Thought For The Day: Chris Bryant

'Twenty or so eight- to 10-year-olds from Cwmclydach primary school trundled down the road to my constituency office last Friday because they were studying politics in the Rhondda. We had laid out some election leaflets for them to peruse and they seemed to be taking a genuine interest. Then came the questions, starting with: "So why did you become an MP?" That was easy enough. The next one was a bit more difficult: "Why did you stop being a vicar?"

'The truth is that I was ordained in 1986 and, within a year or so, at the grand old age of 25, I worked out that I was gay – and that is what prompted my move. But something in me felt I couldn't quite explain all that to a group of eight-year-olds. By the time I had sorted this out in my head, though, there was another question: "What's your wife's name?" So this time I fessed up. "Actually, I haven't got a wife. I'm gay, so I have a husband and he's called Jared." Open mouths all round. I expected fulminating letters from parents. But afterwards the teacher explained that they regularly talk about these matters with the children as the word "gay" is often used as derogatory in the playground and several children have gay parents or siblings.
'So the world has changed...'

Chris Bryant writes about the hot topic of the week in his Independent column.
The photo shows Bryant at his civil partnership ceremony at the House Of Commons in 2010.

And here's how many stories newspapers* have run about gay marriage in the last week (with the number of pro stories in brackets).

Daily Telegraph - 24 (2).
The Guardian - 16 (14).
The Independent - 13 (13).
The Times - 11 (10).
Daily Mail - 8 (2).
Daily Express 4 (1).

*  Includes articles only published online - the Mail's two pro-gay marriage stories did not appear in the print edition.
Also which stories I think are pro or anti are of course highly subjective, but it's my blog so NERR.