UKIP’s LGBT contingent attended the Pride In London march this year, amidst divided opinion on their inclusion. This was unsurprising given that they are a fundamentally racist party. They are also, at the very least, conflicted on the gay question; Nigel Farage, the party leader, wanted UKIP to support gay marriage, against the majority opinion, whilst the Christian Soldiers (yes, they’re real) in the party believe that any LGBT school education is tantamount to sexual grooming! Clearly, whether the gay UKIPers forced their way or were allowed onto the Pride march, they felt entitled to be there. I want to look more closely at this entitlement.
ILLUSTRATION FERNANDO SAFONT
Whilst DIVA and Gay Star News have already covered the UKIP/Pride story fully online there remains, I think, more to be discussed within our so-called LGBT “community” on this matter. It brings up for me that rarely discussed and invisible topic of whiteness, or white privilege, which let’s be honest, recedes into the background these days as we white LGBT folk use our individual oppressions, like being sexual minorities, to distance ourselves from the reality of white privilege. These days “multiculturalism” as an idea has blended all injustices together into a kind of mixed-up soup and the result is a depoliticisation of awareness around race and gender because all oppression is seen as equally valid in any context, always located in the present moment.