The Brits have one more day to consider who they’re going to vote for in tomorrow’s elections, and Prime Minster Gordon Brown, who called for elections early, is making his last ditch appeals to undecided voters. Including the gay ones!
Brown wants UK gays to remember it was his Labour Party that secured civil unions and gay adoption for you ‘mos. (Not helping counter Brown’s argument is the Conservative Party’s almost comical line-up of bigots.) Moreover, says Brown, gays should “fear” Tory leaders like David Cameron taking over. “I think Labour have both a record and future offer that we can be proud of, and the one thing we should all fear is a return to the Tory days. And the reality is, a vote for the Liberal Democrats just makes a Tory government more likely.”
SM
I’m 23, and was 10 when labour came into power. I’ve always been political, literally since before I can remember, so I remember the ENORMOUS change. What is terrifying is that SO SO many people my age in the UK don’t remember what the UK was like for LGBT people 13 years ago, and fall for Cameron’s pro-gay rhetoric.
13 years ago, homosexuality was legal, but gays were heavily discriminated against. Over 13 years labour has fought for measures, often unpopular, to give LGBT people the dignity they deserve. Now we have full equality, labour (and in fairness, the lib-dems) are fighting for PRO-ACTIVE measures to counter the discrimination LGBT people face, such as additional measures to ‘normalise’ the perception of gay people for school children, in order to make the UK not just legally but socially equal.
The head of the Conservative gay grouping recently quit and joined Labour after the hypocrisy she discovered in the party. Senior advisors attempt to ‘pray the gay away’ at their home churches. over the past 13 years the Tories have less than a 25% voting record on LGBT issues. This is the choice LGBT people face – the face of the Tories may have changed, but their heart clearly hasn’t.
fagburn
Did I miss something? – he didn’t mention us gay ones on that…
Cam
The thing is, the Liberal Democrats are polling higher than the tories right now, so a vote for them is not a vote for the tories, that just seems to be a scare tactic. I’m not sure what the issue is, if the lib dems win then Labor will just have to work with them rather than work with the tories, since they are more liberal I would think that lobor wouldn’t mind that.
SM
The lib dems are not consistently polling in third place now.
I’d really like electoral reform, so the Lib Dems acutally get a proportional representation in parliament, however the way it stands even if the lib dems got 40% of the vote they still wouldn’t get the most seats. I hate that we live in a country where we have to tactically vote, but in the majority of swing-constituencies, labour are the only party with an ability to beat the tories. I’m a labour party member, but i do want reform – interestingly if there was, we’d probably end up with a majority progressive parliament from now onwards, seeing as it’s almost impossible for the tories to poll even 40%, even after 13 years in opposition which should be fertile ground for them.
Bill Perdue
I’ll be interested in knowing if the three English parties are concentrating on the LGBT vote because we’ve become a key swing vote.
I also want to see if the effects of the decade long sharp right turn by Labour are going to lead to the breakup of the Labour Party and if unions and working people will desert them. They’re almost as rightwing as our Democrats while the Tories remain infested with unrepentant christian bigots.
I’d like to find out if the election hinges on the economic catastrophe overtaking Europe and on English participation in Obama’s wars against Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Panama.
Economic collapse, the lack of progress stopping bigotry and Obama’s’ wars will dominate US politics in 2011-12.
malcanoid
The British working class who are deserting/have been deserted by the Labour Party will hopefully see a home in the Liberal Democrats. We do not seem to have a left wing any more. The only alternatives are for those with few pricipals, mnamely the BNP which is extreme right wing, or UKIP which is like the BNP but with a middle class accent and better manners but these are parties of division, xenophobia and homophobia.
Pink News polls suggest that the Tories have managed to destroy what gay support they had so we might expect David Cameron to have a hissy fit and do nothing for LGTB people if he succeeds(not that they ever have). I do not think any of the parties see us as “key swing vote” although the Tories, in dispatching one of their prominent gays to Eastern Europe, seemed to be trying to gleen what votes they could from us although in my humble opinion that was a bit late in the day.
The key issue will be the economy but talk of “economic catastrophe” is a little premature Mr Purdue. Greece and Portugal do not Europe make. Incidentally, why do you call them Obama’s wars? If we have to question their parentage, these are surely Bush babies.
Bill Perdue
The wars have a history beginning with Bush1, going on to Clinton’s embargo in the late nineties that murdered roughly half a million Iraqi children, followed by Bush2’s invasions and attempted occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and then followed by Obama’s retention of troops in Iraq to control the oil, his escalation in Afghanistan and his murderous attacks on Pakistani civilians.
Obama owns those wars and the deaths of every muslim civilian and American GI since the afternoon of his inaguration.
I hope that clears up the origins of the wars for you.
The LibDems aren’t socialists. Not even close. They’re a centrist party at the service of the looter class and it’s hard to see how they can ever represent the interests of working people.
Economic collapse and economic catastrophe are descriptions that the nearly 17% of unemployed workers in this country readily accept. (Bureau of LKabor Statistics, Department of Commerce, U6 “real unemployment” index.) I’m sure workers in Greece, currently engaged in a general strike, would agree.
If we’re not a swing vote in your country then we seem to be much more respectfully treated than we are here where politicians like Obama, the Bushes and the Clintons routinely lie to us and then stab us in the back.
[img]http://img.wonkette.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/obama-bush-clinton.jpg[/img]
Why are these men smirking?
Bill Perdue
The wars have a history beginning with Bush1, going on to Clinton’s embargo in the late nineties that murdered roughly half a million Iraqi children, followed by Bush2’s invasions and attempted occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and then followed by Obama’s retention of troops in Iraq to control the oil, his escalation in Afghanistan and his murderous attacks on Pakistani civilians.
Obama owns those wars and the deaths of every muslim civilian and American GI since the afternoon of his inaguration.
I hope that clears up the origins of the wars for you.
The LibDems aren’t socialists. Not even close. They’re a centrist party at the service of the looter class and it’s hard to see how they can ever represent the interests of working people.
Economic collapse and economic catastrophe are descriptions that the nearly 17% of unemployed workers in this country readily accept. (Bureau of LKabor Statistics, Department of Commerce, U6 “real unemployment” index.) I’m sure workers in Greece, currently engaged in a general strike, would agree.
If we’re not a swing vote in your country then we seem to be much more respectfully treated than we are here where politicians like Obama, the Bushes and the Clintons routinely lie to us and then stab us in the back.
Paschal
@Cam: The Tories are actually leading in the polls. The Liberal Democrats may not like to seem to keep Gordon Brown in office as prime minister so to say that they would help Labour isn’t very likely. There are other small parties the Tories could look to for support. An election may be held after this one to get an overall majority for the party which tries to build a government after this election. The Tories may try to form a minority government. The U.K.’s electoral system is stupid so it isn’t easy to vote for the Liberal Democrats while not fearing that the anti-Tory vote will be too split. The anti-Tory vote being split would help the Tories with the U.K.’s first past the post voting system.
Lamar
@SM: The problem with proportional representation is it helps the British National Party and other Nazis as well as more respectable parties such as Lib Dems. The BNP is vehemently against, blacks, asians and basically anybody non-white, they also hate gays too.
drums
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating:
Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrat party has plainly said that “every school must teach that homosexuality is normal and harmless and something that happens”, including religious schools. Britain needs someone with those attitudes at the helm.
I understand tactical voting, but sometimes I also have to vote according to conscience. VOTE LIB DEM!
fagburn
Do we get a prize if we spot the posts on Queerty about the UK election that have been submitted by party workers paid to sit and contribute to online discussions?
My hunch is that it could be the more banal ones with little bearing on what’s actually being discussed.
Just a thought…
Luke
I fear a Lib Dem-Tory coalition would bring out the worst elements in the Libdems. After all, there are quite a few liberals who believe in the sort of market-based reforms espoused by the Conservatives, which is to say they support more business friendly policies than labour.
Would the Libdems in a coalition with the Tories be able to achieve PR?
A Libdem labour coalition is our best bet, but it would seem unlikely, at the current rate. Certainly, it seems to me that PR has more support in the Labour party than in the Conservatives.
Regarding LGBT rights, it seems to me that the way all three parties have courted our vote is disgusting; the Libdems arguing for marriage yet not mentioning it in their manifesto, the Tories speaking airily of ‘considering’ conversion of CP’s into marriage, and Labour rejecting the possibility.
The difference between their rhetoric and reality is painfully evident here, as in other topics, such as immigration and asylum.
Queerty is obsessed with Jarret Barrios. ZZZ. (John from England)
@Bill Perdue:
Nah, the Lib Dem has always been really gay friendly. We had Brian Paddick-the out gay famous policeman-run as our Mayoral candidate for the London seat.
Nick
The Lib Dem’s are the most gay friendly, but I really hope people don’t forget the good labour has done.
Ignore the media, look at the things they have done, the way they have changed society. Gay equality has rocketed under their governining and not just in legislation but in our approach to homophobia too.
If the tories get in, god help us.
SM
@Bill Perdue – in fairness i’d say labour are still more left, and more liberal, than the democrats. I’d probably alight our conservatibe party with the democrats, or possible left economically and socially to the democrats – they fully endorse the UK welfare state which as no parrallel in the US. I think in fairness to the Tories they’re not ‘infested’ with Christian bigots, but there are one or two, who would be deselected if they were Labour or Lib Dem. But I think you’re right, the one issue that’s unavoidable is the economy – but i’m guessing that’s the same in every country of the world right now (although it’s worth noting the majority of europe, including the UK, has been out of recession and is now growing, don’t let what’s happening in greece represtent the rest of Europe).
@Nick – how are the Lib Dems the most gay friendly? I really don’t understand when people say this, especially considering they’ve had far less LGBT manifesto commitments, and a (though only slightly) worse voting record on LGBT issues.
@Lamar – I know, and this terrifies me. But the alternative of an unfair electoral system isn’t the answer. Systems such as used in Wales and Scotland actually work well to eliminate ‘radical’ parties while allowing very proportional representation for ‘mainstream’ parties. But there is a part of me that thinks if the public will is to elect 1-2 BNP mps out of 650, maybe this is better to really expose them for who they are, but also force out the kind of issues that are driving people to vote for them.
@Queerty is obsessed with Jarret Barrios. ZZZ. (John from England) – they weren’t so gay friendly when they played on Peter Tachell’s sexuality so Simon Hughes (oh the irony) beat him.
SM
@fagburn
Oh i forgot that if people feel passionate about politics that means they must be some sort of party worker drone – I think if people stopped feeling passionate about patrys and policies that’s probably be the modern democracy dies
Robert, NYC
No. 1 & 14. SM, You are aware of the fact that homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK in 1967 under a Labour Government of which Harold Wilson was the Prime Minister, I remember it well when Labour was overhwelmingly left wing, the good old days.
No. 14. I concur with you, the Labour Party is more left leaning than anything we could ever hope to find in the Democratic party in America. Labour unequivocally supports the welfare state and you’re right, absolutely NO comparison or parallel in the U.S.
That said, I cast my absentee ballot for Nick Clegg (I currenly reside in New York), the least of the three evils. I’m not so concerned that he did not mention marriage equality in his manifesto, the fact that he has publicly stated that he supports it is good enough for me, while Cameron begrudgingly said he would “consider” (Tory code for NO) and Brown emphatically states that marriage is tied up with religious freedom, (Labour code for NO). Its going to be an interesting scenario as we see Labour and Tory parties vying for Lib Dem support after the election is over, a party that could force Brown and Cameron to confront their bigotry and resistance to marriage equality and full equality in general. More than 61% of the British public support it and that’s something both Brown and Cameron are going to have to face as Clegg keeps it on the front burner. Its up to those of us who want the freedom to marry to keep Clegg on track with that.