[QUOTE]The Conservatives held their first ever gay party conference event here as, edging closer to power, they seek to cast aside their right-wing image and embrace diversity. Skip related content
About 600 people flocked to Conference Pride on Canal Street, in the heart of the city's gay community, on Tuesday for a club night that organisers said proved how much Margaret Thatcher's old party had changed.
The mood was only slightly dampened by a boycott of the event -- held during the Tories' annual conference here -- by the best-known gay rights group. Inside, barmen wearing "Conservative and proud" t-shirts served up "Tory Martinis" -- a mix of vodka, gin and midori -- to a heaving crowd against a backdrop of pumping house music, scattered pink balloons and disco lighting.
"I'm very, very impressed -- I thought it was all going to be toffs in suits," said one man with a diamond stud in one ear as he jostled to gain access to the smoking terrace overlooking the Manchester skyline.
Under the leadership of David Cameron, the Tories have sought to modify their traditional focus on family values that alienated many minorities in a drive for openness that has gained urgency as a general election looms. Profile: David Cameron
Opinion polls put the Tories on course to oust Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour government in the vote due by next June, an achievement after 12 years in opposition that owes much to their reinvention as an accessible party.
Tory party chairman Eric Pickles, equalities spokeswoman Theresa May and openly gay environment spokesman Nick Herbert were among those at the event on Tuesday.
"I'm living proof of the fact that the Conservative Party has changed," Herbert told the crowd to cheers and wolf-whistles.
"I am lucky enough to be in David Cameron's shadow cabinet as an out gay man, I was elected as an out gay man, I have never experienced any prejudice or obstacle along the way."
He admitted the party had been wrong in the past but said it had apologised and the event was proof that "gay people are not the property of the left."
Simon Fox, 24, a Conservative delegate from London told AFP the event was "fantastic", saying: "You can still be on the right and you can still be gay."
Although gay events have taken place at past Conservative party conferences, this is the first time they have had the party's official blessing and been open to anyone.
"It really gives a clear message about a party that has changed," May said.
However, she expressed regret at the boycott by gay rights group Stonewall over the presence of right-wing European MEPs at a fringe meeting at the conference here on Tuesday.
Latvia's Roberts Zile and Poland's Michal Kaminski, who have been criticised for their extreme-right views and homophobic comments, sit with the Conservatives in their new political grouping in the European Parliament.
"There is no doubt the progress that has been made in the last couple of years has genuinely been historic," Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill, who had been due to speak at Conference Pride, told Channel Four news Tuesday.
"But the event tonight has been overshadowed by the presence, not just at conference but on the same platform as some senior members of the party, of people of such extreme and offensive views."
Protesters from the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group OutRage also demonstrated outside the event to call for stronger action on equality.
"Of all major parties, the Conservatives have the worst record on gay rights," OutRage campaigner Peter Tatchell told AFP.
"Such an event is great, but the vast majority of Conservative MPs have voted against repealing homophobic discrimination over the last decade.
"David Cameron's new gay friendly image is mostly PR and spin, there is no substance, no policies for gay rights."
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Source: [url]http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20091007/tpl-conservatives-woo-gay-voters-as-elec-5b839a9.html[/url]
Recruiting the people you've been voting against the whole time?
i dont think there is enough gays to change the outcome of the vote
I'm not voting for those gay conservatives.
I would vote for anything gay.
[quote]they seek to cast aside their right-wing image and embrace diversity.[/quote]
Translation: Our main demographic (angry white people) isn't big enough, so we're going to try to get gays and minorities to vote against their own interest (such as the right to marry)
That's silly can we have some straight conferences? plox
[QUOTE=Omali;17708070]Translation: Our main demographic (angry white people) isn't big enough, so we're going to try to get gays and minorities to vote against their own interest (such as the right to marry)[/QUOTE]
"If you can't beat them, join them!"
Conservatives are bastards, and are not to be trusted.
[QUOTE=Omali;17708070]Translation: Our main demographic (angry white people) isn't big enough, so we're going to try to get gays and minorities to vote against their own interest (such as the right to marry)[/QUOTE]
Pfft. I hate all mainstream polititions in the U.K. Bull shiters, the lot of them. :)
David Cameron seems like he knows fuck all about the economy
at least Gordon Brown knows what the fuck he's doing
Fuck David Cameron.
british conservatism is different to American conservatism, England conservatism is opposite of conservatism ironcally and labour are more typically conservative
david cameron is a dickhead
[QUOTE=JesterUK;17708213]David Cameron seems like he knows fuck all about the economy
at least Gordon Brown knows what the fuck he's doing[/QUOTE]
Nobody seems to get this. Cameron's just a nazi who likes to fuck with the middle classes.
[QUOTE=Sh33p;17708160]Conservatives are bastards, and are not to be trusted.[/QUOTE]
Do you even know what conservative actually means?
[QUOTE=The mouse;17708262]british conservatism is different to American conservatism, England conservatism is opposite of conservatism ironcally and labour are more typically conservative[/QUOTE]
Labour is Left Wing, Conservatives are Right Wing.
The conservatives are just trying to get support from gays because they know they have little to none in the north.
[QUOTE=Perfumly;17708680]Do you even know what conservative actually means?[/QUOTE]
I'm talking about the party, it doesn't matter what conservative means, it's the name of the party. Do you know what Whig means?
People keep ruining my automerges.
[QUOTE=Sh33p;17708695]Labour is Left Wing, Conservatives are Right Wing.[/QUOTE]
The left right spectrum barely even applies to Britain any more.
[QUOTE=JesterUK;17708213]David Cameron seems like he knows fuck all about the economy
at least Gordon Brown knows what the fuck he's doing[/QUOTE]
Gordon Brown fucked it up in the first place
[QUOTE=iamgnome;17708738]The left right spectrum barely even applies to Britain any more.[/QUOTE]
This is rather true, but it's all relative.
[QUOTE=Cowles;17708742]Gordon Brown fucked it up in the first place[/QUOTE]
Not really, you can hardly blame a worldwide economic problem on the guy who happened the be the prime minister at the time.
[QUOTE=Cowles;17708742]Gordon Brown fucked it up in the first place[/QUOTE]
How, at the moment he's doing his very best to get us out of this. He's taken alot of shit and deserves at least a little recognition.
*sigh* Gay discussions never end well.
Oh wait what am I doing here this is tea land news
C[B]Anal[/B] Street.
:smug:
[QUOTE=Sh33p;17708695]Labour is Left Wing, Conservatives are Right Wing.[/QUOTE]
Hardly.
Eh, we should just stick with Labour.
cameron is just thatcher except with a smaller dick.
[QUOTE=radioactive;17709401]C[B]Anal[/B] Street.
:smug:
Hardly.[/QUOTE]
Yeah it's the main road through the gay village in Manchester. All the road signs have already had the C removed.
We need Winston Churchill back.
[QUOTE=Sh33p;17708785]This is rather true, but it's all relative.
Not really, you can hardly blame a worldwide economic problem on the guy who happened the be the prime minister at the time.[/QUOTE]
Yeah. It was actually kind of our fault.
Sowwy bwitain. :(
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