Politics

LGBTory, the Conservative LGBT Group, has expressed pleasure at the number of openly-gay Conservative MPs in the new House of Commons following last week’s General Election. 

The Conservatives now have the largest number of openly-gay MPs of any Party represented in Parliament, with at least ten gay MPs sitting on the Tory benches following last week’s General Election – compared to Labour with 8 newly-elected gay MPs.  LGBTory has profiled these successes on its website, including Parliament’s second lesbian MP, Margot James, who was elected as Conservative MP for Stourbridge.  Ms James has been the Vice Chair of the Conservatives for some time but now takes her place in the new House of Commons together with Iain Stewart, elected in Milton Keynes South; Nick Boles in Grantham and Stamford and Stuart Andrew in Pudsey, Yorkshire. 

Read more: 10 New Gay Tory MPs

Stonewall’s latest social media poll, which ran on its Facebook and Twitter pages this week, has found that Britain is ready for an openly lesbian, gay or bisexual Prime Minister.

In the poll, which had 1073 responses, 59 per cent voted ‘yes, Britain is ready for an openly lesbian, gay or bisexual Prime Minister’ and 41 per cent voted ‘no.’

Ben Summerskill, Stonewall’s Chief Executive, said: ‘Although most people feel Britain is ready for an openly gay Prime Minister, sadly we’re still no closer to getting one. Parliament still chronically under-represents lesbian, gay and bisexual people. For example, there was just one openly lesbian MP in the last parliament. Stonewall recently worked with the Speaker’s Conference to address this and we’ll continue to work with parties to ensure the House of Commons more accurately reflects the people it serves.’   

Read more: Is Britain Ready for a Gay Prime Minister?

Prospective Conservative MP Philip Lardner has spelt out his support for the disgraced Section 28 on his website. Section 28 was introduced by the Conservatives and outlawed the "promotion" of homosexuality in schools.

"Homosexuality is not 'normal behaviour'." the North Ayrshire and Arran candidate had written under the heading 'What I believe in'.

His homophobic rant explained, "I will always support the rights of homosexuals to be treated within concepts of (common sense) equality and respect, and defend their rights to choose to live the way they want in private, but I will not accept that their behaviour is 'normal' or encourage children to indulge in it. The promotion of homosexuality by public bodies... was correctly outlawed by Mrs Thatcher's government. Toleration and understanding is one thing, but the state promotion of homosexuality is quite another."

Read more: Conservative Candidate: Section 28 Was Correct

Following the launch of the Liberal Democrat party’s 2010 election manifesto, Stonewall has welcomed election pledges that impact directly on lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Britain.

Fair treatment at work for everyone

‘Liberal Democrats want to build a society where everyone has the opportunity to get on in life. Most businesses do a great job of supporting their employees, but there is more to do to tackle discrimination on the grounds of gender, sexuality, age, race, religion or disability.’ (Page 30)

The best chance for every child

‘We will… Confront bullying, including homophobic bullying, and include bullying prevention in teacher training.’ (Page 35)

Read more: Stonewall response to Liberal Democrat Manifesto 2010