We’ve moved from prejudice to tolerance to acceptance – now we have to learn to celebrate

By Chris Smith

It’s nearly twenty-five years now since I came out. The occasion is well-documented: I was speaking at a rally in Rugby, that had been called to protest against the City Council’s decision to exclude “sexual orientation” from the list of things they wouldn’t discriminate against. And I began my speech by saying: “My name is Chris Smith. I’m the Labour MP for Islington South & Finsbury. And I’m gay.” I was given a standing ovation on the spot – the best response to any speech I think I’ve ever had!

I have to confess, though, that I was scared stiff before I did it. No-one had ever done this before, and I had no idea what the reaction would be. The general climate of opinion wasn’t particularly favourable, especially in the realm of politics. Just a year before the “pretty police” had been using entrapment in Earl’s Court to arrest gay men. The “Gay’s the Word” bookshop was raided by Customs and Excise. The age of consent was grossly discriminatory, with no prospect at all of equalisation. Very few public figures had identified themselves as lesbian or gay. What was later to become Section 28 was imminent. And the Tory MP for Lancaster, Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman, had shouted out “quite right” in the House of Commons when someone referred to the fire-bombing of Capital Gay’s offices in London.

How far we’ve come since those days. Equalisation of the age of consent. Abolition of Section 28. Equality of service in the armed forces and the diplomatic service. Non-discrimination in the provision of goods and services. Civil Partnerships. And much more too.

None of this has come easily, and even within the Government we had to make the case forcefully, step by step. But the picture has been transformed; and I think that historians will look back on the past ten years and see some of these moments of liberation for the LGBT community as amongst the most significant changes of this period.

The provision for civil partnerships is perhaps especially telling. There was nervousness within some parts of Government before it finally went through, worried about what the Daily Mail and “Middle England” would make of it. But when the Act became law, and the first partnership ceremonies happened in December that year, there was very little carping. It was almost as if the nation as a whole was celebrating the fact that some of their fellow-citizens, sometimes after decades of being together, were seizing the chance to become even happier.

There’s a pattern to progress like this. You start out with prejudice. You move to tolerance. You move further to acceptance. And then finally you move to celebration. Civil Partnerships aside, we’re not yet at the “celebration” milestone.

There’s a long way to go before we get there. Too many people are still scorned, or bullied, or hurt, or even killed, because of their sexuality. Discrimination still exists, not least in the Church of England. But we are heading (thank goodness) firmly in the right direction.