"If I was courting the Muslim vote," Livingstone reasons patiently,
"I wouldn't have put establishing the partnership ceremony at the
forefront of my first term, would I? I go all around London advocating
lesbian and gay rights."That's
true, but only makes his infamous remark that the Tory party is now "riddled" with gay people all the more maddening. It's
obvious he used the term ironically, mocking the party's traditional
homophobes who would use the word to denote disgust. "I was making the
point that not a single Tory MP spoke out in support when I introduced
partnership ceremonies. But they only quoted half the sentence. Where's
the bit that says: 'Isn't it wonderful?' I mean, it does actually change
the context slightly."
Ken Livingstone interviewed by Decca Aitkenhead
in The Guardian.
This has to be
one of the silliest episodes in British politics in recent times.
I'm surprised The Guardian still thinks it even worth mentioning.
Can one word taken completely out of context wipe out over forty years of gay campaigning?
Just goes to show the Tory Party and much of our press is riddled with hypocrites and idiots.
Anyone who who says this was dog whistle politics deserves to be bitten by Coco (pictured above, recently).
• Read Ken Livingstone's LGBT Manifesto For London on his mayoral website
here.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment