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Saturday 2 August 2008

Frilly pink Tories

Those of a certain age would have never entertained the possibility that there would be Tories taking part in Gay Pride.



But they'll be there for the second year running in Brighton today. Pink News describes it as the Conservative party's "attempts to make itself appealing to the gay community".



Those who remember Section 28 of the Local Government Act, which was finally repealed only in November 2003 (2000 in Scotland) – having been sat on for six years by a Labour government, but that's another Tory, er, story – would have laughed then if they'd been painted a picture of Tories on a big camp float celebrating sexual diversity, instead of condemning it with the fervour of a nutty Catholic cardinal or an African archbishop doing an exorcism.



David Bull, a TV doctor and Tory candidate for Brighton Pavilion, is behind today's float, says Pink News. I think they mean behind the idea rather than walking in its wake. He's quoted as saying, "Four years ago if someone said the Conservative Party were going to do a float for Pride, we would have been laughed out of the city.



"Last year we were amazed at the positive response and that’s why all the team here in Brighton and Hove wanted to put together a float that represents the fact that Brighton is the best place to be in the world. It’s somewhere that everyone can be themselves."

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