To say that Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens was homophobic would be a huge under-statement. As a leading figure in the Conservative Family Campaign he advocated the re-criminalisation of homosexuality and opposed any attempt to reduce the age of consent.

Dickens was also renowned for his obsession with media coverage and had a reputation for his willingness to give the Press a quote on any subject, irrespective of what he knew about it. So, in common with so many homophobes, he saw the AIDS crisis as another opportunity to get his name in the papers and take a swipe at the gay community at the same time.

Thus he announced in 1985 that a group of Conservative MPs were lobbying ‘behind the scenes’ to get gay pubs and clubs closed down in order to “stop this killer disease [AIDS] from spreading”. Dickens refused to name the other members of his group but claimed that one or two of them were “influential”. Clearly they weren’t influential enough (if, indeed, they existed at all) since no measures were ever taken to this effect.

In spite of the extreme nature of his proposal (and the fact that it ran in the face of well-evidenced AIDS prevention practice) Dickens claimed that he “hadn’t got it in for gays”. Of course, his track record already belied this ridiculous claim. All he was doing now was trotting out what was effectively the government’s response to AIDS anyway – contain it within its ‘host community’ (that is, gay men) in order to protect ‘innocent’ people (that is, just about everyone except gay men).

Undaunted by his failure to have his proposal adopted, Dickens was back a year later on another homophobic rant.This time he called for a police investigation into the organisation of a summer camp for young lesbians and gay men. Taking the usual ‘recruitment’ line he argued that, “The offer of free holidays might lead youngsters with no jobs or money into taking a path they might not otherwise take.”

Most people would find the notion of young people adopting a certain sexual orientation simply to get a free holiday completely absurd. Dickens found it “sinister and disturbing”.

Perhaps one reason why he felt like that was because many of the participants would have been under the age of consent. But the reason that so many of them were under the age of consent was because it was still set at the unrealistically high age of 21. And the reason it was still set at the age of 21 was because people like Dickens repeatedly voted against legislation to reduce it.