On the UK election, leaders & LGBT

I’m getting on for fifty. When I was a teen, we had Section 28 introduced, and we had a panic over HIV/AIDS. Over the years since then, we’ve slowly seen the pendulum swing back, starting with the equalisation of the age of consent, then reform of some sexual offences legislation.

The Blair years saw protection from discrimination, and the introduction of civil partnerships. Under the coalition government, we achieved marriage equality.

In international terms, things are pretty good in the UK for LGBT people. Yes, there are still some things that need fixing — certain policies can impact disproportionately on gay youth, or on the trans community, for example.

But you know what? Outside a few fringe candidates, none of the major parties in the UK is even considering rolling back the protections that we have in law.

In that regard, we have much to be thankful for. But there’s an election on, and it’s astonishing the amount of capital that people are seeking to make out of which party is the best for LGBT people. Perhaps this started with a Conservative twitter account, which claimed they were the party of True Equality (that should probably have a ® or something).

That is, certainly, a common view put forward — “We’re the party that brought in equal marriage, not Labour.” I think, realistically, that sidesteps the fact that a decade before, attitudes were still changing, and I doubt it would have been possible to get marriage passed then. Civil Partnership was probably a necessary stepping stone. It also glosses over the fact that more Tory MPs voted against than for — it was the support of the other parties, including in particular the Lib Dems’ Lynne Featherstone — that brought us marriage equality.

We have, it seems to me, moved well beyond the stage where we were a football to be used, a bogeyman to frighten people about the need to protect their children.

Instead, we see in this election the spectacle of partisans on all sides trying to prove their true allegiance.

Some, for example, are circulating a list of Theresa May’s “villainy” which focuses largely on anti-LGBT measures. It notably omits her votes for both Civil Partnership and Equal Marriage. You might not think those cancel out earlier support for Section 28, or her policies on asylum for LGBT people. But to miss them out completely is just partisan nonsense that allows for no one to evolve.

Others scream at Labour — “Your man was on Press TV, which is an Iranian channel, so he’s taking money from people who kill gays.” Corbyn may have made some questionable judgements, but guilt by association is a strange way to tar someone when your own leader has just been flogging arms to the Saudis, themselves not noted liberals in the area of gay rights.

And at the Lib Dems the charge is levelled — again — that Tim Farron won’t be clear on whether he, personally, in his private religious life, thinks gay sex, or being gay is a sin. This despite his voting record on equality, and campaigning with trans candidates.

The point is, you can look at any of these party leaders, and if you’re desperately partisan, you can find some excuse to label them as homophobic, or friends of homophobes. But it’s pretty thin gruel, frankly.

Not only is it pretty thin gruel, but I find it pretty insulting. It’s great that none of the parties are trying to claim we’ll recruit your children, or spread disease. I’m thankful that we’ve moved on from that.

Frankly though, I find the partisan name calling, in a desperate attempt to say “We love the gays more than the others” rather annoying. No longer now are we a bogeyman. We’re the Gay Best Friend that all the parties think they need to have. In its own way, that’s just as demeaning.

There are still some issues that need tackling, especially for subsets of the LGBT community. So if you want to vote gay, consider those, and consider the effect of policies on trans people, youth and other minorities within our community.

Of course, chances are you’ll hear little or none about that, as everyone’s just trying to prove how cool they are. We’re less a football to be kicked around, and more a mascot to be clutched adoringly.

The best thing to be said about this patronising situation is that — perhaps for the first time since I could vote — my life’s not up for discussion at the ballot box.