UK PM Gordon Brown Speaks ON Gay Issues With Pink!

The UK's PM Gordon Brown Speaks On Gay Issues,  proclaims our headline,  but for how much longer?




Actually,  it's sort of technically incorrect,  for during an election campaign,  there are not any MP's currently  sitting,  as Parliament has been dissolved by the Her Majesty The Queen,  but practically, he's still the boss,  at least for the next few hours!




There really is only a matter of hours before the UK polling stations open up tomorrow  and the voting starts in the General Election.  All three party leaders are hoping to secure enough votes to deem them have a majority and form the next government.   It really is a close race,  with all three parties within a few points of each other in the opinion polls.
As reported here yesterday,  all three parties are reaching out to take a slice of the gay vote,  enticing the  GLBT community to think hard about which party will win their vote.
In a special exclusive interview,  the UK's current Prime Minister Gordon Brown,  spoke on issues effecting the readers of Pink News.




"Labour has a record of delivery"  He said, "It’s easy to promise all things to all people when in opposition – but Labour has been doing the hard work of delivering equality for the last 13 years, and we have faced down large, well-organised and vociferous opposition to big changes like an equal age of consent, gay adoption, lesbian fertility rights and abolishing Section 28. Other parties might talk about equality, but it’s Labour that has been in hand to hand combat to drive these changes through the Commons and the Lords. We’re prepared to do more too – and our manifesto contains commitments to take further action on homophobic bullying and to reverse the so-called ‘Waddington amendment’ which Tories in the Lords pushed when we were legislating to protect people from incitement to homophobic hate. The Tories added a ‘freedom of speech’ clause that means prosecutors would have to discharge a higher burden of proof for homophobic incitement than any other hate crime, and Labour are determined to see that changed. So I think Labour have both a record and future offer that we can be proud of, and the one thing we should all fear is a return to the Tory days. And the reality is, a vote for the Liberal Democrats just makes a Tory government more likely"






During the question and answer session he spoke of his admiration for gay acctivists and campaginers,  such as the former head of Stonewall,  Angela Mason, MEP   Michael Cashman and former entertainment minster Chris Smith who famously said   "I’m Chris Smith, I’m the MP for Islington South and Finsbury and I'm gay" in 1984.






The Labour leader also talked of  the plight of gay people in Iraq, of the equality bill and his views on civil partnership laws and gay marriage.   With the final words going on if he thought the Conservative party had really changed, in respect of gay issues,   Mr Brown replied  "One of the key things I’ve learnt in this job, is that the real test isn’t just what your party’s formal policy says – it’s about how hard you are prepared to fight when things are hard, what priority you put on an issue, whether you are prepared to stand with people when it really matters. So just ask yourself whether you really think a Conservative prime minister would have raised anti-gay legislation with the Ugandan prime minister. Ask whether he’d have taken time to apologise on all of our behalves to Alan Turing. Ask whether he’d host events each year for Pride and for LGBT History Month. And ask whether, if they’d really changed, Chris Grayling would still be in his job?"






Read the entire excellent article over at Pink News here.








It's now,  the last few hours where people, who have previously been undecided,  finally make up their minds,   it's this time that is crucial for all parties,  but it's too late to do much about it now.  It's all about what happens tomorrow,  at the polling stations up and down the country.  It's then that we'll determine  who will be the next occupier of Number 10 Downing Street,  leading the country.  Or  we'll find out if we as a nation will have no overall leading party and been in shaky and dangerous ground with a hung parliament.   








I've tried to make predictions,  indeed been asked to many times during the election trail,  but it''s something that's very very difficult,  it really is way too close to call.     The most secure party on gay rights historically and the one offering most for equality is Labour.  But,  they are the current party in charge, and we can all see the financial strain this recession has placed on us,  can they over come that?  The Conservatives say they've changed,  say they are all cuddly for us gays, and their leader may well be,  but the rank and file of the party membership isn't.   The new golden boy of UK politics,  Nick Clegg,  heading up the Lib Dem's seems nice and pleasant, great at sound-bites and TV debates,  but whilst he offers gay marriage equality,  else where his policies don't stand up to the full scrutiny and perhaps are a bit wishy washy.






I know who I'm voting for,  but it's not been an easy road to get to that decision,  tomorrow we'll see just how what the future holds,  it's an exciting time to be an Englishman!



© 2010 Copyright Jason Shaw