1983. Nottingham Council goes gay (-ish)
It was Nottingham Labour Party’s worst nightmare. Barely three months after Peter Tatchell had lost the Bermondsey by-election due to a homophobic campaign by his opponents, an openly gay candidate was standing in the local council elections.
Once again, the Party’s principles were under pressure and, once again, not everyone felt they should be adhered to. Council candidate Richard McCance – a long-time gay activist – was ‘requested’ on more than one occasion to avoid mention of his sexuality during the campaign.
But Richard, who had been involved in gay rights from the days of the Gay Liberation Front, categorically refused. His election material included the fact that he was gay, he made no secret of the fact that he was gay when canvassing and, of course, he strongly advocated the City Council taking firm measures in support of gay rights. The local Labour leadership were not comfortable.
It came as a bit of a blow to them, therefore, when Richard turned a Conservative majority of 400 into a Labour majority of 470. And, as if to rub salt into the wound, Richard’s was the only Labour victory. Elsewhere across the city they lost five seats, leaving them with a majority of only one.
And that one was Richard. The local Labour leadership were even less comfortable.
In some ways they had good reason to be, for Richard was not afraid to use his new status to get the Council to stick to its principles. He didn’t always support the Party line and there was a memorable stand-off when he voted against proposed budget cuts. But it was no coincidence that we also started to see real Council initiatives in support of the gay and lesbian community.
The ball started rolling when the Council organised a one-day consultation for the local community.
Most of us suspected that Council leaders anticipated (if not actively hoped for) a poor turn out at the event. This would enable them to shelve any further plans on the grounds of lack of support. So we derived some considerable amount of pleasure watching faces drop as the meeting room gradually filled up with enthusiastic dykes and queens!
I believe it was Gore Vidal who said, “The love that dared not speak its name has become the love that never knows when to shut up!”. And so it was with the one day consultation. Council leaders were left reeling as participants energetically expressed their views and demands. Backing down became less and less of an option as the day wore on.
I can’t remember whether a gay and lesbian working party was established, as it had been in the Greater London Council, but we did begin to see some progress. Apart from anything else, gay and lesbian issues were now being acknowledged and discussed amongst a much larger audience.
Admittedly some of that ‘discussion’ was the homophobic ranting of the Nottingham Post but their Victorian views were frequently challenged. And other local media – local radio particularly – took a far more intelligent approach.
And there were specific initiatives such as the appointment of an Equal Opportunities Officer for Lesbians and another for Gay Men. They, in turn, rolled out other programmes for the local community.
Of course, not everyone was supportive. The local Leisure Centre was daubed with homophobic graffitti when gay- only and lesbian-only swimming sessions were announced.
And talk back radio had its fair share of interesting contributions. One particular gentleman phoned in to a discussion on gay issues to complain that ‘it’s all very well talking about people coming out of the closet, but that’s most unlikely given the disgusting state of the Council’s public toilets!’
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