Look at MP’s voting record on LGBT issues

It came as a surprise to hear the news that Theresa May was to stand down at the next General Election.

For 27 years she has been the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead and became a towering figure in British Politics.

For many she symbolises the demise of the moderate wing of conservatism, what has now consumed the Conservative Party is an ugly type of populist politics.

But Theresa May must take some responsibility for this.

After all, as Home Secretary she created the ‘hostile environment’ which saw Black Britons deported to a country they had never lived simply because they as children or their parents had come to this country in our hour of need to help rebuild after WW2.

But this wasn’t just a feature of her tenure as Home Secretary, even before that she had committed deep and lasting damage to a local community which has

often gone undiscussed and unnoticed.

Growing up in Maidenhead as a young gay teenager was an incredibly isolating experience.

Unlike today, there lacked a visibility that would help to reassure members of this community.

Having been a pupil at Desborough School and bullied ferociously, it was Section 28, which Theresa May would defend as Shadow Education Secretary, which would affect so many.

Section 28 sought to prevent the socalled ‘promotion’ of homosexuality as normal or acceptable.

The implication meant that staff were prevented from intervening against such bullying (as was the case for me) nor provide support to the numerous young LGBT people who were struggling and sought reassurance or support from teachers.

A whole generation would grow up wearing the scars of this policy which caused real and lasting damage.

Widespread issues affecting the LGBT community include lack of self-esteem, confidence, mental health concerns, dependency on drugs and alcohol but most significantly deep-rooted internalised homophobia, all of which stem from this policy.

For years, Theresa May maintained a hostile environment for the LGBT community.

She would repeat homophobic arguments to deny equality.

When speaking in defence of unequal age of consent, she suggested that young people may become victims of older

homosexuals (a trope which conflates sexuality with the crimes of paedophilia) “Bill fails to protect ‘immature’, says MP,” Maidenhead Advertiser 29 January 1999.

Despite her abrupt about-turn on these matters, and her belated apology in 2018 for her anti-gay stances of the past, her voting record on LGBT equality remains one of constant denial of basic civil and human rights.

While the lasting damage of many of these policies is not her responsibility alone, the views she espoused, not simply as our local MP but also as the Shadow Cabinet member for Education, Local Government, Family and ironically Equality means that additional credence was given to her words.

Many local LGBT residents will be viewing her legacy in a rather more sceptical manner than most.

Just as we recognise the contribution she has made to British politics, so too it is important that we must remember the hurt and damage to the lives of many of her own constituents and the wider LGBT community.

PHILIP WILSON-MARKS

Salford (Maidenhead resident 1985-2006)