Source

From: Peter Rushton (peter@glaucon.demon.co.uk)

Subject: Re: Homophobia in Labour

View: Complete Thread (46 articles)

Original Format

Newsgroups: uk.politics.electoral, uk.gay-lesbian-bi

Date: 1997/07/29

ikr2@le.ac.uk (I.K. Ridley) wrote:

>In article <870188404.29439.0.nnrp-2.9e98b98e@news.demon.co.uk>,

>Peter Rushton <peter@glaucon.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>>Is this the same MP whose supporters waged a notoriously homophobic

>>by-election campaign in the 1980s?

>If the by-election you are referring to was in London then:

>1) This topic was exhaustively covered a few months ago in the uk.politics

>hierachy. Every allegation made against the Alliance/Liberal Party in this

>context was refuted.

I was probably out of the country at the time - I'll check DejaNews.

Do you mean refuted in the Neil Hamilton sense (i.e. denied) or in the

OED sense (i.e. proven incorrect)?

>2) The MP concerned does not perform at the Glee Club (there now we're down to

>42 MPs after discounting your suggestion and female Lib Dem MPs)

I was _not_ suggesting that Simon Hughes is the MP concerned, just

asking, since Mark Y-M had understandably not given the name.  In any

case this was peripheral to my post.  I merely thought it would be

ironic in the context of Tatchell etc.

Lest there may any misunderstanding - some of my best friends are

LibDems :-)

>[snip]

>>Before we start swapping insults about the "homophobia" of Labour or

>>the LibDems, let's consider who really benefits from these smears, and

>>why they are so effective.   Has public opinion moved far enough in 30

>>years for politicians' sexual orientation to be irrelevant?

>The elections of Smith, Twigg and Bradshaw seem to be at least cause for

>optimism that the electorate are more liberal in this context.

Ben Bradshaw is perhaps the only relevant example, since his Tory

opponent made the gay issue central to his campaign.

Steve Twigg's election was of course the best news of election night

(especially for those who remember his tragic defeat in OUSU) but

surely no-one tried a homophobic campaign in Enfield Southgate.

As for Chris Smith: a former NUPE official told me in the '80s that

Smith had come out to avoid deselection, after having trouble with the

far left in his constituency.  (The theory was that the Trots couldn't

be seen to deselect Britain's - then - only openly gay MP.)  This

couldn't possibly be true, could it?  I know this is the second

scurrilous rumour I've asked to be checked out this week - but isn't

that what Usenet's for :-)

>Ian Ridley

>"Intelligence? Intelligence has nothing to do with politics", Ambassador Londo

>Mollari, Babylon 5, Channel 4 9/6/96. Views expressed are not neccessarily

>those of Leicester University, Leicester University Student Liberal Democrats:

>http://www.le.ac.uk/CWIS/SU/SO/LDSOC/ldsoc.html or the Liberal Democrats:

>http://www.libdems.org.uk/. *****B5 Season 4 Episode 2 C4 30/7/97 at 22:55*****

--

Peter Rushton

Related to this theme, Rushton went on in a separate post on the same thread to express the hope that a new Tory leader would “lead to an end in anti-gay smears.”

Source

From: Peter Rushton (peter@glaucon.demon.co.uk)

Subject: Re: Homophobia in Labour

View: Complete Thread (46 articles)

Original Format

Newsgroups: uk.politics.electoral, uk.gay-lesbian-bi

Date: 1997/07/29

johnf@epcc.ed.ac.uk (J Fisher) wrote:

>Peter Rushton (peter@glaucon.demon.co.uk) wrote:

>: I'm just old enough to remember the Bermondsey by-election campaign in

>: early '83 (or was it late '82 (?) - I don't have a reference book

>: handy).

>I'm easily old enough to remember it.  I didn't campaign

>there (I was already living in Scotland) but friends did.

>: The retiring Labour MP, Bob Mellish, backed the Independent Labour

>: candidate, a pal of his called O'Grady, whose campaign consisted

>: almost entirely of homophobic abuse against the official Labour

>: candidate, Peter Tatchell.

>This is what my friends told me.  The abuse was vicious,

>homophobic, and included direct accusations of child-

>abuse.

>: The main beneficiary of this homophobia was the victorious Liberal

>: candidate, Simon Hughes.  Although Hughes did not indulge in the

>: smears himself, many in his campaign team were less fastidious - which

>: will not surprise anyone who has encountered LibDem tactics,

>: especially in London working-class seats.

>This also corresponds to what my friends told me.

>: The point of my original post, if you read through to the end, was

>: that no party is innocent of "homophobia".

>Indeed.  In fact, I am also old enough to remember that

>Tatchell was attacked before the by-election in the House of

>Commons by both front benches, including the then leader of

>the Labour Party, Michael Foot, in what I took to be coded

>references to his sexuality.

I remember Foot attacking Tatchell before the by-election.  He said -

virtually in as many words - that Tatchell would be Labour's candidate

over his dead body (though he later campaigned for him in the

by-election).  However, I'm pretty sure all of this was ideological

rather than homophobic.  I don't remember any "coded references".  All

of this was 18 months after the Benn-Healey deputy leadership contest,

of course.  Far left "entrism" in the constituencies, especially inner

city areas, was a big issue.  Didn't Foot et al. block Tariq Ali's

application to join the Labour Party around this time?

It really would surprise me if Michael Foot had ever been even

remotely homophobic.

>: Instead of swapping

>: accusations, shouldn't we be looking at why such tactics are still

>: thought to be profitable?

>Because there are enough voters who intensely dislike gay

>people to make it worthwhile.  Why else?

Perhaps with Hague as Tory leader there will be a moratorium on

anti-gay smear campaigns?

>--

>--John

--

Peter Rushton