voice
London Mayor, but the Pink Policeman was beaten
to a poor third place behind Blue Boris and Red Ken.
Currently, there is one ‘out’ lesbian MP serving:
Labour’s diminutive Angela Eagle, a stalwart
‘Blair Babe’ working at the Treasury. Then there’s
statuesque blonde, Margot James, the Tory lesbian
totty, now parliamentary candidate for Stourbridge.
Neither of these women has expressed a desire for
a shot at the top job though, as they are still only
halfway through their political careers.
What paradigm shift in public opinion would have
to take place before the electorate would put aside
all considerations of sexuality and vote for policy,
integrity and personal attributes? What kind of
woman would it take to make the issues overwhelmingly
more important than her choice of partner? And is
that woman reading this article now – burning with
political ambition and a desire for change?
Just because barriers have been broken on racial
equality in the USA and Margaret Thatcher broke
the mould of male-only Prime Ministers here, doesn’t
mean we are inexorably moving towards a more
tolerant time. Public opinion is fickle and social
situations change quickly. Regimes come and go and
along with them go treasured beliefs and ‘set in stone’
rules. Overnight, a political coup can reverse laws.
41
Witness the gains made in Afghanistan on the
education of women – immediately rolled back when
the Taliban reasserted control. We can never take our
rights for granted. They must always be redefined,
re-argued and upgraded in every generation.
Activism, once so prevalent amongst lesbians in
the 60s and 70s in the fight for women’s rights, has, in
just 20 years, dwindled to the point where you don’t
even find every lesbian describing herself as a feminist,
(as one of our recent vox pop questions demonstrated)
let alone an activist. Though gains have been made,
we are still not yet in a place where all prejudice has
ceased. Let’s not forget, many black people who
voted for Obama never thought that a black man
would gain such high office in their lifetime. But
nothing is impossible. A British lesbian for Prime
Minister? Like the man says: Yes we can.
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100