Cameron fails to say he’s for “gay or straight”

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””

  1. Rory

    This argument is in large part about whether or not a bed & breakfast is a business in the same way as a hotel is. Evidently, Mr Grayling is not sure whether it is, hence his equivocation on the issue. In the same way as most would argue that the state cannot interfere in all aspects of life to stamp out bigotry – for example, by stepping in to prevent a father banning his gay son bringing a boyfriend home – Mr Grayling rightly or wrongly seems to think that a B&B should be treated as not just a business but also someone’s home.

    For this he is being crucified and – surprise, surprise – LFF has enthusiastically joined this witchhunt.

    I believe there are some B&Bs that describe themselves as gay B&Bs. I am not sure whether they are designed exclusively for gays or not, but I don’t see why they should not be if this is what they desire. I think Christian youth hostels should have the right to admit only Christians if that is what they desire. I think the black police association should be allowed to exist and bar whites. I find all of these things distasteful, but I think one has to tolerate them. The logic of the LFF worldview is that these things make me a bigot, which I think reflects badly on it.

  2. Shamik Das

    Rory, a b&b is a business. It is illegal for a business in this country to discrimanate against someone on the grounds of religion, race or sexual orientation, and rightly so.

    Grayling gave a green light to bigots, the question now is whether David Cameron fires him, as was the case with the Tory/UUP candidate for South Antrim Adrian Watson, who was de-selected for making similar remarks.

    Whether Mr Cameron takes action or stays silent, as he’s done on Michal Kaminski’s anti-semitism, racism and homophobia, will prove once and for all just how much the Tories have (or haven’t) changed. The mask’s slipped.

  3. Sean Morton

    RT @leftfootfwd: Cam fails to say he's for "gay or straight". Unforgivable given concern over Graylings remarks on B&Bs http://bit.ly/b5QOVh

  4. LGBT Labour

    RT @leftfootfwd: Cam fails to say he's for "gay or straight". Unforgivable given concern over Graylings remarks on B&Bs http://bit.ly/b5QOVh

  5. Sam Bacon

    RT @leftfootfwd: Cam fails to say he's for "gay or straight". Unforgivable given concern over Graylings remarks on B&Bs http://bit.ly/b5QOVh

Comments are closed.