This is a guest post by Peter Tatchell
Lesbian environmental activist Tamsin Omond and I delivered a big pink fluffy invite to David Cameron this morning, inviting him to attend this Sunday’s David Cameron Coming Out Street Party at 2pm outside Conservative election campaign HQ, 30 Millbank, SW1.
Sunday’s carnival-style street party has already attracted huge number of supporters on Facebook.
Following the Tories recent mixed messages on gay rights, including Chris Grayling’s confession that he supports the right of B&B owners to refuse accommodation to gay couples, the theme of the street party is:
“David Cameron: Come Out! (on gay rights)….David Cameron, what are your gay rights policies?”
Right now, the Tories don’t have any official lesbian and gay rights policies. The Conservative Party annual conference has never voted for gay equality and there are no gay rights policies in any Tory policy document. The Conservatives are offering the gay community no new measures to remedy the remaining vestiges of homophobia.
Like Gordon Brown, David Cameron supports the ban on same-sex civil marriage. The Conservative Party is also not committed to lifting the lifetime ban on gay blood donors. This week, Cameron blocked government plans to ensure that all pupils receive sex education and education to counter homophobia from the age of 15.
As Tamsin Omond says:
“David Cameron talks about gay rights but he hasn’t got any specific gay rights policies. He isn’t saying what he would do for gay people if he became Prime Minister. We want to know. Sunday’s street party will be a lot of fun. We hope David will join us. This is his big opportunity to end the confusion and outline his policies to ensure gay equality. We want him to join us – and to bring Chris Grayling too.”
