David Cameron fails to mention "gay or straight" - this despite briefing the line in advance of his speech, and despite it being on the Tory party website.
David Cameron, in a speech to activists on the South Bank, claimed the Tories would be fighting the election “for the great ignored”, claiming his party was for “young or old, rich or poor, black or white…” But he neglected to include “gay or straight” despite briefing the line in advance of his speech, and despite it being on the Tory party website:
As Sunder Katwala of the Fabian Society tweeted, it is to be hoped this is just a lapse of memory, and not a message of support to Chris Grayling:
“Cameron dropping ‘straight or gay’ having briefed it surely memory error. But extends No Comment on Grayling & could reanimate it“
The fallout from Mr Grayling’s comments continues to drag on for the Conservatives, with a poll of 1,193 gay voters for the Pink News website showing support for the Tories down five points from 25% to 20%, with Labour unchanged on 28% and the Liberal Democrats up five on 29%.
The poll also revealed 30% of gay voters “felt less favourably” towards David Cameron following his recent Gay Times interview in which he failed to commit to a Lords amendment allowing civil partnership ceremonies to be performed on religious premises.
Meanwhile, Compass has launched a petition calling on Mr Cameron to sack Mr Grayling and “clearly state his party’s stance on discrimination” following the shadow home secretary’s remarks over the weekend in which he was secretly recorded telling a right wing think tank that bed and breakfast owners should be allowed to bar gay couples from their premises.
The petition says:
“Will the man who might be our next Prime Minister sit by and silently accept bigotry from his top Shadow Cabinet members, or will he reassure the people of Britain that he means what he says that his party has changed?
“Allowing certain business-owners to discriminate based on sexual orientation opens the door to discrimination based on race, religion, country of origin, and anything else.
“Sign our urgent petition to David Cameron, telling him to sack Chris Grayling and clearly state his party’s stance on discrimination.”
Sign the petition here
53 Responses to “Cameron fails to say he’s for “gay or straight””
Mark M
Ahh, the Grayling story again. Always got to bring that up. His words were “if it’s a question of somebody who’s doing a B&B in their own home, that individual should have the right to decide who does and who doesn’t come into their own home”.
Are those such controversial vews to hold? Would we expect a Jewish B&B owener to be welcoming of, say, a group of Muslims or vice versa? Remember, we’re talking about coming into a person’s home, that happens to be a B&B, not a hotel. Now would LFF be so critical of Grayling if the B&B owner in question had been a Muslim refusing two gay men?
As for Cameron leaving out “gay or straight”, that’s clearly an error of memory. You’d have to be clinically insane, or perhaps Labour voter, to think otherwise.
lennylf
Cameron ignores the “Great Ignored”
Memory loss for a potential premiere who is still in his early 40s? Perhaps dementia is setting in early for Cameron ; or maybe he is an opportunist hypocrite , and has decided to follow the , “dont do what I say , do what I do ” philosophy ,and just ignore the gay society , just to support Chris Grayling’s comments.
As for a Jewish B&B ignoring Muslim Customers ? Is the person who posted the suggestion not just a tide bit encouraging prejudice just to Support Cameron’s silence over his hand picked shadow cabinet minister Chris Grayling ?
scouser
regarding the people who offended the gay couple, they would allow them to sleep in their home and did not throw them out, if i threw gordon brown out of the pub i run would i be in the wrong
James E Pennington
I’m a LAbour member and a committed Christian and I am so upset by the way the Labour Party seems to undermine many Christian values at every opportunity. TO repeal the Waddington Amendment which would then make it illegal for a youth worker to tell his youth group about God’s biblically given view of the right framework for sexual relationships.. ie marriage.. This isn’t Labour.. it’s control freakery masquerading as the one thing it isn’t.. Liberalism.
The outcry of horror and pressure from the gay lobby over a genuine concern over the rights of religious people v gay people.. you’d think Grayling had suggested slaughtering the firstborn or something!! PLease please please Labour party.. don’t make it impossible for me to support you. I love all people in Christ, allpeople.. but I have to be free to preach the gospel and live it.. In a choice between Labour and God, who d’ya think might win??
James E Pennington
May i also reiterate Rory’s question about how you’dall feel if it were a muslim bnb that had not allowed a gay couple a double room? It does seem like there are double standards here, and for reasons I can’t fully understand.