Matthew Parris: A gay atheist's challenge to the Church

Contents:

• THE FACT NO ONE LIK TO ADM: MANY GAY MEN ULD JT HAVE EASILY BEEN STRAIGHT
• MY HBAND IS GAY BUT WE’RE MARRIED WH TWO KIDS AND HAVE GREAT SEX
• COFFEE HOE TOP 10: THE FACT NO ONE LIK TO ADM: MANY GAY MEN ULD JT HAVE EASILY BEEN STRAIGHT
• MATTHEW PARRIS: A GAY ATHEIST'S CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH
• GAY LUMNIST WAS SEXUALLY HARASSED BY ACTRS
• AS A GAY ATHEIST, I WANT TO SEE THE CHURCH OPPOSE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
• THE TTH ABOUT LIFE AS A GAY TORY MP
• MATTHEW PARRIS: I'D BET MONEY ON CAMERON PERSISTG WH GAY MARRIAGE
• TORY WRER'S GAY WEDDG TO 'FIRST LOVE'
• THOMAS THE TANK ENGE HAS A NEW GAY IEND
• THE FACT NO ONE LIK TO ADM: MANY GAY MEN ULD JT HAVE EASILY BEEN STRAIGHT

THE FACT NO ONE LIK TO ADM: MANY GAY MEN ULD JT HAVE EASILY BEEN STRAIGHT

“That’s why I’ve never accepted the prevailg view among gay men that ‘we n’t help ’. Nobody should be required to, there beg nothg regrettable about beg gay.

“I certaly don’t thk most gay people uld swch at the drop of a hat; nor that we should or most s uld ‘cure’ homosexualy, ” he said. We should be glad to be gay. Many gay men, I spect though, will have tried their hand at ‘curg’ heterosexualy others; and not always whout succs.

MY HBAND IS GAY BUT WE’RE MARRIED WH TWO KIDS AND HAVE GREAT SEX

When I was young, I was told the whole world was divid to heterosexual men and heterosexual women, bar a small number of unfortunate ‘homosexuals’ of both genrs and possibly an even smaller number a third tegory, ‘bisexuals’, who ‘swung both ways’; pl, fally, a ty band of wretched creatur who were physilly not que one thg or the other. How many ‘homosexuals’ were there? Ksey diststed btal tegorisatn but, wishg to unt, nstcted what me close to a slidg sle ntag seven gradatns between exclive heterosexualy and exclive homosexualy.

COFFEE HOE TOP 10: THE FACT NO ONE LIK TO ADM: MANY GAY MEN ULD JT HAVE EASILY BEEN STRAIGHT

He found that almost half his male terviewe had reacted sexually to both genrs; more than a third had had a homosexual enunter; and more than one ten reported roughly equally strong sexual rpons to both men and women. Surveys for the Observer of ten and four years ago suggt that around 4 per cent of Brish men would ll themselv ‘homosexual’.

Some of the men I slept wh have gone straight spe a strong cultural barrier to a gay man dog this. Some iends I thought — knew — to be straight have gone gay, or ‘bisexual’. All all, I’ve probably slept wh as many straight men as self–intifyg gay or bisexual on: I doubt most were lyg, and some s have reason to know they weren’t.

For every ‘bisexual’ man who’s actually gay but reluctant to say so, there’s a straight man who’s actually bisexual. And there are plenty of ‘gay’ men who know that, a different life, they uld reasonably ntentedly be straight. In what pass for the gay ‘muny’, there’s somethg of a taboo about admtg, even to ourselv, that que a few of (not me) uld, wh a ltle axg and self-disciple, be ‘straight’.

MATTHEW PARRIS: A GAY ATHEIST'S CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH

There exist strong reasons for this taboo among gays: first, ‘we n’t help ’ was absolutely central to our early pch for equaly, and we need to believe . A woman has revealed how she’s married to a gay man and the pair have two young kids together.

The mom-of-two scrib herself as straight while her hband Matthew intifi as gay or pansexual, admtg he is “more attracted to men than women”. Brynn met Matthew for the first time at church early 2016 and jt a few dat , he revealed he was gay. @gayprofsordad / SWNS.

Matthew had known he was attracted to men sce he was a teenager, but he belonged to the Church which do not enurage homosexual relatnships. The mom-of-two, who liv Ypsilanti, Michigan said: “He looked straight at me and said ‘Brynn, I’m gay.

GAY LUMNIST WAS SEXUALLY HARASSED BY ACTRS

I thk that many more people are gay, bi, pan, or other, than have ma that known openly. “I’ve heard gay men say that they n’t even image tryg to be sexual wh a woman, and I have never felt that way.

The mom-of-two scrib herself as straight while her hband Matthew intifi as gay or pansexual, admtg he is “more attracted to men than women. ”@gayprofsordad / SWNS. While Brynn is a straight woman, Matthew’s sexualy isn’t lear and he has intified as gay, pansexual and bisexual.

You n follow Brynn and Matthew on Instagram at @gayprofsordad. The rult of Ireland's gay marriage referendum is expected today, wh polls puttg the 'y' vote ahead. Tim journalist, self-clared atheist and gay activist Matthew Parris has laid down a challenge to the Church.

AS A GAY ATHEIST, I WANT TO SEE THE CHURCH OPPOSE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

He wrote the light of ments on the Irish gay marriage referendum by the Archbishop of Dubl, Most Rev Diarmuid Mart, who clared: "It's a social revolutn that didn't beg today...

"Even as a (gay) atheist, I wce to see the philosophil ms that relig nservativ are makg of their se, " he says. RelatedPope flh out love between man and woman days after Irish gay marriage voteIreland same sex marriage vote: Catholic Church needs a 'realy check', says ArchbishopSame-sex marriage: What the Irish referendum rult says to the ChurchSame-sex marriage: Ireland has voted y 'social revolutn'. But was all rather disncertg for the man forward Matthew Parris, the proudly gay, one-time Conservative MP and now the brilliant Tim lumnist, who is as much revered for his polil sights as the elegance of his md.

' Mr Parris' stalker, flamboyant actrs Judh Stott wh her first hband Jeremy BurnhamMr Parris, 68, told the remarkable story of how the woman, whom he didn't intify, threw him on a sofa at a party hosted by the former polician Harvey Proctor — himself gay — then proceed to harass him a mpaign that lasted two, we n reveal the full tails of that cur bizarre cint took place the late Neti when Mr Parris, formerly MP for Wt Derbyshire, attend a party hosted by Mr Proctor. Pictured, Ms Stott wh actor Sir John Gielgud' 'Your gay-boy lovers, no doubt. So now we have the rult of the Irish referendum on gay marriage, and now we’ve heard the Roman Catholic Church’s chastened rponse, we shall have to rewre Exod 32, which (you may remember) reports Mos’ (and God’s) fur reactn to the nu dancg and heretil worship of Moloch the form of a goln lf: the S of the Calf the Hebrew lerature.

THE TTH ABOUT LIFE AS A GAY TORY MP

He was reclg on his bed at Northumberland Place, gog through a red box wh the televisn set on, as Matthew Parris, The Tim sketch wrer, ex-MP and openly gay, was terviewed by Jeremy Paxman about the personal crisis that had ed Ron Davi to rign as Welsh Secretary that very day. Matthew Parris told Paxman: "There are at least two gay members of the Cabet. " Paxman, appearg to search his memory for whom Parris might mean, asked: "Are there two gay members of the Cabet?

MATTHEW PARRIS: I'D BET MONEY ON CAMERON PERSISTG WH GAY MARRIAGE

" Parris replied: "Well, Chris Smh is openly gay and I thk Peter Manlson is certaly gay.

It was wily known Hartlepool, as well as throughout the Wtmster village, that Manlson was gay. For one thg, he believed, rightly or wrongly, that Paxman - a iend, if not a close one - knew he was gay and who he had been gog out wh. By this time, the Labour MP Diane Abbott, an old sparrg partner of Manlson's, referred at some length to Manlson's homosexualy on Qutn Time.

TORY WRER'S GAY WEDDG TO 'FIRST LOVE'

I n only apologise scerely on behalf of the BBC both for the origal mistake and for the wispread prs verage that has scerelyChristopherAfter an stant poll of 100 nstuents, the Hartlepool Mail, unr a headle that screamed: WHO CARES IF OUR MP IS GAY?, reported that 94 had cid that didn't matter. Manlson believed that when on 27 October he was "outed" as a homosexual for the fourth or fifth time, this time by Matthew Parris, was like a breach the dam which had hherto protected him om a torrent of tert his personal or "non-polil" life. Sce s 1989 ceptn rponse to a ban on the “promotn of homosexualy” by schools and uncils sectn 28 of the Lol Government Act, Stonewall has been a part of every major stggle for LGBT rights the UK.

Dissenters pot out that LGB and T have long been entwed, wh the trans activists Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson havg been important figur the gay rights scene at the time of the 1969 New York uprisg om which Stonewall rived s ’s lumn followed a report by a barrister for the Universy of Essex which found that the stutn had unlawfully banned a speaker after accatns that she was Kelley, chief executive of Stonewall, says she is nfint about Stonewall’s advice about genr inty. “Wh all beliefs, cludg ntroversial beliefs, there is a right to exprs those beliefs publicly and where they’re harmful or damagg – whether ’s antisemic beliefs, genr-cril beliefs, beliefs about disabily – we have legal systems that are put place for people who are harmed by that, ” she, who said Stonewall believed eedom of speech but “not whout lim”, said the parison was apt as people were protected on the basis of their genr inty the same way as people are on the basis of their veteran gay rights mpaigner Peter Tatchell was a target for some supporters of transgenr rights after signg a letter support of ee speech which ced attempts to ban Germae Greer and Julie Bl, who have both raised ncerns about predatory men gag accs to women’s spac. “Those who ny trans people’s existence, misgenr them and advote anti-trans discrimatn echo the prejudice of racists and homophob.

THOMAS THE TANK ENGE HAS A NEW GAY IEND

And that has really ma the whole disurse credibly toxic, given s enormo reach wh natnal stutns, ” she add that as a gay woman she had benefed om advanc equaly achieved by Stonewall the past, but had now overreached.

“They got what they wanted terms of gay marriage and many other of their origal goals so they need a new agenda, they need new revenue, new streams and a ratnale, and they found one through what is now beg lled trans rights – but is a tennt terpretatn of what trans rights are. Perhaps bee he was born and raised southern Ai, and also happens to be gay, Matthew Parris has the keen eye of an outsir for the nuanc of the English class system and the Brish tablishment — which he once tried to 1949 Johannburg, his father a bsman, he went on the Foreign Office’s graduate fast-track after boardg school Swaziland and a gree at Cambridge. Workg for the Tori the 1970s might seem a strange reer choice for a young gay man — albe one still firmly the closet — though he found Mrs Thatcher a lightful, rg did he realise he was gay?

”His souciance about his own sexualy perhaps explas why he failed to read the warng signs when he ced Peter Manlson on Newsnight 1998 as one of two homosexuals the Cabet.

THE FACT NO ONE LIK TO ADM: MANY GAY MEN ULD JT HAVE EASILY BEEN STRAIGHT

“Lots of gay men, me clud, get stuck halfway through their liv wh a versn of themselv that they adopted earlier out of necsy. ”As a man born at the end of the 1940s, Parris says he was once ambivalent about gay marriage.