Have a gay time

Chris Grayling’s erstwhile view that Britain’s inn-keepers can interpret anti-discrimination legislation as they see fit belongs where he originally found it: in the biggot bin. There is no place for anti-gay views in British politics, or the Conservative Party.

This is not just a question of electioneering — ie currying favour with a symbolically important segment of the electorate – but is a matter of decency. Homosexuals have as much place in modern Britain as everyone else.

A worrying part of the airing of Grayling’s (now-disavowed) comments is that it has given Labour an excuse to tarnish the Conservatives with an anti-homosexual brush. Grayling’s words had barely hit the airwaves when the pro-Labour voices began suggesting that the Tories remain ethically troglodytic.

While there are undoubtedly bigots in the Conservative Party, the same can be said of all the other political parties too. The key point is that the Tory party leadership is firmly liberal in its social views, and tolerant of others and their chosen way of life.