From: jf@threel.co.uk (John Fisher)
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: UK General Election (2)
Date: 6 Apr 92 09:35:54 GMT
Organization: 3L Ltd, Peel House, Ladywell, Livingston EH54 6AG, UK

(continuing...)

So where do the parties stand on our issues? Sparing neither
my sanity nor my wallet, I went out and bought all their
manifestos.  It's easy to be cynical about manifestos, but
the parties do generally at least try to carry them out; the
manifesto of the winning party constitutes its "mandate",
what the people are, rather metaphysically, supposed to have
voted for, and it has great authority. 

Okay.  Here we go.

--- The Conservatives.  I could only find their Scottish
manifesto, but I doubt if it's very different.  Blue picture
of John Major on cover, glossy, well laid-out and immensely
detailed (I noticed their policy towards the Kashmir problem
on page 1).  I did my best to read it all, including parts
about the Post Office monopoly regulatory agency, the
Consultancy Brokerage Service, cooling-off periods in
timeshare holiday agreements, trade in rhinoceros horns, the
Central Scotland Woodland Initiative, etc, etc.  There is
nothing about LGB issues at all. 

There is the following:

  We are committed to breaking down artificial barriers to
  women's advancement based on prejudice or lack of
  imagination.  As an employer, the government must continue
  to set an example.

Various measures are mentioned: tax relief on training fees,
tax relief for employers who set up creches for their
employees. Also this:

  We have the toughest anti-pornography laws in Western
  Europe, and we will keep them that way.


--- Labour.  Their UK and Scottish manifestos are very
similar.  I shall follow the UK one.  Glossy cover, with UK,
Scottish and Welsh flags; full page picture of Neil Kinnock
inside.  Not so detailed as the Tory one.  But I find this:

  We will introduce a new law dealing with discrimination on
  grounds of sexuality, repeal the unjust Clause 28 and allow
  a free vote in the House of Commons on the age of consent.

This refers to the fact that the age of consent for gay men
is 21, as against 16 for heterosexuals.  By "a free vote",
they mean that they will allow time for a member to introduce
a bill, but they won't tell their MPs how to vote on it.  On
women, there's this:

  Labour will appoint a Minister for Women... She will monitor
  the work of all other departments and co-ordinate action for
  equal opportunities across government... We will introduce
  a new Sex Equality Act which will combine the current equal
  pay and sex discrimination laws...


--- Lib-Dems.  Once again, only the Scottish one.  It's
huge, as big as an LP, glossy, with a picture of Paddy
Ashdown looking visionary on the front.  Easily the most
impressively produced, lots of pictures, but oddly old
fashioned, rather like old East European publications with
names like "Bulgaria's Five Year Plan".  There's this:

  * Fight discrimination by incorporating the European Convention
  on Human Rights into the Act setting up a Scottish Parliament...
  This will reinforce existing protection in Scottish courts
  against discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, age,
  disability, religion or sexual orientation...

  * Strengthen the rights of women.  We will guarantee equal
  pay for work of equal value; require public authorities and
  private contractors holding public contracts to be equal-
  opportunity employers and improve child-care support...

  * Guarantee equal rights for gay men and lesbians.  We will
  create a common age of consent regardless of gender or sexual
  orientation.


--- Scottish Nationalists.  Their manifesto is in two parts;
one, called "Recovery in Scotland" is a detailed plan of
economic policy for an independent Scotland for the next
four years.  The other, "Independence in Europe - Make it
Happen Now!" is about everything else.  Simply and clearly
laid out, no razzamatazz, apart from a letter from Sean
Connolly, and a page filled with the SNP's rather sinister
logo. 

  The written constitution of an independent Scotland will
  contain a provision outlawing any discrimination on the
  basis of sex.

  An SNP Government is committed to a Parliament that has a
  fairer balance of the sexes...

  The SNP will strive for equal pay for work of equal value...
  equality of entry and working coditions and security of
  employment... community based child care facilities...

  ...sympathetic housing allocation policies for all women,
  and particularly for abused women...adequate refuges for
  victims of domestic violence.

  The Bill of Rights will also offer protection and redress
  to those discriminated against as a result of sexual
  orientation.

---

A few random candidates.

At present there is just one MP who is an out gay man: Chris
Smith, MP for South Islington in London.  He will certainly
be reelected.  Another gay man, Peter Mandelson, who was
outed by a tabloid in 1987, is standing for a safe Labour
seat and will certainly be elected. 

There are no out lesbian MPs.  Of course there are rumours
about quite a few male and female MPs.

Just before the election campaign, Alan Amos, MP for Hexham,
was caught by the police having sex with a man on Hampstead
Heath.  His local Tory party dumped him.  Second in Hexham is
a Lib-Dem who is a gay man.  It would be nice if he won.

Glenda Jackson, who is standing for Labour in Hampstead, has
the distinction of being the only candidate with two Oscars.

There are a number of MPs whose scalps I would happily see
nailed to a tree.  The names of Bill Walker (Tory), Sir
Nicolas Fairbairn (Tory), Terry Dicks (Tory) and Dame Elaine
Kellet-Bowman (Tory) spring to mind; also, an old grudge
this one, Simon Hughes (Lib-Dem).  I am licking my lips. 
Revenge, as they say, is a dish best eaten cold. 

(to be continued...)

--John