So he’s gay, so what – but can Reigate’s Tories get over it?
So Crispin Blunt has become the latest MP to announce he is gay. I assume that this admission is to prevent his outing becoming a moneyspinner for a tabloid – there seems to be no other reason why he would suddenly would suddenly announce this fact to his wife and the world on the eve of an August Bank Holiday weekend.
Most of us shrug at the news that someone has come out as gay. It may be a big deal to them, as Iain Dale and David Laws have recently testified, not wanting to worry or upset their families, but it is rarely an issue for the vast majority of the public. I hope that Victoria Blunt, who was due to celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary next month, can come to terms with what has happened and get on with her life. My thoughts are also with their 18 year old daughter, and their son, who is 16 this month.
However there are tweo troubling issues. The first is that Crispin Blunt has what is described as an ‘ambiguous’ voting recordon gay rights. More worrying though are the previous comments of Reigate’s Conservatives regarding gay Mps. In 2002, the local party greeted the news that Blunt’s fellow MP Alan Duncan was gay with less than favourable comments. Then constituency Chairman Tony Collinson said:
“I would not be happy if we had a gay candidate here – I would always go for a candidate who had a normal background,” he said. “Our current MP [Crispin Blunt] is happily married with two children.”
Other local Conservatives made similarly disparaging comments, calling Mr Duncan’s coming up “unspeakable”, “unfortunate” and “ridiculous”. Let’s hope for Crispin Blunt’s sanity and political future that the majority of Conservatives share the thoughts of the constituency Deputy Chairman and leader of the Conservative-run council, who said:
“What people do in their private life, if it doesn’t affect their public life, is their own business. Today homosexuality is as normal as heterosexuality. The days of being shocked that someone is homosexual are over.”
Hurrah for a sensible Conservative!
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