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thomas davison

It isn't those who oppose gay marriage who are the bigots - it is the liberals who demonise them

By Stephen Glover

PUBLISHED: 23:55, 6 February 2013 | UPDATED: 23:55, 6 February 2013

David Burrowes described how he had been called a Nazi and a bigot and subjected to death threats because of his views against gay marriage

David Burrowes described how he had been called a Nazi and a bigot and subjected to death threats because of his views against gay marriage

Most British people are in favour of gay marriage. Those who aren�t constitute a minority, mostly comprised of people who are elderly or dim, or both. In 50 years� time, the thought that anyone could oppose gay marriage will seem as outrageous as the fact that people were once in favour of slavery.

This is what I have heard on the BBC in recent days. I have listened to the often admirable Peter Kellner of the pollster YouGov asserting that those who are against gay marriage are in a minority. A man from Ipsos Mori, whose name I can�t remember, said something similar.

The BBC, too, has quoted polls which supposedly prove that most people are pro gay marriage. In its customary spirit of even-handedness, the Corporation has constantly wheeled out the Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, who had described those against gay marriage as a �nest of bigots�.

And my oh my, didn�t those Tory MPs opposed to gay marriage, who were cunningly unearthed by the BBC, sometimes look gruesome? If these not always very bright or alluring people were typical representatives of the antis, did one really want to be one of their number?

After a time, even I began almost to believe that the national mood had been transformed and that there must be a strong majority of people who passionately want gay marriage � with only a bigoted minority against. Roll with the times, said a voice in my head. It�s what David Cameron believes.

And maybe, I reasoned to myself, those in favour were right. Who are we Christians to lay down the law in a country that is no longer Christian? Isn�t love what matters? Why should gays be excluded?

Isn�t Mr Cameron correct to say that marriage is such a splendid institution that it should be enjoyed by morons, too?

Then I heard a Tory MP whom I hadn�t heard of speak in the Commons debate on Tuesday. David Burrowes, a leading opponent of gay marriage, described how he had been called a Nazi and a bigot and subjected to death threats because of his views. His children had been told that their father is a bigot and a homophobe.

I thought of Polly Toynbee, and her �nest of bigots�. What nasty, intolerant language to use. The language of a bigot, in fact. I asked myself whether anyone I knew, or had heard, spoke about the supporters of gay marriage in such terms. I couldn�t think of any.

Then I took another look at the YouGov poll so freely cited by the BBC. It�s true that 56 per cent of respondents said that they were in favour of gay marriage, but there were 38 per cent against. That�s a substantial minority, and perhaps the figures would be different if the question were asked in a different way.

For example, a ComRes poll commissioned by a group called the Coalition for Marriage asked whether �marriage should continue to be defined as a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman�. This poll found 53 per cent in favour of this proposition and 36 per cent opposed.
Up against it: David Cameron may have pleased a few fervent supporters of gay marriage, but he's dismayed many people, not least in his own party, who see themselves as part of the mainstream

Up against it: David Cameron may have pleased a few fervent supporters of gay marriage, but he's dismayed many people, not least in his own party, who see themselves as part of the mainstream

I wonder how often this poll was mentioned by the BBC. I�ve heard no reference to it. To a large extent, the question frames the answer. YouGov put it one way, ComRes another.

My guess � no, it is closer to a conviction � is that only very few people are passionately in favour of gay marriage. Indeed, the YouGov survey found that only seven per cent of voters rate the issue as one of their most important concerns.

Moreover, the British are polite and tolerant people, unwilling to erect barriers against their fellow citizens. They are also terrified of being branded as �homophobic�, which has joined �racist� and �Nazi� in the lexicon of things that none of us wants to be.

I don�t think many people want gay marriage. I even doubt that the majority of gays do. Indeed, ComRes asked gays and lesbians whether they would consider entering into a gay marriage: only 31 per cent said they would. For all the noise created by campaigners, it�s not the burning issue David Cameron thinks it is.
Substantial minority: YouGov showed that 56 per cent of respondents said that they were in favour of gay marriage, but there were 38 per cent against

Substantial minority: YouGov showed that 56 per cent of respondents said that they were in favour of gay marriage, but there were 38 per cent against

But it does worry a significant number of people, many of them Christian, some of them Muslims, who have been demonised by secular liberals such as Polly Toynbee as bigots or loonies who won�t adapt to the times and, so it is claimed, are stuck in the past.

Is the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, an atavistic bigot? Are most Anglican and all Roman Catholic bishops? Are the nice people in my church congregation (few of them Tories, I suspect) also bigots?

And are the 136 Conservative MPs who voted against the Bill on Tuesday (despite some informal whipping in what was supposed to be a free vote) all bigots, along with the 22 Labour and four Lib Dem MPs? Just for believing what, until the day before yesterday, almost everyone believed, and many still do?

How brilliant the secular liberals are at stigmatising the mainstream beliefs of moderate people, and trying to frighten them into believing that they are extremists who must change their ways. But it is the liberals, in their intolerance and caricaturing of their opponents, who are the real extremists.

There�s nothing new about this. Over the past 50 years, similar tactics have been used to introduce one revolutionary social reform after another, often with undesirable consequences, though usually presented at the time in a spirit of measured reasonableness.

As a result, we�ve got abortion on demand, fool accessible to every child with a computer, and contraceptives handed out to 14-year-old girls like lollipops, without their parents having the right to know.

What next? The legalisation of drugs, perhaps.

The social campaigners win one battle and go on to the next. The social conservatives put up a fight, and nearly always lose. So it goes on.
Mr Cameron has said he believes in gay marriage because he is a Conservative. The evidence of Tuesday is that many Conservative MPs have an entirely different concept of conservatism

Mr Cameron has said he believes in gay marriage because he is a Conservative. The evidence of Tuesday is that many Conservative MPs have an entirely different concept of conservatism

What was novel about this particular battle is that the Tory leadership is fighting on the side of � no, leading � the secular liberals. It marks a watershed in modern Britain when the leader of the party to which instinctively conservative people might be expected to look � that�s still most of us � champions social revolution.

Mr Cameron has said he believes in gay marriage because he is a Conservative. The evidence of Tuesday is that many Conservative MPs have an entirely different concept of conservatism.

The Prime Minister (who couldn�t be bothered to listen to the debate in the Commons on Tuesday) may win the votes of a few �metrosexuals�, but he will probably lose the support of many more Tories.

More lethally, far from showing that his party is modern and �de-toxified�, he has succeeded in having it represented by its political enemies, and the BBC, as divided and still toxic.

And for what? David Cameron may have pleased a few fervent supporters of gay marriage, but he�s dismayed many people, not least in his own party, who see themselves as part of the mainstream.

Tuesday�s vote will be more of a defeat than a victory.

WHEN THE REVOLUTION COMES AND IT WILL ALL THESE PEOPLE WILL BE THE FIRST TO GO, THERE WILL BE NO PLACE TO HIDE FOR THESE OBNOXIOUS SPECIMENS OF SO-CALLED HUMAN BEINGS.

COULD IT BE THAT IN THIS RESPECT ISLAM IS CORRECT.