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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 2011)
Ä L J6 NOVEMBER 11,2011 Satisfying all your cravings... Lenington financial BUILDING WEALTH AND WE LL BEING Providing fee-only advice to the LGBTQ community. We receive no commissions. We sell no products. We require no minimums. Retirement Planning Investment Advice Budgeting Domestic Partner Planning ß soul and style 1033 NW Couch www.rebeljeweler.com 503.224.4485 L o o k in g fo r u n iq iqu u e p r e s e n t thii is lj e a r ? O u r C jif t d a r d s start at onlu $ 2 ? politics Party Time A British Parliamentary candidate-turned- Portland resident compares LGBTQ politics across the pond BY ALEX BRYCE E d . n o t e : Alex Bryce is a British writer, com mentator am i equality campaigner. He worked as a political researcher; speechwriter, adviser and election campaigner fo r the Labour Party in the Houses o f Parliament and at age 23 was selected to he a Labour Party Parliamentary candidate. He m oved to Portland w ith his partner in September. To an outside observer, it is hard to fight the urge to constantly draw comparisons between our two vastly different political systems, par ticularly given the many cultural similarities and reference points we share—and particu larly when it comes to social issues and LG- BTQ_ equality. British politics seem dull by comparison to their equivalent here, where both parties seem to genuinely stand for something that their opponents despise. A few weeks ago, 1 was hit with a stark re minder of how differently homosexuality is viewed by the Republican Party and its British counterpart, the Conservatives. David Cam eron, the U.K. prime minister and Conserva tive leader, made two significant appearances on the main European LGBTQ,news site I visit regularly: the first for mercilessly sacking and publicly slamming a lowly local represen tative for making homophobic comments, and the second for pledging to introduce full gay marriage to replace civil partnerships. On the very same day, I heard Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain making remarks that would have resulted in a humili ating public sacking had he been a Conserva tive member of Parliament or local elected representative in the United Kingdom. In fact, Adoptions Surrogacy Dlvorco/Custody Wills/T rusts Em ploym ent Business La w 2 3 0 *0 Ml 13KOAI > W A Y PORTI AND, OR 97232 503-284-2300 many insurance and flex accounts expires on December 31st after a brief look at some of the comments on homosexuality made by Cains rivals in the race for the Republican nomination, I’m fairly certain they would have all—maybe with the exception of Jon Huntsman—been sacked at some stage by Cameron. However, the homoerotic love (okay, I ex aggerate) the Conservative Party leadership now has for the LGBTQ, community is a relatively new phenomenon—they are still responsible for every piece of anti-gay legis lation ever introduced in the U.K.This led me to ponder what caused them to change and if this is in any way applicable to politics here in the United States. Cynics would argue that the change was driven more by a desire to be seen as electable than by sincerely held beliefs. There is cer tainly some truth in this. In Britain, unlike over here, where the legislature and the ex ecutive branch are separate, all the elections of any real national significance take place at the same time on General Election Day, when members of Parliament are voted in. The outcome of this determines which party forms the government and, in turn, who be comes prime minister. David Cameron moved his party into the ideological middle ground by shedding its image of being out of touch, socially illiberal and old-fashioned. Part of this transformation was embracing LGBTQ_rights and equality. When gazing across the pond from Brit ain, it is easy to fall into the trap of seeing the U.S. as one homogenous country with fairly consistent values and beliefs throughout, much like the U.K. I call this “Small Island Syndrome.” The United Kingdom is actually smaller in size than Oregon—that’s right, the whole country is smaller than this state. Most I is the season to give >our famil\ the legal protection thex ilesenc. ON BROADW AY REMEMBER W W W.JUSTOUT.COM 811 SW Naito. #420 Portland. OR 97204 503.241.3103 www.BethAllonLaw.com