Anti-Gay British Politician Suspended for 'Bestiality' Tweet

A British politician now faces suspension by the conservative Tory party after sending out a message on Twitter that placed marriage between two committed partners of the same gender on the same level as bestiality.

The ploy of comparing committed family life between two men or two women with an array of revolting, but unrelated, practices such as incest and pedophilia is commonplace among anti-gay clerics, politicians, and activists seeking to deny gay people and their families the same rights and protections as are enjoyed by heterosexuals.

In the case of James Malliff, a Tory councilor for the Wycombe District in south central England, the slur was seemingly delivered with some sense of it being inappropriate, but also with a declaration of defiance.

"There is no doubt the [Prime Minister] is wrong on this issue," Malliff tweeted, referring to David Cameron's support for full marriage rights for gay and lesbian families in Great Britain.

"We may as well legalize marriage with animals," Malliff continued, going on to add, "crude I concede but no apology."

In Britain, same-sex couples are afforded Civil Partnerships, a form of civil unions that is legally recognized and includes many of the same rights, obligations, and protections of genuine marriage. But advocates of full legal parity for same-sex families say that civil partnerships are not good enough, and gay families should simply be allowed to wed.

The Prime Minister agrees. From his days as a candidate for the leadership of the British government, Cameron has made it a point to reach out to GLBTs, going so far as to declare that the Tories--the main conservative party in British politics--would probably generate the nation's first gay or lesbian Prime Minister.

After becoming Prime Minister, Cameron issued an apology for notorious anti-gay law Section 28, which banned teachers from discussing or appearing to be sympathetic toward gays and their equality causes. The law slammed gay and lesbian families as "pretend" families. The law was passed in 1988 and persisted for over a decade before being repealed in Scotland in 2000 and in the rest of Great Britain in 2003.

The issue of full-fledged marriage equality remains a divisive one, with some members of Parliament torn between standing for full legal parity for same-sex families and fearing that voters might toss them out of office if they do.

Moreover, the scent of gay scandal still haunts figures in the government. Only three weeks after Cameron took office one of the top officials in his administration, then-Secretary to the Treasury, David Laws, stepped down, following revelations that he had submitted rent expenses for reimbursement even though his landlord was his male life partner, lobbyist James Lundie.

Laws had been in the closet before the revelations broke, and he explained that he was not seeking to defraud the government, but rather to keep his relationship private. However, submitting his rent expenses for reimbursement was a violation of policies prohibiting payments for such expenses when the money goes to a government employee's business partner, spouse, or significant other.

UK newspaper The Times reported on May 30 that Laws' career had been without blemish until the scandal broke. But while Laws' career--and the fledgling coalition government--had sustained a blow, Law faced even deeper distress in his personal life, having hidden his true sexuality for so many years. "When I grew up, being gay was not accepted by most people, including many of my friends," said Laws. "So I have kept this secret from everyone I know for every day of my life. I was so determined to keep my sexuality a secret that James and I behaved as if we were just good friends."

The couple had been living together since 2004, the Times said, and Law had been renting rooms from Lundie.

Not long after, rumors circulated that Britain's foreign secretary and a male aide were involved in an improper relationship. William Hague, 49, found himself the focus of tabloid and Internet speculation following the publication of photos of himself together with a younger man, aide Christopher Myers, 25. The accounts reported that while on the campaign trail last spring, Hague and Myers had shared hotel accommodations.

But the sharing of hotel rooms was all about work, Hague said. "This speculation seems to stem from the fact that whilst campaigning before the election we occasionally shared twin hotel rooms. Neither of us would have done so if we had thought that it in any way meant or implied something else," Hague told the press on Sept. 2, 2010.

Rumor had it that Hague's marriage was foundering, but Hague denied this as well. He noted that it was true that he and his wife had endured several miscarriages, but told journalists that they had only grown closer as a result. "My wife and I really felt we'd had enough of the circulation of untrue allegations, particularly on the Internet, and at some point you have to speak out about that and put the record straight," Hague said.

Hague also quashed stories to the effect that Myers had won his position not because he was qualified, but because he was Hague's paramour. "Any suggestion that his appointment was due to an improper relationship between us is utterly false, as is any suggestion that I have ever been involved in a relationship with any man," stated Hague. Myers resigned as Hague's aide on Sept. 1, the article said.

Constituents: We Don't Care, Just Come Out

More recently, Defense Secretary Liam Fox faced renewed rumors suggesting that he was gay. Fox had evidently supplied a male friend, Adam Werritty, with access that gave him business advantages, an Oct. 12 Associated Press article said.

"The arrangement served [Werrity] well until last week, when opposition politicians started asking pointed questions about possible influence-peddling," the article added. "The probe has now widened into a more general attack on Fox, including a none-too-subtle media onslaught suggesting he has lied to cover up his sexual orientation."

Fox has faced such rumors for years, and denies that he is gay, the AP reported. He married wife Jesme in 2005. But the suspicion that he is lying might be more harmful to him that the fact of his dubious professional conduct.

"If he had come out a few years ago and said, 'Yes, I'm gay,' no one would care," Charles Heyman, the editor of a publication titled "Armed Forces of the UK" told the AP. "But what's driving it is a sense that he's got a marriage of convenience. There is a suspicion he's trying to cover it up."

At least one official in the Cameron government has identified publicly as gay and embraced his sexual identity. On Aug. 27, 2010, prison minister Crispin Blunt came out as gay and announced that he and his wife had separated. Blunt had earlier taken anti-gay stances, including making a statement that being gay is "not equivalent to heterosexuality," and adding, "It is also clear that there is a much greater strand of homosexuality than of heterosexuality which depends for its gratification on the exploitation of youth."

Blunt reportedly decided to come out after Laws disclosed the truth about his own sexuality, an admission that did not lead to any official criticism of Laws for being gay.

The British government recently warned the African nation Ghana to stop an escalating trend of anti-gay persecution or face the possibility of losing aid money, according to an Oct. 10 InDepthAfrica article.

A regional minister in that country has vowed to oversee mass arrests and "get rid of" gays.

The warning followed a similar caution to Uganda in the wake of a so-called "Death to Gays" bill sponsored by a lawmaker there, David Bahati, who has ties to anti-gay American evangelicals.

InDepthAfrica noted that Britain had cut back its aid to another African nation, Malawi, after two men were arrested for celebrating an engagement party and sentenced to 14 years hard labor. Their sentences were commuted, but one of the men was so badly shaken that he left his male partner and reportedly entered into a relationship with a woman.

Members of the Tory party treated Malliff's anti-gay tweet with just as much concern, according to an Oct. 12 article in the Buckinghamshire newspaper Bucks Free Press, suspending his membership in the Tory party while launching an investigation into his remarks.

Despite his initial vow not to apologize for his comment, Malliff offered the standard combination of an apology and a claim that his remark had been "misconstrued," the publication reported.

At least one constituent, 62-year-old Linda Derrick, a mother with a gay son, thought that the best apology would have been for Malliff to step down.

"He was actually calling my son an animal and what's worse is he is a councilor and a councilor who is responsible for the big society," Derrick told the Bucks Free Press. "How can he be promoting the big society when he thinks about one tenth of the population are animals and shouldn't be marrying?"

Malliff's story was scarcely better. He claimed that his remark was simply a "variation... of the theme" raised by another politician, a former Member of Parliament named Paul Goodman, who speculated that granting marriage equality to same-sex couples would lead to still another unrelated issue that anti-gay politicians raise when the matter of family parity arises: Group marriages.

Malliff also demonstrated unfamiliarity with the concept of civil, as opposed to religious, marriage.

"I think we have civil partnership and I think they are right and proper to protect the interests of a partner in that instance," Malliff said, "but marriage is a religious ceremony."

UPDATE 10/13:

Malliff offered to resign his post, Bucks Free Press reported on Oct. 13. The offer marked a reversal of the councilor's earlier statement that he would not step down.

But the Tory party's local leadership seemed not to be inclined to accept a resignation from Malliff just yet, despite suspending his membership in the party.

"Based on our discussions, James has now been suspended from the group under 11.4 of the Conservative Group Rules and has offered his resignation from cabinet pending the outcome of the investigation," Wycombe District Council head Alex Collingwood told the press following a meeting of the council's cabinet members, of which Malliff is one.

"However, because of his outstanding contribution to cabinet and to council, I am prepared to wait for the outcome of the investigation before making any further decisions," Collingwood added.