David Cameron: A Straight Choice

Daily Mail.

Banter!

Gay Marriage: On Homophobia And Hypocrisy

Maria Miller, the Minister for Equalities, has rejected a claim made by the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats that same-sex marriage is being “fast tracked” through Parliament without the proper consultations.
Mr Hughes said to Mrs Miller: “Neither of us [Conservatives or Liberal Democrats] had it in our manifestos and it wasn’t in the Coalition agreement. There has not been a white paper, there has not been a green paper, there has not been a draft bill and I did not sense that this was something with some sort of deadline that it had to be enacted in double quick time.
“Can you explain to us why this bill [Marriage (Same Sex Couples)] was not envisioned in the Coalition agreement, why it has had a fast tracked treatment when it is probably in the eyes of many the most controversial bill in this Parliament?”
Mrs Miller replied: “One factual error in what you said is that there was a very clear statement by the Conservative Party around looking at same-sex marriage in our Contract for Equalities that was issued at the general election. It was in a very extensive manifesto commitment document around equalities and it highlighted commitment to equality in this area.”

Pink News.

It wasn't in the Conservative Party manifesto - and that's a fact.
It is being rushed through - fact.
Odd that Maria Miller is now out about supporting something she didn't when it mattered.
And the dullard doesn't even support civil partnerships for straight people.
Is this all Pink News can get agitated about?
What a load of wank. 

PS Stonewall too were slow in supporting equal marriage, oddly, though they're now tweeting about this crap.

Simon Hughes: What's The Story?

Much of the initial online coverage of Simon Hughes' appearance before the Leveson Inquiry has got the story arse-over-tit, using variations on the headline:
'Simon Hughes: The Sun used phone records to force me to come out'
Though obviously highly relevant to Leveson, this is hardly news.
It was known from the start that Simon Hughes had only "come out" because The Sun told him - blackmailed him, really - that they had phone records which showed that he'd phoned a gay chatline.
The Sun's front page story is missing from their online archive, but here's the interview with Trevor Kavanagh:
Hughes: I've had gay sex' "As Mr Hughes opened his heart during the interview he also admitted phoning a gay chat service Man Talk."
The Independent commented the following day; "It was the revelation that The Sun had learnt he had phoned a gay chat service - Man Talk - that finally persuaded Mr Hughes..."
Okay?
The real story today was something completely different.
It is that the Met were clearly aware at the time of Simon Hughes' outing that News International journalists were regularly illegally tapping into peoples' phones.
And that, rather than prosecute, they covered this up for five years.

Here is the Simon Hughes' Leveson transcript.

Leveson Inquiry: Simon Hughes

"Meanwhile, in a separate development, it has emerged that the Metropolitan Police lent ex-News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks a horse in 2008..."

After this everyone suddenly forgot all about poor Mr Hughes...

Simon Hughes: Hacked Off

"It is generally known that I was one of the victims of phone hacking who gave evidence in the trial of Glenn Mulcaire and Clive Goodman.
"It is important now that all those who were clearly the subject of criminal activity help to get to the bottom of what happened during this dark period in British journalism.
"I have always been clear that the reason why I was most critical about illegal activity in my case was not the effect on my reputation but the invasion of privacy of others - constituents, colleagues, family and friends who should never expect to be the subject of illegal press intrusion."

The Evening Standard.
The story was that Simon Hughes was outed by The Sun because they'd gone through his bins and found his phone records - these showed he'd phoned a gay chatline.
Fuck knows why this was considered acceptable.
The story "Simon Hughes: I've Had Gay Sex" has now been deleted from The Sun's archive.
I wonder if News International is paying someone to delete incriminating stories?
You can read it here.
Incidentally the bottom line of The Sun's front page read; "Another One Bites The Pillow".
Homophobic? Toi?

Phone Hacking: Over The Eight

Let's hope the News Corp phone hacking scandal isn't laid to rest with the pay-offs/pay-outs to these eight people.
Chris Bryant MP and Brian Paddick believe their phones were hacked by the Murdoch press - MPs Simon Hughes and Nick Brown were spied on before being outed - how many other gay men have been outed or were blackmailed into coming out ("So brave..." etc etc) through phone hacking?

Phone Hacking: An Aid To Outing?

Nick Brown MP, former Labour chief whip, is quoted in The Independent today as saying he feels certain his telephone landline was being crudely tapped around the time he was outed by The News Of The World in 1998.
"I picked up a landline telephone very quickly… to make another call straight away.
“And the line clicked and then I heard my last conversation played back to me, which was quite eerie. I got on to British Telecom straight away… They said the line showed every signs of having been intercepted manually, not through scanners. It was an amateurish attempt involving the physical intervention of the line with a recording device.”
Interesting - did illegal phone taps and hacking play a part in the outing of other public figures by the tabloids, such as Stephen Gately's in The Sun back when Andy Coulson was editor in 1999?
Of course, the Murdoch press don't need to tap gay mens' phones.
As Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes found out in 2006, they can just go through your bins, dig out an old phone bill and blackmail you by saying they have proof you phoned a gay chat line.

Newsflash - Leading Nobody Backs Gay Marriage

Simon Hughes, the leading Lib Dem MP - but not actually leading enough to be in the coalition cabinet - has told Yoosk in a video interview that he thinks we'll see gay marriage legalised within the lifetime of this parliament.
I wouldn't get your hopes up.
This wasn't a manifesto commitment by either the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives - and Hughes is talking off the top of his head ("I think we should be able to get there in this parliament..."), rather than revealing a new policy.
But then again, what's stopping them?
A 2009 poll conducted for The Times by Populus found that 61% of the British public want gay couples to be able to get married.
Support for marriage equality is growing at an incredible rate - especially considering same-sex marriage was once thought so outré that it wasn't included as one of the eight key demands in the Gay Liberation Front Manifesto.
So it could prove rather popular.
Moreover, in our new age of austerity, this is one law change that won't cost the state anything.
After dragging their feet over - or violently opposing - every bit of gay equality legislation over the last 40 odd years, this is arguably the last chance that a Tory government will ever get to say they brought in a pro-gay change in the law and prove that they really are "the nasty party" no more.
And the Lib Dems must be given something for silently sitting and watching the Conservatives slashing and burning government spending.
It's great to have Simon Hughes on board, but the introduction of gay marriage will depend on a real commitment from the two coalition parties leaders.
Nick Clegg said in January he thinks civil partnerships should be replaced by marriage.
But the Lib Dems didn't bother putting this in their election manifesto in April.
Clegg sent a message to Pride London last month stating the Lib Dems were "pushing for gay marriage", but they don't seem to be pushing too hard.
David Cameron told Conservative conference in 2006 "there's something special about marriage... and by the way, it means something whether you're a man and a woman, a woman and a woman or a man and another man."
Though he seemed to be referring to the then newly introduced civil partnerships.
In April George Osborne said Cameron was "considering it".
But in May David Cameron told Sky News "I am not planning that."
Cheers. Forked tongues all round!