Log Cabin Republicans of Minnesota

Speaking before the libertarian Cato Institute, British Conservative Party Leader Nick Herbert laid out a case for the role that gay men and lesbians have in the conservative movement:

So can promoting equality for gay people be compatible with conservatism?

In discussing this I’m going to take three things as given.  And if they’re contentious, they shouldn’t be.

First, since – on the most conservative estimates – around 5 per cent of the population are attracted to the same sex, there are more than 3 million gay people in the UK and 15 million in the United States.

People often speak of gays as though we are a society apart from the rest, living in our own quarter.

And a few choose to be apart. But most of us don’t. We live in every city and town. We are businessmen and women. We run shops and stack shelves. We labour on farms and in factories. We are fire fighters and police officers. We save lives in hospitals. We fight for our countries and sometimes we die for our countries. Some of us are extraordinary, but mostly we are quietly ordinary. We are not different.  And we don’t want to be different. We’re not asking for special treatment. We are United States or British citizens. Proud of our countries. Wanting to play our part in society. And across the world there are millions of us. Millions of ordinary people. Millions of voters.

Second, we can’t be uninvented.  Being gay is not a lifestyle choice.  Our sexuality is a fact.  It may be repressed, but it cannot be changed.

Doctors don’t try to change a person’s colour. And healers or politicians shouldn’t try to change anyone’s sexuality. Whether it is given by god, or set by nature, homosexuality isn’t nurtured by doting mothers or weak fathers.

It isn’t a condition to be cured and it can’t be willed away through prayer.

Third, democracies should subscribe to a fundamental principle: that ‘all men are created equal’.

Some claim that the promotion of gay equality has no place in conservatism.  In fact, many deny that conservatives should be interested in the equality agenda at all.

It is argued that equality is incompatible with liberty … that if men are free, they are bound to become unequal.

But conservatives who want people to become better through their own efforts can never stand by while others are denied that chance.

Conservatives should always believe that everyone should have an equal chance in life, regardless of any other factors, and that they should not be discriminated against.

Herbert, who serves as the Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, went on to talk about how the Conservative Party under the leadership of David Cameron has reshaped the party and made support for gay men and lesbians a part of its success.

At the last election, of our 193 MPs elected, just 17 were women, only two black or minority ethnic and two were openly gay.

If we were truly representative of the country we would have 99 women, 16 black or minority ethnic and 10 gay MPs.

So our party leadership recognised the need to change.

Change because we are a national party which needs to be able to speak to, and speak up for, all sections of society in all parts of the country.

As David Cameron said on Monday, “Unless you can represent everyone in our country you cannot be a one nation party.”

Change because we need to reconnect politics with a public who are increasingly disillusioned with a political class.

And change because it was the right thing to do – to promote an environment where people can succeed and live without fear, regardless of their gender, colour or sexuality.

We now have more female candidates, more black and minority ethnic candidates and more gay candidates.

In fact, if we secure a majority in the House of Commons of just one seat, we are likely to have more openly gay MPs on our benches than the Labour Party.

The panel also held a heated debate between prominent blogger and columnist Andrew Sullivan and Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage.