Protests dent Tory gay pride in Manchester
October 7th, 2009Over 30 people gathered last night (6 October 2009) to protest against the Conservative Party’s ‘Conference Pride’, a gay pride party held in the centre of Manchester’s gay village.
The protesters, a loose allegiance of groups including Queer Youth Network and Reclaim the Scene, chanted “Shame on you!” and displayed placards damning the Conservative’s former policy Section 28 and proclaiming “Queers Are Not For Sale!”
The protesters’ presence further undermined a night already soured by the announcement that Ben Summerskill, Stonewall Chief Executive and scheduled special guest, would boycott the event due to Conservative allegiances with virulently homophobic Eastern European Parties.
‘They’re here for white gay men’
Some protesters expressed cynicism at the Conservative’s motives in holding the gay pride event.
“They’ve come to the heart of a commercial gay scene ignoring lesbian, bi and trans people,” student activist Jess told Lesbilicious. “They’re here for white, gay men with money, the ‘pink pound’.”
“If the Tories want to know what gay people think they should debate with us, not charge us £15 to be spoken to,” added ‘G’, another protester.
‘The left does not own gay people’
A Conservative spokesperson defended the £15 event as an innocent gesture emerging from “two conference organisers just trying something new”. “We’ve had an Equality Disco in the past, but that wasn’t open to the public,” she added.
Inside the Conference Pride event the majority of the revelers were male and of the 40 female guests questioned, none identified as being both lesbian/bisexual and Tory.
However, the speakers were quick to highlight the event as an explicit sign of Tory progress.
Openly gay MP Nick Herbert declared to rapturous applause: “We’re here for equality. We’re here to show that ‘the left’ does not own gay people!”
Anti-gay protests
Also protesting Conservative Pride, but for radically different reasons, was another group 100metres away at the edge of the village.
Half a dozen religious activists stood with banners expressing disgust with the Tories for “abandoning Clause 28, the school children protection law”.
Led by ex-Conservative Christian Democrat Rev. David Braid, who regards homosexuality as “outrageous anti-social and criminal behaviour”, the group were surrounded by police for their own protection.
Tory shame
Meanwhile, a long queue snaked outside local club night Poptastic for its ‘Tory Shame Special’, hosted by lesbian poet and performer Amy Lamé.
With the help of ‘Milk Snatcher Margaret Thatcher,’ Lamé ran a Tory Shame Quiz examining the Conservatives’ record of opposing LGBT equality legislation, and in particular David Cameron’s questionable voting tendencies.
Highlighting recent stands against civil partnerships and lesbian fertility rights, Lamé stressed that “those Tories still have a lot to be ashamed of”.
Conference Pride was a fabulous event and enjoyed by about 700 people! That well and truly overshadowed a protest by a laughable 30 people!
To say there were no Lesbians present is not true at all.
Apart from anyone else (and unlike some people I didn’t try to do a straw poll asking people questions about their sexuality on the night) the Conservative Party Vice Chair (Margot James - openly Lesbian) was hosting the event and Ruth Davidson (openly-Lesbian candidate in the forthcoming Glasgow East By-election) were both present apart from whoever else was there!
As Ben Summerskill said at last week’s Stonewall fringe event at Conference - It is likely, after the next election, that most LGBT MPs will sit on the Conservative benches as opposed to Labour or the Lib Dems. That is what I call progress! And ALL members of the LGBT community should take heart from events such as these happening and by knowledge such as this being openly discussed and accepted.
Matt ∼ October 11th, 2009 5:29 pmman what is wrong with you people? I grew up conservative, in a conservative household and was completely disgusted when section 28 was pushed through in the mid 90’s. It’s fine to take the positive from a political ideology - and d.i.y. has an awful lot to do with a tory stance - but, it’s beyond me how anyone can equate the conservatives as being representative of the people as a whole, let alone minority groups. and i’m talking explicitly about what it means to be part of a miniority here - - i have no doubt there are gay tories, boarding schools are famous for that kind of education - but i refuse to believe that this kind of gay man is representative of the majority of gay men/ women / whatever in this country. post porn, who you sleep with doesn’t really matter to the population as a whole - but political parties co-opting gay communities, and claiming to be representative of something so fucking intangable really pisses me off. One positive thing that can come of this is being intelligent and realising that if ANY political party is going to be so anachronistic and out of touch by claiming to be intouch with the ‘gay community’ it’s laughable. Please. Laugh at them and their stupid, stupid suits.
julia iglesias ∼ October 15th, 2009 3:41 pmProtests by the queer community wherever the Tories are discussing the legitimacy of our civil freedoms have become somewhat of a tradition. I was surprised some of them arriving at “LGBTory Pride” last Tuesday seemed so shocked to see a crowd of 30 members of the local LGBTQ community chanting and waving placards outside the event. Despite what misinformation you may have heard there’s no way 700 people were at the party as that figure is infact the capacity of the venue, which wasn’t even fully booked-out. But why boast about size? Although there was a noisy group of protesters outside, unlike the Tories I don’t think they’d come too far from Kansas.
David Henry ∼ October 16th, 2009 8:25 am