Few in the LGBT Community will mourn the demise of Michael Gove. Through his refusal to take homophobic bullying in schools seriously by introducing mandatory SRE inclusive PSHE he left many youngsters in fear and ignorance with tragic results. Sadly we can hope for little better from his successor Nicky Morgan beyond the remote hope that she might listen. Morgan ,who has crawled her way to the top by being ultra loyal to the leadership nevertheless voted against their wishes in voting against equal marriage last year. For this reason she was deprived of the equalities portfolio when she succeeded the disgraced Maria Miller as Minister for Women. Doubtless this reflected her position as a trustee of the traditionalist Conservative Christian Fellowship. In accordance with the leaderships wishes she also opposed making PSHE mandatory in Academies.
Now, however, in a step back towards the Conservative Party’s Section 28 heritage, Cameron has restored to her the role of Equalities Minister so that we now have an Equalities Minister who has voted for inequality. It also means that she will be in charge of combatting homophobia in schools as both Education and Equalities Minister. This may appeal to the more reactionary Tory voters and grab a few votes back from UKIP, but it is bad news for those suffering from homophobic bullying in schools and inequalities elsewhere. It seems that Cameron’s brief attempt to detoxify the Tory Party of which Equal Marriage was a part is well and truly ended. As former Labour MEP and Gay Rights Activist Michael Cashman commented, “Nicky Morgan in charge of education and equalities is deeply worrying. The true nature of the Tory Party is unchanged and reverting to type.” It is also doing so in another sense. Morgan’s appointment was part of Cameron’s attempt to make the cabinet less dominated by rich, middle-aged white men. But Morgan, as a former Head Girl at a leading fee-paying day school, with a Law Degree from Oxford and a background as a corporate lawyer is caste in almost exactly the same mould as the rest of the ruling elite. Indeed she is far more representative of it than Michael Gove and might almost be termed an honorary ‘old boy.’ Really the outlook is not hopeful and our campaign becomes all the more relevant.
And fear and ignorance will continue to rule our country’s classrooms with tragic consequences.
Colin Livett 15th July 2014