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

Contents:

• JOHNSON HAS LGBT 'BLD SPOT', SAYS FIRST OPENLY GAY BET MISTER
• KEIR MATHER: LABOUR’S OUT GAY WNER OF SELBY AND ASTY BY-ELECTN IS YOUNGT MP PARLIAMENT
• GAY MPS: THE PHOTOGRAPH THAT SHOWS WTMSTER'S ATTU TOWARDS LGBT POLICIANS IS CHANGG
• I NOW FEEL LS SAFE AS A GAY MAN - MP CHRIS BRYANT
• THE QUIET REVOLUTN: WHY BRA HAS MORE GAY MPS THAN ANYWHERE ELSE
• I'M GAY SOUND
• GAY MP
• BORIS JOHNSON HAS AN LGBT+ ‘BLD SPOT’, SAYS FIRST OPENLY GAY MP
• GAY MP REF TO GIVE TO HOMOPHOBIA AND SEXISM AFTER SUFFERG ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ ABE

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

Media ptn, Lord Chris Smh talks about the language he wnsed parliament the 1990sBoris Johnson has a "bld spot" when to appotg LGBT+ people to his top team, the UK's first openly gay bet mister has Chris Smh, who was a member of Tony Blair's first bet 1997, said was a "matter of great regret" that there were currently no out bet urged the PM to diversify his top team "the next year or two".

A ernment spokman said Mr Johnson was mted to improvg UK parliament now has s hight ever proportn of lbian, gay and bisexual MPs, cludg two non-bet misters, although there are no openly transgenr members of parliament. Lord Smh, who was also the first openly gay male MP after g out 1984, said electg a trans member of parliament was a "glass ceilg" yet to be broken. "In terms of lbians and gay men I thk the glass ceilg Parliament has well and tly been broken, " he said an terview to mark LGBT+ History month.

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

" Chris Smh's reerImage source, PA MediaImage ptn, Smh promot Brish film at Cann 1999A leadg figure New Labour, who beme an MP for a North London nstuency 1983The followg year, at a gay rights rally Rugby, Warwickshire, he said: "My name is Chris Smh. I'm the Labour MP for Islgton South and Fsbury, and I'm gay"Smh's unscripted announcement - which earned a standg ovatn - was the first time a gay MP had chosen to e outLabour's Mreen Colquhoun - a pneerg femist whose ath at the age of 92 was announced earlier this month - had been open about her sexualy the 1970s, after the Daily Mail revealed she was a relatnship wh another womanIn 1997, Smh was appoted culture secretary, wh rponsibily for the Millennium Dome, the creative dtri and troducg ee mm entryHe later served as head of the Environment Agency, after steppg down as an MP 2005 and enterg the Hoe of LordsJte Greeng who was the first and, as thgs stand, only out lbian bet mister thks 's more of a "pipele" issue - that not as many LGBT+ MPs have risen through the ranks as had been Greeng served Thera May's Conservative bet, as tn secretary and equali mister, alongsi Secretary of State for Stland, David Munll, who also me out while office. He urged Mr Johnson to "look to the greater talent that is out there and will clu some people who happen to be lbian or gay".

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

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?

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

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.

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

“Ambassador, I’m a gay man. 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.

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.

I'M GAY SOUND

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. 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. Secretly, he'd always hoped to publicly announce he was gay. But 30 years ago when the then-NDP MP for Burnaby-Kgsway beme the first MP to e out as gay, Canada was battlg the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Fear of the disease, upled wh longstandg social stereotyp, meant homophobia was rampant.

GAY MP

They say 's bee of Robson and others like him that they're able to do their they also say they ntue to face hatred and threats, and there is still work to be done to fight 's a short vio of the broadst news segment that aired at the time:MP Svend Robson out as gay, 1988Former B. MP Svend Robson was the first MP Canada to publicly clare he was gayRobson was re-elected six months after he me out. 29, 1988, and told her he was gay.

MP Svend Robson's nstuency office were smashed after mours swirled that he was about to e out as gay.

He said was the possibily of givg "a msage of hope and solidary to the younger gay and lbian people" that spurred him to do so. "Robson was the lone publicly gay MP for another six years, until Quebeis Réal Ménard me out  1994. In 2014, an toxited man me to Chandra Herbert's nstuency office yellg homophobic slurs.

BORIS JOHNSON HAS AN LGBT+ ‘BLD SPOT’, SAYS FIRST OPENLY GAY MP

(Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Prs)Whereas 30 years ago Robson was part of "one of the most exclive clubs the world" as a gay MP, today he equently meets and speaks wh LGBT elected officials. He also played a role issug an apology to former ernment workers affected by the gay purge. Dunn beme the unofficial LGBTQ2S+ spokperson for the Conservative Party after his w 2019 as the only openly-gay Tory uc.

He’s bt known for his lls to end the blood ban agast queer men and trans women; November 2020, he ma headl when he asked Mister of Health Patty Hajdu if she would accept a donatn of his blood as an openly gay man. That fight, he told Xtra April, is a personal one—he uldn’t donate blood as a closeted gay teen whout outg himself. 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.

GAY MP REF TO GIVE TO HOMOPHOBIA AND SEXISM AFTER SUFFERG ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ ABE

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". "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. In Dear Church: I’m Gay, you’ll follow the journey of real people who have wrtled wh their fah, sexualy, or genr, and you’ll see that the issu aren’t jt about issu.

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.

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.

It was impossible for any ndidate or MP to be openly gay whout the fear of beg monised by the tabloids.