IT NEVER CEASES to amaze me how hypocritical certain parts of the gay movement can be. Over the years we have yearned to be accepted by our straight counterparts. At the very least we have asked them to tolerate our sexual proclivities, even if we don’t expect everyone to embrace them. Tolerance is surely a watchword of what we’re all about. And yet over the years certain people in the gay movement have displayed degrees of intolerance which, well, ought not to be tolerated.
There are all sorts of examples I could quote. Some gays and lesbians who ought to know better are very intolerant of transgender people. Hard line feminists are especially guilty. Trans people are going through what we went through several decades ago. I know from covering the issue on my LBC radio show what a tough time they have, although slowly but surely things are improving.
Up until not that long ago, if you were gay and a Conservative you were considered beyond the pale. Fellow gays would stare at you, open mouthed, gulping like a goldfish and uttering random words like “Thatcher…Section 28…Thatcher…”. When the Tory Party started to change and come round to an equal age of consent, civil partnerships, gay adoption and equal marriage, it destroyed some people’s preconceptions. They found it rather difficult that all their anti-Tory views were now being challenged. Even now there are the odd diehards who still can’t bring themselves to embrace the fact that it was a Tory PM who introduced equal marriage.