'It was seen by many in the gay rights lobby as a seminal victory against the ‘nasty’ Tory party.
'Now the local Conservative association is riven by another battle over gay rights. David Burrowes, who beat Twigg for the seat in 2005, is the ringleader of a revolt by Tory MPs against David Cameron’s commitment to support gay marriage.
'Burrowes is a father of six and head of the Conservative Christian Fellowship. ‘I do not see the need for legislation to recognise gay marriage,’ he says. ‘I will vote against it. But it does not at all follow that I am anti-gay and homophobic.’ Such reasoning cuts no ice with Phillip Dawson, treasurer at his Conservative association: ‘It is one thing for our MP to abstain on this sort of issue,’ he says. ‘To declare he will not only vote against it, but lead a revolt of up to 100 MPs is unacceptable.’
'Dawson, who is gay, has launched a Facebook and Twitter campaign against Burrowes. Ironically, he has the backing of Stephen Twigg, who is now an MP in Liverpool.
'Dawson needs only 50 signatures from members to trigger an emergency meeting to discuss Burrowes’s position as MP. ‘It is an option. No one should think an incumbent is there for good,’ he says.
'However, Dawson may find he is the one accused of intolerance. Cameron is almost certain to give MPs a free vote on gay marriage.'
The Daily Mail.
Blimey.
That's your actual gay Uncle Tom Andrew Pierce there, writing about The Gays and it's not completely offensive.
Did you catch the dig against the deffo not-gay Michael Portillo in the first line?
Now, if only I thought gay marriage was as important as gay Tories do.
Update: Phillip Dawson has replied below.
Posts
Thank you for covering this in the way that you have.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately some websites, such as those run by Anglican Mainstream and the Christian Institute, published untrue and unsubstantiated reports that the facebook group I set up was being used to gather support from members of the local conservative association to discuss deselecting David Burrowes as the approved candidate.
I have never said such a thing and the facebook group's purpose is made very clear. Furthermore the group is open to all - not just conservative party members.
The reason I set it up was because when he was interviewed about the issue (which appeared on the front page of the Independent newspaper on 17th January) David stated that he did not believe it was necessary to change the law and that it was an issue that people had not been banging on his door about.
I set up the facebook group to counter that point of his argument - i.e. that equality of choice is an issue some people care about; whether or not they have written to their MP about it.
I am well aware that for most people, this issue is not the most pressing in the world today, but I felt that it was appropriate to respond to David's public comments on the front page of a national newspaper in the way that I did; to simply write a personal letter (as I also did) would not illustrate the point that I felt there were a number of people who shared the same view as me.
Whilst I set up a facebook group about this issue (the first time I have done such a thing) I don't just care about this issue - there are many other problems and inequalities in the world today that are equally worthy of attention.
Many thanks to you,
Phillip Dawson
I am not sure if replying to my own reply is poor form, but as a further update, while trawling the web trying to correct the false story that the Christian Institute had broadcast about me, I came across a leaflet on the Anglican Mainstream Website which showed that a charity called CARE co-sponsored a 'gay cure' conference in 2009 along with Anglican Mainstream. http://www.scribd.com/doc/82387909/Sex-And-The-City-Reedeming-sex-today-Conference-Flier
ReplyDeleteThrough the facebook group I set up I had been told that my MP, David, had received material support from CARE in the form of an intern.
I trawled through the register of interests and the updates to the register made since the conference took place in April 2009 and found that 20 MPs (2 no longer in the House) had declared material support from CARE.
These are Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs and include Lib Dem Party President Tim Farron, Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs Caroline Spelman (Con) and Sharon Hodgson, a Labour Shadow Minister.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/82380030/List-of-MPs-Who-Have-Received-an-Intern-From-CARE-Since-22-April-2009
CARE are a leading member of the Coalition for Marriage.
Given their sponsorship of a gay cure event I was surprised to see CARE currently fundraising to develop primary school age education material : http://new.thebiggive.org.uk/projects/view/523?search=538eaa11-b628-426a-bb38-6a8b42759b64
I have informed all 18 MPs of the link between them (through their acceptance of an intern) and the charity which co-sponsored a gay-cure conference. Only David Lammy has publicly distanced himself from the charity and stated he will no longer accept an intern from them.
I have not heard from the others. I have started a petition for people to sign to encourage the 17 other MPs to publicly disassociate themselves from CARE :
http://www.change.org/petitions/member-of-parliament-for-enfield-southgate-sever-all-links-to-a-charity-which-co-sponsored-a-gay-cure-event