From 'The Haunting Spectre', the blog of Rhys Lowther
Firstly the Conservative party does exactly what it says on the tin. They are a party that supports the established status quo and traditionalist values. So therefore why would their leader promote gay rights in an anti-progressive party?
Throughout the last almost 3 years the Tories and their Lib Dem chums have being playing a constant game of divide and rule that only the Miliband brothers could dream off. They have attacked every section of society. They have then played off these so called sections against each other. They have branded the unemployed as shirkers, the disabled of having little value to society and blamed the so called "failings" (I.E. not elitist enough) of our education system on militant teachers who value our childrens' education very little. Diversion after diversion has been created while right after right, liberty after liberty has been stolen from us.
Therefore it's surprising that the old homophobia card has not been played in this game of rule and divide. I can imagine now the Daily Mail coming up with the headline "Homosexuality Caused the Recession". At the same time it is a testament to society as a whole and also to progressive organisations who have helped make inroads into making homophobia unacceptable. I say inroads as many organisations are still institutionally homophobic.
The Church springs to mind. Cameron has exempted the Church from having to perform gay marriage ceremonies. This is all well and good apart from the Church of England has a say in how society is ran. Up to 26 peerages in House of Lords are occupied by high up religious personnel (bishops, archbishops etc.). Not only is this a gross misconduct of democracy as Lords are not elected but it is long outdated. The Church of England's following is vastly eroding (Just 59% of people in the England and Wales identify themselves as Christian with under half of those saying they had a belief in God and an afterlife) their views are becoming more and more outdated on subjects such as homosexuality. If the Church refuses to acknowledge the decision of the of the system of which it is part of, then to protect the views of the Church and the interests of society as a whole I would strongly recommend disestablishment of the Church.
Gay marriage shows that love between two people of the same sex is equal to that of heterosexuals. This symbolic statement shows that society as a whole is willing to move forward on the subject. However it is being trivialised by Cameron using the subject as a ploy distract the public from the goings on of the coalition. There has been no mention of Tory support for gay marriage in previous manifestos and pledges, a coincidence or is this Cameron trying to appeal to another set of voters in the wake of his plummeting popularity? I also feel this is a crumb thrown down from the Tory's table to keep the subservient Lib Dems as a part of the coalition.
I am a strong supporter of gay rights. Over the years this has led to obnoxious and ignorant comments such as assuming I am homosexual for this reason. Statements such as that and humour in some aspects of society still says there is much work to be done for equality. However two thirds of the population support gay marriage therefore if there is any credibility in this so-called "democracy" then the voice of the population needs to be acknowledged regardless of Cameron's or the coalition's agenda.
Rhys Lowther is a member of Torbay Fightback
