‘I’m voting Labour’ - Tory gay rights group founder
April 8th, 2010 by Chloe.Setter
The female founder of the Conservative Party’s LGBTory group has spoken out against the party and pledged to give her vote in the forthcoming General Election to the Labour Party instead.
Former chairman of the group, 20-year-old Anastasia Beaumont-Bott, said she had decided to speak publicly about her disappointment in the Tories, following comments made by the shadow home secretary Chris Grayling, The Independent reported.
Grayling said last weekend that he thought B&B owners should have the right to ban gay couples from staying in their properties. Conservative Party leader David Cameron has yet to take any action against Grayling over the comments.
Beautmont-Bott said: “I feel guilty because as a gay woman affected by LGBT rights, I am on record saying you should vote Conservative, and I want to reverse that.
“I want to go on record to say don’t vote Conservative. I’d go so far as to say that I’d vote Labour at this General Election.”
The comments by the young former Conservative campaigner will be a blow for the Tories who are keen to pick up ‘the gay vote’ in the 6 May election. Beaumont-Bott had been considered one of a new breed of Conservatives that could help to boost the party’s image to younger people.
She said she had decided to quit the party around 18 months ago after encountering homophobia, but only spoke out now after Grayling’s comments were “the last straw”.
“I was someone standing up and telling gay people to vote for Mr Cameron. But I became disillusioned after meeting one too many people in that party who were not like what the leader was saying the party was about,” she explained.
“If you make a comment like those [of Grayling], you should be out. This isn’t a question of party lines – it’s disgusting. I don’t like doing this to Mr Cameron, I like him, but the insides of his party are not what the people are led to believe.”
A Conservative Party spokeswoman denied that Grayling was homophobic and insisted that he had a record of voting in favour of gay rights.
The news comes as Stonewall released a list of every MP’s voting record on gay rights issues, highlighting wide disparities between individuals and the parties themselves.
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