Equal rights for all, and freedom from incitement to.

[matgb]

In lieu of a proper update, mostly-straight Mat would like to give another reason why he's more and more confident that (re)joining the Lid Dems was a good idea, from, unsurprisingly, alex_wilcock, also known as 'he who wrote the policy'.
Love and Liberty: Jack Straw Is My Darling:

When Paddy Ashdown was cross-examined by Jeremy Paxman for his most aggressive interview of the 1992 Election, gay equality was one of the three ‘ludicrous, extreme and unpopular’ policies on which the sneering Mr Paxman hammered Paddy and on which Paddy stood firm (I’ve forgotten one of them, but the other was green taxes – again, long before anyone else supported them). Just about the only positive press coverage on the issue was in a London-based free gay paper of the time. Capital Gay’s front page after the release of the three parties’ manifestos was one of my defining political memories, and one of the very few times in life when the number of inches really did matter.

It is, typically for Alex, a very long article, giving a potted history of the fight for equal rights and New Labour's fight against such a policy. Worth a read if you've got time. Hell, worth trying to make the time.

Comments

[misscoollinda.livejournal.com]

Ferndale is known for it's gay community, so I don't know why anyone here still tries to make trouble. Our previous Mayor was proud to perform civil unions during the annual pride-fest. I think this new guy running for the office needs to accept the fact that Ferndale is and always has been gay-friendly and if he doesn't like it, he needs to get the hell out. I'm looking forward to the day when it's not even an issue anymore.