Transatlantic Differences

There are times when it's good to be away from the hurly-burly of American politics. Doubly so when the subject of gay marriage comes up. Here, for instance, is a story it is hard to imagine happening in the United States: Nick Herbert, the Conservative party's Shadow Justice secretary has apparently become the second member of David Cameron's Shadow Cabinet, to enter into a civil partnership. It's hard to imagine too many senior gay Republicans feeling comfortable doing this, let alone doing so with the blessing of the party's leader and their constituency assosciation.

Then again, gay marriage in Britain has, generally speaking, been decoupled from religion. (Of course, some would say that everything else in Britain has been, so why not marriage too). Now maybe American conservatives (of one degree of religiosity or another) are correct that this sort of thing heralds the end of everything, but if so it's striking how relaxed their British counterparts, for the most part, are about this imminent descent to Sodom.

Best bits? The story of Herbert's marriage was broken by the Sunday Telegraph's diary column. That is to say it's gossip, not news. Better still? Herbert worked for the British Field Sports Society (ie, the fox-hunting and grouse-shooting lobby) for six years before entering parliament. Culturally at least, that organisation is to the Tory party rather what the the National Rifle Association is to the GOP.

On one level this is trivial stuff, but it's a reminder that the Republican party is increasingly out of step with its sister conservative parties around the world. That's not, in itself, necessarily a terrible thing but it ought to be borne in mind next time someone suggests that there are wholly applicable lessons to be drawn from Britain/Canada/Australia/Wherever. (You mean, pieces like this one? Er, yeah.) The fun lies in the differences, not the similarities - even if pundits are necessarily drawn to finding the latter and smoothing over the former.

Comments

[D.]

Surfed over from Facebook...

I would recommend The Right Nation: Why America is Different by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge. An interesting book about American Conservatism. But you probably read it 3 years ago :).

[Carl Varady]

The difference, I believe, arises from two truths about the UK that arise from one event: as a result of the horrific suffering endured in the UK and Europe during WWII, blind faith in g*d decreased proportionally with an increase in tolerance of differences. In the US the majority still are driven by heroic egoism. Most believe that that g*d protects every one of their base actions and ideas because the suffering that is the natural by-production of such selfishness and fantastic belief hasn't fallen on our heads. I know there are other social/political/cultural/religious factors at work, but the advocates of hate have never been exposed to the end game of their hatred. Until that day comes, the voice of g*d inside their heads is all they have to inform their hate.

[Rab o'Ruglen]

Hi Alex,

What magnificent articles, both the above and that from Culture 11. Very well thought out.

I have never understood the Torys' anti-gay stance. Why should I vote for a party which clearly hates me and mine. A party which until recently seemed to revel in displaying its ani-gay bigotry.

During the run-up to Clause 28, my partner (now my Civil Partner - 26 years together and hopefully many more)were appalled at the ill-disguised hate emanating from some very senior party members. To such an extent, that we decided to start building up a cash fund (English notes only, no Scottish ones) should we deem it necessary to get out in a hurry. This we kept in a safe which I installed in the solum under our lounge floor. No Swiss banks for us!

Now you may think that this was a terrible over-reaction, but it had long been a cause for remark between us that so few German Jews seemed to have had the foresight or means to do just that during the rise of the Nazis. Our conclusion was that they just had not been able to bring themselves to the realisation, understandably, how much the Nazis hated them or what the results of that hatred might be. We were determined not to be caught in the same way.

Of course it never came anywhere near that and the fund was eventually used to buy sweeties and suchlike, but for a spell we felt very uncomfortable in our own country.

Is the apparent Tory tolerance of gay rights any more than skin deep? Despite a certain Scottish Tory lady's preference for wearing sensible shoes, if that means anything, (and lets face it if the shoes were any more sensible they would have degrees in Media Studies from the Coo U), I would doubt it. However, skin deep is better than what went before and I suppose we shopuld be greatful for that, but is it enough to allow me, who under different circumstances would be one of their core voters, to resume voting Tory? - Never in a million years!

Incidentally, within our circle of friends the term "Gay Republican" is taken as an indication of a person's propensity to act against their own interests. Like banks continuing to think it was a good idea to lend money to people who had very little prospect of paying it back long after the inevitable results of the policy were becoming apparent.

It was with some surprise therefore that on first travelling in the States we found such a thing to exist, and even more surprisingly, that they were in fact not that uncommon. Mind you, we have not been in the States for quite a few years and I doubt if the same phenomenon might exist to the same extent now.

Regards,

[Tim J]

Alex - you might have missed the Telegraph's online reaction to Nick's partnership...

sample: "There are only around 8,000 homosexual "marriages" a year in Britain: two of them among the 23 shadow ministers with departmental portfolios, and therefore with a public profile, is hugely disproportionate. It signals to Middle Britain: these people are not like us."

While the party leadership does seem refreshingly free of this sort of tired old bigotry, the message has yet to filter through properly...

[Rab o'Ruglen]

Honestly, the wonders of the internet! Thanks Tim J for the link to the Telegraph, a paper I would not normally think to look at, never mind buy.

Poor old Tories. Can't decide who they hate most - Labour, poofs, Europe or David Cameron. What lovely people. The only surprise is that not all of them were anti-gay, of course that's assuming the pro-contributors were actually Tory supporters.

Gay Republicans? - see above.

[TransAtlantic]

If you're interested in the similarities and differences of politics in the States and the UK, please take a look at my blog - it's about Democratic and Labour politics.

As for the fuzzy new face of the Conservative Party: I believe it is only that. If you watch the upcoming debate around the Equality Bill, my expectation is that the opposition line of attack (wrt gay rights) will be essentially identical to the misinformation and distraction used by the "Yes on Prop 8" folks in CA - which is that, "this issue isn't about gay people getting married, it's about what your children are going to have to learn in school."

They will turn the debate on Equality into a debate about whether parents should be forced to have their children learn about homosexuality against their will.