Stonewall, the lesbian, gay and bisexual charity, have complied this document that looks at the voting records of all MPs on seven key issues during the last parliament. Depending on how the MPs voted they awarded 2 points if they voted in support of Stonewall’s position, 1 point if they abstained or voted neutrally (for and against) and 0 points if they voted against Stonewall’s position. They then took these scores and turned them into a percentage.
Here are the results.
Labour
Over 100 Labour MPs voted 100% in support of Stonewall’s position. That’s just under a third.
No Labour MP voted totally against Stonewall’s position.
Gordon Brown voted 71% for Stonewall’s position.
The average Labour MP voted 84% in favor of Stonewall’s position.
Liberal Democrats
12 Liberal Democrat MPs voted 100% in support of Stonewall’s position. That’s just under a fifth.
No Liberal Democrat MP voted totally against Stonewall’s position
Nick Clegg voted 86% for Stonewall’s position.
The average Liberal Democrat MP voted 79% in favor of Stonewall’s position
Conservatives
None of the Conservative MPs voted 100% in support of Stonewall’s position. That’s none.
Three Conservative MPs voted totally against Stonewall’s position.
David Cameron voted 36% for Stonewall’s position.
The average Conservative MP voted 79% against Stonewall’s position.
“How many people do you need to change a country? Answer. All of them.”
Unless you’re gay that is, according to the Conservative voting record.
Maybe my blog title is a little provocative, but given the evidence I think it is a fair question and one that should be raised at some point during one of the three leaders’ debates. I just wonder how Cameron can defend his own voting record let alone that of the rest of his party.
Update
Literally just as I posted this I saw a tweet from @tkingdoll linking to this website: http://mygayvote.co.uk/
She calls the Tories ’massive bigots’ I’m inclined to agree.
2 Responses to “Are the Tories homophobic?”
uksceptic wrote on April 15th, 2010 2:18 pm :
Yes I agree that not supporting equality laws does not necessarily equate to homophobia but I still think that that it is a fair question to ask given the Tory voting record. This is exactly why I pose the question and concede that it is a little provocative.
However we are not talking about voting slightly against equality here but almost so much so that it might as well be Tory policy.
Sure, any party based in cultural conservatism will end up having elements of homophobia, and no doubt the tories have plenty of it (although not a scratch compared to the BNP). So, yeah, I’m not surprised if the tories are homophobes. I must, however, question the wisdom of “Not supporting equality laws” to “homophobia”. For instance, hypothetical situation: an MP against equality laws purely on the basis of believing that they are counter productive, and only increase discontent between sectors of society, and also the view that the state cannot enforce equality, but it can only arise naturally as social attitudes change. This quite clearly would lead to a position of being against equality law, but not a good reason to assume homophobia.
That’s purely a hypothetical, of course. I still do think that the tory party have, to put it mildly, a bit of a problem with “alternate” lifestyles, to this day.