my people” in America to the gallows for expressing my dislike for Hillary Clinton. With the United States being the closest thing to a holy land for LGBT people with shows, like the crowning jewel of modern-day gay customs and traditions, Ru Paul’s Drag Race being produced there, somehow I doubt that’s really going to be the case.
This exclusionary behaviour is used by many on the left. The Identity politics that is applied to all minorities and designed to marginalise and divide our society, is ever present today. This persistent labelling of groups to try and dictate what I or anyone else should do or think is ludicrous and belittling. We know that sexual orientation has no real bearing on an individual’s voting intentions as evidenced in 2015, which saw that 26% of LGBT people voted Labour. The same amount as those that voted Conservative. So why do we let this ‘game’ continue to be played?
To echo Madonna, “It makes no difference if you're black or white, If you're a boy or a girl” or in this case gay or straight. Gay men and women did not get the equality that we have today just to be told that we should think one way or another. So, as I sit here with a gin in one hand and Cher softly playing in the background, I say it is high time that LGBT people stop being told how to think.
Braiden Smith
"A few LGBT+ Conservatives" by patrickdevries2003 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0