"Tony Blair is going to cost me a fortune in toasters!"
I'm just back from the UK where I attended a civil union ceremony for Iain Puddephatt and Michael Narduzzo. (Reception photo, Matthew Gough.) In the UK, the civil partnerships law (text of Civil Partnership bill) took effect December 5, 2005. Legally, such partnerships are almost identical to marriage.
While I was in the UK, two other same-sex couples I've come to know discussed with my friend John and I their intention to become civil partners. John remarked, "Tony Blair is going to cost me a fortune in toasters!"
Stonewall occurred in Greenwich Village, not Trafalgar Square, yet I'm struck by how comparatively far behind gay civil rights and the general acceptance of gay citizens are in the US.
Not that there isn't significant progress to be made in the UK on the gay rights front. Television programs are still produced that indulge in obnoxious stereotyping. There are still hate crimes, such as the murder of Jody Dobrowski last autumn and attacks on gay or gay-friendly pubs. Homophobia in professional football is as bad or worse as in any professional sport in the US. And the British media, including the BBC, continue to be criticized for their coverage of gay issues.
On the whole, however, UK society and law are both more favorable for gay men and women there than they are in the US. Here, even the chair of the Democratic National Committee can't be counted on to be a leader for civil rights and equality of gay citizens.
The US military suffers under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, while the Royal Navy has begun to actively recruit in the gay community.
In the UK the out gay political figures and elected officials from all three major parties have become far too numerous to easily remember. They include Chris Smith (Labour, MP; Baron of Finsbury), Margot James (Conservative Party), Chris Bryant (MP, Labour), Michael Cashman (Labour, MEP), Brian Coleman (Conservative, GLA Chair), David Barrow (Labour, MP), Ben Bradshaw (Labour, MP), and Alan Duncan (Conservative, MP), and many more.
And just last week rumors resurfaced in London that Brian Paddick
(photo), Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, may
run for Mayor of London in 2008.
Gay public figures are arguably more numerous, too, including Ivan Massow (entrepreneur--photo), Andrew Hayden-Smith (TV presenter), John Barrowman (actor, singer), Alan Hollinghurst (author), and Anthony Cotton (TV actor), and Stephen Fry (actor, author, comedian). Of course, more famous to Americans are Sir Elton John (singer), Sir Ian McCellan (actor), George Michael (singer), and Boy George (singer).
And this in a nation with 1/5 the population of the US.
The slower rate of progress on gay civil rights in the US is primarily a result of the influence of the Religious Right, which is relatively weak in the UK. In the US, gay civil rights form the horizon line of liberalism--they are the next frontier progressive Americans need to strive to reach, and for me, a candidate's commitment to reach that frontier is a litmus test for my political support.
What was most remarkable about Iain and Michael's civil partnership celebration was how essentially indistinguishable the composition and behavior of the guests were from at a traditional wedding. Friends and family gathered together to celebrate a couple's love, to get a bit dressed up, to poke some gentle fun at the couple in toasts and speeches, to eat, drink, dance, and relax. The response to the fact that the couple happened to be two men: nonchalance.
But that it were the same in the US. Maybe someday.
