Keir Mather: Gay Labour MP new ‘baby of the hoe’ - Attu

gay labour mp

Once gay ndidat were monised – or forced to hi the closet. Now Wtmster boasts 32 LGB MPs, more than any other untry. But, as gay policians past and prent nfirm, the battle is not over yet

Contents:

KEIR MATHER: LABOUR’S OUT GAY WNER OF SELBY AND ASTY BY-ELECTN IS YOUNGT MP PARLIAMENT

Openly gay Labour ndidate Keir Mather has bee the youngt MP parliament after he won the Selby and Asty by-electn. * gay labour mp *

Keir Mather has bee the youngt MP parliament and the latt gay man elected to Wtmster. Out gay Labour polician Keir Mather has bee the youngt MP parliament after he stormed to victory the Selby and Asty by-electn. Who is Keir Mather, Labour’s newt out gay MP?

Keir Mather is parliament’s newt out gay MP. In 2018, he garnered a mentn his stunt newspaper when he grilled Rsia’s ambassador to the UK on the torture and murr of gay men Chechnya.

“Ambassador, I’m a gay man. Who is new gay Labour MP Keir Mather?

KEIR MATHER: PUBLICLY GAY LABOUR MP NEW ‘BABY OF THE HOE’ AFTER BY-ELECTN W

Labour MP Chris Bryant has said he feels "physilly ls safe" as a gay man than he did 30 years ago, blamg "Tory culture wars".  * gay labour mp *

Back 2018, Mather spoke about his inty as a gay man when he challenged Rsian ambassador Alexanr Yakovenko over the torture and murr of gay men Chechnya. The ambassador was forced to fend the natn’s rerd, and clared: “It’s difficult to say if there are any gay people Chechnya. Bradshaw, the gay floppy-haired MP for Exeter, has reprented the southwt England cy for the past 25 years.

TRAILBLAZG GAY LABOUR MP BEN BRADSHAW STEPPG DOWN AFTER 25 YEARS: ‘THE TIME FEELS RIGHT’

* gay labour mp *

Gay Labour MP felt like ‘luckit person alive’ to reprent Exeter.

Proudly open throughout his first electn 1997, Ben Bradshaw beme only the send out gay man Bra to be elected an MP on the first try.

I NOW FEEL LS SAFE AS A GAY MAN - MP CHRIS BRYANT

Levels of LGBT+ reprentatn the UK parliament - wh more gay Conservative MPs than out Labour MPs followg the general electn. * gay labour mp *

This was ntrast to his fellow LGBT+ lawmakers at the time, such as Chris Smh, who me out after beg elected, makg history as the first gay male MP. Media ptn, Chris Bryant: I feel ls safe as a gay manSenr Labour MP Chris Bryant has told the BBC he feels "ls physilly safe as a gay man" than he did 30 years ago. He told Nick Robson's Polil Thkg podst that Boris Johnson was not homophobic but some ernment were happy to "stir the pot" 10 said the PM was proud of the ernment's rerd on LGBT spokman also said Mr Johnson was "absolutely clear there is no place for homophobic abe".

GAY LABOUR MP CHRIS BRYANT FEELS ‘PHYSILLY LS SAFE’ THAN 30 YEARS AGO, BLAM ‘TORY CULTURE WARS’

Gay and lbian activists elud Rsian secury servic a five-hour game of t and moe on Saturday to hold the first gay prott Mosw not to be broken up by rt police. * gay labour mp *

"They've learned this trick Ameri om Tmp and the end culture wars will always pick on those who are slightly different and that means the gays, the Jews and the blacks and that's always the list that crops up whenever a populist ernment gets to power. 'I'm not accg the prime mister of beg homophobic but I do feel ls physilly safe as a gay man than I did 30 years ago. "He said he didn't wake up the morng "worryg I'm gog to be gay-bashed" but exprsed ncern about a rise hate crim agast LGBT people, addg that homophobia was "a very strong part of people's experience of morn Bra".

"He is also absolutely clear there is no place for homophobic abe. Labour and Co-operative MP Le Pollard was sent spible homophobic abe on Valente’s Day simply for sharg a photograph of himself wh his boyiend, Sydney. Here, for PkNews, the MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport reveals how all the homophobic haters managed to achieve was remd him that Valente’s Day is, first and foremost, about love.

It wasn’t jt a mix up at the florist wh the flowers, or pg wh love lockdown: we were piled on by homophobic trolls for dog what upl across the untry were dog and sendg a short tweet celebratg our relatnship. It’s a nvenient fib we tell ourselv that the 21st century homophobia has been feated. When my office Plymouth was vandalised last year wh homophobic graffi, Sydney was there for me.

THE QUIET REVOLUTN: WHY BRA HAS MORE GAY MPS THAN ANYWHERE ELSE

The age-old slur that gay men are child abers is a mon one, one that my team and I washed off the ont of my office not once but twice. Le Pollard’s office Frankfort Gate, centra Plymouth, was vandalised wh homophobic graffi (Twter/Le Pollard). You mt be a dark place when sendg homophobic and racist abe is your pastime.

Homophobia and racism are on the rise, and we need to make a stand agast . Gay Labour MP Chris Bryant appeared on Nick Robson’s Polil Thkg podst.

GAY MPS: THE PHOTOGRAPH THAT SHOWS WTMSTER'S ATTU TOWARDS LGBT POLICIANS IS CHANGG

Labour MP Chris Bryant has said he feels “physilly ls safe” as a gay man than he did 30 years ago, blamg “Tory culture wars”. “They’ve learned this trick Ameri, om Tmp, and the end culture wars will always pick on those who are slightly different and that means the gays, the Jews and the Blacks, that’s always the list that crops up whenever a populist ernment gets to power.

Gay MP Chris Bryant is ‘filled wh unease’ over ernment’s rerd on LGBT+ rights.

THE UK’S PARLIAMENT IS STILL THE GAYT THE WORLD AFTER 2019 ELECTN

“The fact that they’re not prepared to do a proper ban on nversn therapy, Boris’s own history of [sayg] ‘tank-topped bum boys’, sayg that if you were to allow gay marriage why not allow two men and a dog to marry. He add: “I’m not accg the prime mister of beg homophobic but I do feel ls physilly safe than I did 30 years ago as a gay man.

“He is also absolutely clear there is no place for homophobic abe.

Stephen Twigg was gay – a “practisg homosexual”, to e a formula still popular at the time – and though mours about Michael Portillo’s sexualy had been swirlg for years, he was most fely not. The day after Twigg’s victory, Chris Smh, an MP sce 1983 and out sce 1984, beme the first openly gay secretary of state – culture, naturally. The years rolled by and anti-gay legislatn was rolled back.

RSIAN GAYS ELU POLICE FOR FIRST LM PROTT

Now Bra fds self wh the queert legislature the world: 32 of the Uned Kgdom’s 650 MPs llg themselv gay, lbian or bisexual. And two nstuenci last week – Lanster & Fleetwood and Milton Keyn South – both the Tory and Labour ndidat were gay, lbian or bisexual. Proportnally, though, the SNP is now by far the gayt party Wtmster, wh 12% of s MPs chalkg themselv up as sexual may scratch our heads as to the meang of the numbers: is a surprise that there are so many out Tori?

RSIAN POLICE CHASE AWAY ANTI-GAY CSAR OM LABOR DAY PRI MARCH

How did a untry raised on tabloid sndal end up so at ease wh gay public figur? Homosexualy was crimalised England and Wal 1967 by reformg home secretary Roy Jenks (Stland had to wa until 1980, and Northern Ireland until 1982), but prosecutns for sexual offenc ntued to snare many gay men to the 90s.

In addn, a vic prs culture of blackmail and exposure ma life difficult for gay people who wanted to participate ernment and Tatchell, who stood as the Labour ndidate for Bermondsey 1983, was the subject of a notorly homophobic mpaign by his Liberal opponents. It was impossible for any ndidate or MP to be openly gay whout the fear of beg monised by the tabloids. “There were lots of gay MPs, ” he says, “but they were all the closet, eher bee they were secure about their own sexualy, or bee they feared vilifitn the papers and selectn by their party.

KEIR MATHER: PUBLICLY GAY LABOUR MP NEW ‘BABY OF THE HOE’ AFTER BY-ELECTN W

” So wasn’t jt the prs, but the party mach that failed to treat gay and lbian people wh rpect, wed by Fleet Street’s ferocy. Constuents and rival parti said: ‘Not only is he gay and wants gay rights, he’s open and brazen about . ’”Peter Tatchell ( red shirt) jos the celebratns after MPs voted to cut the homosexual age of nsent to 16 1998.

Photograph: Tony Harris/PAStill, Tatchell says there was “public revulsn” agast the homophobia he experienced, which he believ ma the tabloids more reluctant to nduct anti-gay wch-hunts, for a time, at least. As a rult, Chris Smh had an easier ri when he me out Conservativ’ relatnship wh homosexualy was equally uneasy. “I told her I was gay when I went to say goodbye to her and she put an arm on my wrist and said: ‘Matthew, that mt have been very difficult for you to say.

’”Gay MPs were tolerated, so long as discretn led.

GAY AND TRANS RIGHTS ISSU DIVI BOTH TORI AND LABOUR

It was Edwa Currie who tabled an amendment to brg the age of nsent for gay men down om 21 to 16 – there was famoly no such law alg specifilly wh lbianism. “Major issued guidance sayg was OK for senr civil servants to be gay and that changed the atmosphere a b, ” says former Labour sp doctor Lance Price.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY LABOUR MP

Trailblazg gay Labour MP Ben Bradshaw steppg down after 25 years .

TOP