The quiet revolutn: why Bra has more gay MPs than anywhere else | LGBTQ+ rights | The Guardian

Contents:

• THE QUIET REVOLUTN: WHY BRA HAS MORE GAY MPS THAN ANYWHERE ELSE
• GAY MPS: THE PHOTOGRAPH THAT SHOWS WTMSTER'S ATTU TOWARDS LGBT POLICIANS IS CHANGG
• WTMSTER NOW HAS 32 OPENLY GAY, LBIAN AND BISEXUAL MPS
• 2 MORE MPS E OUT AS GAY TO TAKE HOE OF COMMONS TOTAL TO 35
• COMMONS HAS MORE GAY MPS THAN ANY OTHER PARLIAMENT THE WORLD
• JOHNSON HAS LGBT 'BLD SPOT', SAYS FIRST OPENLY GAY BET MISTER
• RERD NUMBER OF OPENLY GAY MPS ELECTED TO HOE OF COMMONS
• THE UK’S PARLIAMENT IS STILL THE GAYT THE WORLD AFTER 2019 ELECTN
• NAMIBIAN MPS BACK ANTI-GAY LAW SPE SUPREME COURT LG
• HOW STLAND BEME THE WORLD LEAR ON LBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL REPRENTATN
• NAMIBIAN MPS BACK ANTI-GAY LAW SPE SUPREME COURT LG

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

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.

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

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?

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.

WTMSTER NOW HAS 32 OPENLY GAY, LBIAN AND BISEXUAL MPS

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.

” 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.

2 MORE MPS E OUT AS GAY TO TAKE HOE OF COMMONS TOTAL TO 35

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.

COMMONS HAS MORE GAY MPS THAN ANY OTHER PARLIAMENT THE WORLD

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

JOHNSON HAS LGBT 'BLD SPOT', SAYS FIRST OPENLY GAY BET MISTER

Price rells: “When I worked for Blair, we had the Sun rampagg around askg if we were beg n by a Gay Mafia. ”, was laidback about his gay MPs.

The only thg the media wanted to know about was who else was gay and I didn’t thk that was very fair. Photograph: Anthony Devl/PAGay MPs don’t necsarily mean gay rights. Tatchell remembers that “ the 80s, a lot of gay MPs voted agast equaly, and many straight on – Gav Strang, Jeremy Corbyn, Dawn Primarolo – voted favour.

Constuency parti n still balk at the ia of a gay MP. Now gay upl are able to marry and are protected om discrimatn, is parliament still the key battleground once was? Gay rights group Stonewall’s current foc is on bullyg, which suggts that attus, rather than legal obstacl, are the fal ontier of LGBT rights.

RERD NUMBER OF OPENLY GAY MPS ELECTED TO HOE OF COMMONS

Its rearch shows that 55% of gay young people experience homophobic bullyg. How will the new phalanx of gay and lbian MPs change that?

” Given that Cameron has jt appoted Carole Denage, who voted agast gay marriage, as mister for equali, seems wise to be vigilant.

Sign up for the View om Wtmster email for expert analysis straight to your boxGet our ee View om Wtmster emailOne of the most remarkable, yet pleasg, statistics that fascated polil number-cnchers at last year’s electn was that the Hoe of Commons end up wh 32 lbian, gay and bisexual MPs. LGBT History Month is celebrated Febary – and this photograph of 28 MPs and peers is a b of history self, as is the largt number of publicly out parliamentarians pictured together at one time, om a parliament wh more gay members than any the Barll, who prevly worked for the then First Mister of Stland, Alex Salmond, said: “I only me out to myself and to my fay durg the electn.

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

Lord Chris Smh is the picture – he was the first openly gay MP the 1980s and also the first to be appoted to the bet when he beme Culture Secretary 1997. 10 Ia Stewart The Milton Keyn South MP is a former puty chairman of LGBTory, and won plds for a speech durg the last parliament on how he was bullied at school for beg gay.

The pneers of LGBT rights 2015Show all 611 Chris Smh, Baron Smh of Fsbury As pla Chris Smh the 1980s, he ma history by beg the first openly gay man the Commons. 13 Stuart Andrew Parliamentary private secretary to the Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughl, he told the Commons three years ago of how he was once “beaten unnsc” a homophobic attack.

16 Brian Paddick, Baron Paddick of Brixton The two-time Liberal Democrat ndidate for London mayor was prevly famo for beg the untry’s most senr openly gay police officer. 19 Waheed Alli, Baron Alli of Norbury The 51-year-old is an openly gay Mlim who ma his fortune the media dtry before beg a peer 1998.

NAMIBIAN MPS BACK ANTI-GAY LAW SPE SUPREME COURT LG

21 Mart Docherty Somethg of an extrovert, the SNP MP for Wt Dunbartonshire arrived at this photoshoot askg, loudly, “Where are the gays? 23 David Munll The Secretary of State for Stland beme the first ever openly gay Conservative bet mister last month, a cisn he said was “one of the most important” of his life. 26 Stewart McDonald The Glasgow South SNP MP, a member of the Commons Transport Select Commtee, clared his party to be the “gayt group Wtmster” last year, wh 12 per cent out.

Wtmster be the world's gayt Parliament wh 32 openly gay, lbian and bisexual MPs There are 12 Conservative, 13 Labour and six SNP MPs who are openly gayIn the last Parliament there were 26 gay, lbian and bisexual members Study also nclud there were 155 electn ndidat who were gay Published: 23:14 BST, 13 May 2015 | Updated: 13:14 BST, 14 May 2015. Bra now has 32 openly gay, lbian and bisexual MPs ParliamentBra now has the gayt Parliament the world after last week’s are 32 openly gay, lbian and bisexual MPs – jt unr 5 per cent of the total number the Commons.

This dwarfs the 12 and ten the parliaments of Swen and the Netherlands rpectively, both untri that pri themselv on their liberal attu to gay rights. Acrdg to analysis by the New Statman magaze, 13 are Labour MPs, 12 are Conservativ and six reprent the the last Parliament there were 26 gay, lbian and bisexual Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative year the Conservativ put up more openly gay ndidat than any other party – 39 men and three women. Out of their 13 gay, lbian and bisexual MPs om the prev Parliament, 12 stood for re-electn and only one – Eric Ollerenshaw – was feated.

HOW STLAND BEME THE WORLD LEAR ON LBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL REPRENTATN

His loss was ma up for by the electn of Ben Howlett of the ten seats Labour took om the Tori, three were won by gay ndidat – W Streetg, Peter Kyle and Cathere Smh. The ne cumbent Labour gay MPs held on fortably and the SNP returned seven gay and lbian MPs, cludg 20-year-old Mhairi Black, the youngt MP to be elected sce SNP parliamentary party is now 12. 5 per cent gay, lbian and bisexual – the hight proportn of any party the Cathere Smh, left and W Streetg, right, who are openly homosexual won seats for Labour prevly held by the Conservativ The SNP returned seven gay and lbian MPs cludg 20-year-old Mhairi Black, pictured, the youngt MP to be elected sce 1667 The New Statman lculated that there were 155 out gay ndidat May 2015.

Their report also nclud that Tory gay, lbian and bisexual ndidat tend to perform nsirably better than their straight lleagu. Openly gay Labour MP Peter Kyle celebrat beg elected to reprent Hove at the recent electn Ben Howlett, is the openly gay Conservative MP, reprentg Bath, wng the seat om the Liberal DemocratsHowever all four gay and bisexual Liberal Democrat MPs were oted om their Reynolds, om the LGBT [Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr] Reprentatn and Rights Rearch Iniative, said: ‘In some plac, beg out seems to have helped the ndidate’s vote. In the UK there are currently 45 openly gay members the 650-member Hoe of Commons, or 7 percent.

Natnal now has 35 members Parliament, none of which are openly gay. Openly gay Labour MPs clu newly-elected Wellgton list MP Ayha Verrall and Northte MP Shanan Halbert. In 2009, Parliament named one of s 11 select mtee meetg rooms 'Rabow Room', dited to gay, lbian, and transgenr New Zealanrs.

NAMIBIAN MPS BACK ANTI-GAY LAW SPE SUPREME COURT LG

Half of the 26 new Labour MPs are om ethnic mory figure clus Sarah Owen, Labour's first Brish Che MP, and Kim Johnson, the first black MP five Labour MPs are now black or mory ethnic, pared wh 6% of non-whe populatn across the UK as a whole was 14%, acrdg to the 2011 least 45 MPs are openly gayAmong the 650 MPs are at least 45 who are openly gay, lbian or bisexual - and have referred to their sexualy terviews or other public statements.

The Sttish Natnal Party has the hight proportn, wh ne of s 47 MPs openly gay. Two more MPs have e out as gay to take the total number the Hoe of Commons to 35 – more than any other parliament the SNP’s bs spokwoman, Hannah Barll, and Labour’s shadow Welsh Secretary, Nia Griffh, revealed their sexualy at a photoshoot celebratg Parliament's growg last year's electn there were 32 lbian, gay and bisexual MPs, which rose to 33 when Sttish Secretary David Munll beme the first openly out Tory bet member last month.