Lord Smith: ‘The day I came out, and why we still need to work for trans rights’ – Islington Tribune newspaper website
Lord Smith has warned that there are still pockets of inequality within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community
LORD Chris Smith has recalled the moment he first came out as gay – the first MP to do so – nearly four decades ago.
In an interview with the Tribune, he reflected on the day he decided to tell the world at a Labour rally in Rugby, Warwickshire, in 1984, opening with the words: “My name is Chris Smith, I’m the Labour MP for Islington and Finsbury and I’m gay.”
“It was a remarkable moment which I will never forget,” he said. “It was unplanned until I stood up to speak and the issue at stake in the rally was that Rugby Council had decided to remove sexual orientation from the list of things they would not discriminate against in their policy.”
He added: “It occurred to me that it didn’t matter what your sexual orientation was to do a brilliant job for Rugby Council – the same reason why it didn’t matter what my sexual orientation was as an MP. I had been elected about a year earlier and I had decided in my mind at some point I needed to stand up and say I’m gay, and it dawned on me as I walked into the meeting that this was the place to do it.”
It was another nine years before another MP felt comfortable enough to come out.
Lord Smith, the former MP for Islington South who was a cabinet minister during Tony Blair’s leadership, said he had no idea what the reaction would be back home in London.
“Absolutely nothing [in Islington],” he said, but added that it made a huge impact on the crowd, who had gathered to fight against Rugby Council’s decision to ban homosexuals and lesbians from their offices. He was given a five-minute standing ovation.
Lord Smith said such a policy in local government now would be “wholly shocking”, and is very pleased with the “enormous progress”.
But he warned that there are still pockets of inequality within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, and that there is still more to fight for and against.
Since Lord Smith came out, the age of consent has been equalised and the UK has seen the scrapping of the Section 28 law banning schools from teaching students about homosexuality.
Gay men and lesbians are now being accepted into the armed forces.
Same-gender weddings are now commonplace, too, but Lord Smith said there is still “a fair bit of prejudice” and “a lot of work to be done” on the rights of transgender people. He said the law did need changing to ensure discrimination did not still occur in some areas.
He also expressed concern about LGBT rights in former colonial countries that are now part of the Commonwealth.
Asked about his thoughts on the House of Lords – and the long-running debate over whether there should be an unelected second chamber – he said it was a crucial part of the country’s democratic process.
It was essential that “senior political figures” and experts from the arts, science, academia, unions and industry should be holding the House of Commons to exacting and rigorous scrutiny, he said, adding: “They [peers] have an awful lot to contribute and they do.
“The House of Lords does a pretty good job at tempering the legislation the government brings forwards. We can’t overturn it but we can make it better and we do.”