may I make a formal complaint about LLOYDS bank on your blog?

Didn’t know you had a blog - but it’s nice to visit! How’ve you been?

As you say, bisexuals are perceived as either straight or gay depending on whom they are dating, and often by the people they WANT to date, which often makes it hard (men have the perception you will cheat on them with a woman, and vice versa.) But just as being heterosexual or homosexual is part of who you are, you can have 40 years of happy marriage, but you are still bisexual, and can appreciate attraction to men and women. I think Simon Hughes is bi, and this is sometimes harder to explain to people than being gay. That said, as you said, he profited from homophobia, and so I’m not a huge fan.
Not sure why I’m preaching to the converted here, but anyway, good to see you!

This was at the time when leftwing entryism into local Labour Parties was at its height and the ‘old Labour’ people in the Bermondsey party were reacting against what they saw as a leftie takeover by the group that selected Tatchell. This was primarily political, although Tatchell’s sexuality also became a factor.

The Alliance campaign was about presenting Hughes a the clear challenger to left winger Tatchell and as a moderate party against the exremists. Hughes clearly benefitted from the fact that the Alliance campaign message was being strongly echoed by the ‘Bermondsey Labour’ campaign. The main reason why the Labour vote fell so dramatically is because of this message hitting home and O’Grady taking a chunk of Labour vote too.

The slogan ‘it’s a straight choice’ was used on several bits of literature as it had been in several other by-elections and is still used to this day (including recent campaigns where the Lib Dem candidate is openly gay). Suggestions that this is somehow playing on homophobia is, in my view, unfair.

Similarly the ‘I’ve been kissed by Peter Tatchell’ badges were, according to those who were there, a prank by a couple of gay Young Liberals which was not widely used and went largely unnoticed at the time.

What the Alliance campaign could legitimately be criticised for. if at all, is that they didn’t go out of their way to vocally oppose the underlying homophobia of the O’Grady campaign. A sin of ommission if you will.

The main point is that the election result was much much more down to political reasons than Tatchell’s sexuality, reflective of some of the other by-elections that hev been mentioned, and the scale of Labour’s defeat down to the additional factor of the O’Grady faction. That Hughes has held his seat ever since is down to his genuine hard work.

“loony left”!

Ah! Thank you!

I feel all young and idealistic again!

Keep it up old bean!

What about the 1986 (approx) Greenwich bye-election where the loony-left candidate lost to Rosie Barnes of the SDP, or even Warrington where Roy Jenkins seriously cut the majority of the then left-wing Doug Hoyle? And in general elections the exact poition of individual candidates tend to matter less than in bye-elections.

Oh and the term “gay” was in strong use in the early 1960s and can be traced back to the 1920s. Now you may not think that isn’t a long time, but a lot would disagree with you. (And that wasn’t your original non-point anyway.)