Gay days here for New Labour

Peter Purton, a national officer of the Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights, sees recent events as further evidence that the Government can and should bring in an anti-discrimination law.

Labour MPs have been popping out of the closet like there was no tomorrow. As in times past, the media has been having a field day. Lurid headlines in the Sun suggested a "gay mafia" in the cabinet. Not so long ago, such revelations would have been accompanied by resignations, enquiries and shocked statements from the Prime Minister.

This time, though, there has been a change in the climate - one which (unusually) seems to have passed by the editorial staff of the tabloids, and (less unusually), has yet to register in the actions of a "reforming" government.

Most public opinion seems as little concerned by the sex lives of its MPs as US opinion was by the revelations about their President's delectation for oral sex. Whereas on previous occasions when law reform was in the offing, the media was able to whip up homophobia, this time the reaction of the person on the Clapham omnibus to nocturnal adventures on Clapham Common has been much less responsive.

Recent events have provided powerful evidence of our claim that ending discrimination (apart from being morally necessary) could also be politically painless. We argued all along that the way to beat homophobia was to face it, honestly. The argument was proved at the last election. Stephen Twigg, openly gay, unseated Michael Portillo. In Exeter, Ben Bradshaw captured the seat despite his Tory opponent explicitly campaigning around Bradshaw's homosexuality. Angela Eagle, David Borrow and Gordon Marsden all came out without a whimper of excitement.

William Hague voted for an equal age of consent and wants to recruit "homosexuals" (most Tories would refuse to say "gay" let alone "lesbian") to his Party. (Someone should tell him that he's got plenty already - but he might have to silence Norman Tebbit if he really wants to help them to come out.)

New Labour, then, has provided an environment in which social democrats of all sexualities can develop a career, just so long as they are not too keen on the "s" word. This has created a bit of a conundrum for the media which spent its time since the 1980s rejoicing over every chance to "out" Labour's pro-gay policies, but which is now New Labour's friend. Thus the Sun, while serving up front pages on gay Mafiosi, denies it has ever "outed" anyone. It merely argues that the public has the right to know. It doesn't seem to know why and the public doesn't seem bothered.

The hypocrisy of the Sun's position is that, of course, lesbians and gay men are massively disadvantaged in all areas of life (except perhaps Parliament) and enjoy none of the legal protection which others have from discrimination. Homophobia may be less widespread, but it remains - virulent, violent, vigorous and vocal. That is why we need reform and that is why coming out has to be an individual choice, freely made. The public has no more right to know about cabinet ministers' sex lives than it does about newspaper editors'.

The Government has the opportunity, of course, to end the legal discrimination, but, apart from the age of consent, which will be equalised shortly, the other central demands of the lesbian and gay movement remain on the back burner. The simplest measure - the repeal of the odious Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, repeatedly pledged by Labour in opposition, looks certain to fall off the next raft of laws, we are told. This is because the Clapham Common escapade means there would be resistance in the House of Lords, undermining all the legislation. So we have to wait for the reform of the Lords before we can get anywhere.

The big issue is securing an anti-discrimination law. Everyone is expecting such a law, from High Court judges, to the Equal Opportunities Commission (which retreated on its own proposal to add sexuality to the Sex Discrimination laws, but called for separate legislation), to the TUC. But this move is trapped on the sharp end of Blair and Straw's fixation with married bliss.

When the Government opposed Baroness Muriel Turner's Sexual Orientation Discrimination bill in the Lords last summer, it was because the bill implied treating lesbian and gay relationships equally with families. Government ministers defending their current consultation paper have been more subtle, but the underlying dilemma and contradiction is there. They are now trying to say homosexual relationships (as well as single parents and everyone else who doesn't fit) are not inferior, but marriage is superior. Of course you can't logically say both things.

The solution is simple. Explained properly and led by the Government, it would even be acceptable, now, to public opinion. It is to make the law say that lesbians and gay men will be treated the same as heterosexuals. The world will not end as a result - people will still pair off, have children, live together or split up, even get married. But millions of people's lives will be transformed for the better, and the editors of the Sun will be deprived of their favourite and most vulnerable victims. Now that is something worth campaigning for.

Contact LCLGR, P0 Box 306, London N5.

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