The Socialist 7 April 2010

Defend jobs and services - fight for a workers' alternative

Defend jobs and services - Fight for a workers' alternative - Vote TUSC

General Election 6 May: A Socialist Challenge

Mobilise to defend the right to strike

London Underground workers balloting

Stand up for the millions, not the millionaires!

Reject the parties of cuts and privatisation

Socialist Campaign launched in Coventry

New Labour meltdown in Stoke

Making an impact in Huddersfield

Hazel Must Go! opposes cuts to Salford NHS

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

Cuts bite in north west

March to defend the welfare state

Tories reveal yet more anti-gay bias

'Free schools' or free-for-all?

News in brief

NUT conference again calls for action on workload

Ex-Visteon workers continue fight for pensions

Industrial news in brief

Mobilise students and workers to defeat cuts and tuition fees

Kazakhstan: "change the politicians - or they will change you!"

Mass protests and strikes continue to shake Algeria

Tekel workers brutally attacked by police

The real lessons of the poll tax

Previous issues, etc

Print this issue




Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/619/9318

Google search the site	Printable version	email to friend

Home | The Socialist 7 April 2010 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | Bookshop

Tories reveal yet more anti-gay bias

THE COMMENTS of shadow home secretary Chris Grayling last week show the continued existence of anti-gay prejudice in the Conservative Party.

Ian Pattison, Leeds Socialist Party

Grayling defended people who run bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation in their homes having the right to bar homosexual guests on religious grounds.

Speaking to the Thatcherite Centre for Policy Studies, he stated: "Should a Christian hotel owner have the right to exclude a gay couple from their hotel? I took the view that if it's a question of somebody who's doing a B&B in their own home, that individual should have the right to decide who does and who doesn't come into their own home."

This appears to breach the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007, which states that no-one should be refused goods or services on the grounds of their sexuality. The regulations include "accommodation in a hotel, boarding house or similar establishment".

Grayling later explained that his pro-gay voting record showed his commitment to gay rights. However, Grayling's comments reek of Tory hypocrisy. Cameron and his cronies talk of change publicly, but privately the Conservative Party remains deeply backward, reactionary, and homophobic.

If the Tories win the general election Grayling will be home secretary. A man with dubious commitment to gay rights will be in charge of implementing equality legislation.

Grayling's remarks come just one week after Tory leader David Cameron became flustered and awkward when questioned about the anti-gay voting record of his own party's MEPs in an interview with the Gay Times.

In this issue

Defend jobs and services - Fight for a workers' alternative - Vote TUSC