The Zhoosh! Brighton Blog
Marriage: Heterosexual Entitlement? I Don’t Think So!
There’s a joke Maureen Lipman use to tell about trusting a politicians body-language:
“If a politician’s touches his hair, he’s telling the truth. If he rubs his nose, he’s telling the truth. If he scratches his ear, he’s telling the truth. If he adjusts his tie, he’s telling the truth. But as soon as he opens his mouth….”
I feel the same with David Cameron. At a time when Obama is standing up once again got LGBT rights, 
Cameron continues to faff around on LGBT issues. No matter how sincere he tries to be, when he speaks the words just slip out of his mouth and crash and break as they hit the ground. Back in October 2011 Cameron made a big deal in his speech to the Conservative Party when he said, “I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I’m a Conservative.”
Although gay groups like, Stonewall welcomed Cameron’s comments, the ultra right-wing brigade within the Tory party nearly chocked at such forward thinking views. Of course the Catholic Church also waded in with Cardinal Keith O’Brien, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland going on the telly to express his disdain.
At a more grass roots levels we had Daily Mail reporter, Janice Atkinson-Small also putting her hobnail boot in when she said she, “didn’t agree with the Catholic church’s stance on abortion and divorce (right on sister), but she does believe that marriage is a, “natural law – the union between a man and woman as defined by centuries of tradition”.
This tired old excuse of ‘tradition’ has worn itself cling-film thin. For some people stoning is still very much a tradition, but it dosen’t mean it’s right. With no surprises whatsoever, Cameron has caved in to his cronies and no mention of gay marriage was made in the queen’s speech in May. Stonewall have spoken out about the situation and are hoping that Cameron will keep to his original stance on gay marriage.
On the other side of the pond we have, Barack Obama who despite the huge backlash from the far right, who are presently using every hate filled homophobic trick in the book the stir up hatred, has not only stood his ground, but has come out fighting saying how determined he is to give each citizen, regardless of their sexuality, have the right to enter into a commitment of marriage to be given the choce to have their union blessed in the eyes of God should they want to,
For the right-wing haters, this is the sticking point. For centuries they have bashed their bibles telling all those that would listen that homosexuality is a abomination in the eyes of God, not that there is any evidence within the bible to back these ideas of hate up. For them, if anyone from the LGBT community should be allowed have their love recognised in a religious ceremony, then they would have to scratch around for a different community to hate and blame for all the worlds wrongs.
Of course, Obama is taking a big risk to support LGBT rights in a country that has traditionally stamped on the minority to get 
what it wants, but over the last couple of years there has been a shift in many people’ sattitudes towards the LGBT comminity. Many more people are speaking out against oppression, with minorities no longer prepared to be trapped by tradition and are standing up and saying enough is enough. Let’s hope next time Cameron opens his mouth about gay marriage, he chooses to look forward and prove both Lipman and myself wrong.
