Councils and the fight for gay rights

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There has been resis- that this development of a tance from employees. gay rights policy by a Perhaps they don't under- Labour council is in the stand the issue and don't struggle for gay rights know what the pressures generally?

them have to take quite a the Labour Party because lot of stick - like the it encourages gay people to women on the switchboard become organised.

gay people on the council would come out..." time. We've had to explain lesbians and gay men to to them exactly what money join the Labour Party if it is

Islington

councillor

Bob Crossman spoke to Will Adams about the council' gay rights policy IN our manifesto promise we had a commitment that Isingion woulan t ciscrimagainst lesbians and gav men in recruitment and employment policy and also wouldn't discriminate in services, particularly in social services and housing We also included a promise on staff training, aiming at changing staff attitudes towards lesbians and gay men. That was fine as a commitment, but once we were elected we had to put it into practice.

It was difficult because there was only one openly gay councillor and therefore there wasn't a group of people overtly prepared to push the issue.

I called a meeting about two months after we came in, inviting about 20 lesbian and gay organisations from the borough. There were some problems with the council officers over calling che meeting and very few of them attended it. Those that did seemed quite embarrassed about wile whole thing.

From that meeting we set up a working party as a sub-committee of the policy committee. The working party has decided its priority is to look at the way the service departments implement gay rights policy.

The Gays and Housing group have got together with a group of councillors to look at exactly what we're doing about housing lesbians and gay men. We now openly say that the Young Couples Scheme is open to gay couples. Shared singles are now open to gay people as such.

When an application form for the housing waiting list goes out it asks anyone who's gay to let us know - maybe we can make special arrangements for them. That's a step forward.

Life-style

The recreation and libraries sub-group is looking at what kinds of gay and there are a number of individual gay-men who are field workers or working in residential establishments.

The fact we set up. the working party has meant that those people have been able to come out as gay and wear gay badges at work. Five years ago people were being sacked from the scial services department for wearing gay badges. We're making our gay workers a bit more visible.

I'm vice-chair of the employment committee and there we've said to people who've come to us fr financial assistance firms getting into difficulties, new co-ops starting in the borough - that one of the conditions of money being handed over or loans guaranteed is that the firm gives an assurance that they do no discriminate on a number of grounds -race, sex and sexual orientation.

That's one way of trying to affect whether gay people are discriminated against outside the Town Hall.

Is the Gay Working Party involved in setting up the Islington Gay Centre?

No, that's separate. I would be difficult for the Gay Working Party to do that.

The Gay Centre is an idea that came from a group of gay people, mostly I think from the Campaign for Homosexual Equality group in Islington. The Working Party backed it and asked the council for money for it. The council has promised about £100,000 to buy and adapt a building for a local gay centre.

Since then we have had the other possibility of the (GLC backed) London gay centre being in Islington.

Has there been any opposition to the gay rights policy either from other councillors, council employees or residents in the borough?

I wouldn't know if there is opposition from coun14 21 7 15 22 Monday 1 8 9 16 23 Wednesday 2 17 24 3 10 18 25 Thursday 4 11 19 26 Friday 5 12 20 27 Saturday 6 13 Sunday cillors because they haven't told me. But no doubt the fact that they haven't done anything positive might be counted as opposition.

Some people have expressed interest in helping - people who aren't gay themselves. For instance one member on the housing committee lives on a fairly tough estate and she's got gay neighbours. She can appreciate i what they're experiencing and so she wants to get involved in work on gay rights.

are on gay people. Some of become organised. who have had a really bad has been proposed for projects such as the gay centre.

I hope more gay councillors will come out, so they spend more timé talking to people about the issue rather than it just being me.

There has been opposition from people in Islington. Isolated opposition, nothing organised. For instance, we've been holding public meetings about decentralisation over the last month and at every meeting the issue of the BAN Plastic Bullets: a labour movement delegate conference. Saturday February 26, from 1lam at UMIST. Barnes Wallis Building, Sackville St, Manchester 1. Sponsors include Labour Committee on Ireland. Credentials for labour movement delegates £3 from Plastic Bullets Conmoney spent on the lesbian and gay centre has been raised.

When it has been pointed out by the councillors that gay people are about 10% of the ratepayers, the people asking the question have generally been satisfied.

The SDP have now taken it up and they're going to use it to attack us.

But there's generally been very little opposition. In fact I've been pleasantly surprised.

How important do you feel I think it's important for It will also encourage seen not to concentrate solely on those dry subjects like economics but appeals to people on terms of trying to work out their own personal politics.

I think it's really important for gay people who feel they're socialists to get involved in left parties, and obviously the Labour Party, which I think is the most effective way of getting things done.

It is also important for gay men - I can't speak for lesbians — to get organised some CRITIQUE conference: 'Marx after Stalin' • Speakers include Hillel Ticktin, Nigel Harris, Chris Arthur Scott Meikle, Jonathan Ree, David H Ruben, Norman Geras, Roy Edgley, Simon Clarke, Bob Sutcliffe, Mike Davies; Baruch Hirson, Neil Harding, David Law, Paddy O'Donnell, Sandy Smith, and Kate Marshall.

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GAY LPYS first meeting: Sunday February 27, 6pm Bob Crossman: ship. I've seen lots and lots of gay men get split off into couples and then get very individualistic and consumerist; they have their own little home, a shelter from the outside world. I think being involved in collective action militates against coupledom, which might be no bad thing.

Are there any special pressures on you as the openly gay councillor?

Yes. I take it all very personally, which shouldn't. I wish other gay people on the council would come out and other gay councillors in London would be a bit more visible.

What happens is that gay people contact me for ordinary things, like housing problems. When I tell them to go and see their at 'Gay's The Word' '. All welcome. Phone 01-263 9484 or 609 3071 for detail:

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In the first few months after the election, if I went into a gay pub or a disco peopie would keep asking me what they could get in terms oi grants bookings or things like that. feel that those requests shouldn't really be coming to me as the only openly gay councillor.

Because I'm so visible people have unrealistic expectations of me. I get letters from gay people ill over the country about articular bit of discrimin ation they've been suffering or something they want to plug or something like that. I can do very little about it.

Even if I was working 50 hours a day I couldn't ference for District Labour Parties, Saturday March 26, 10.30 to 4.30, at Manchester Poly Students' Union. Sponsored by Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester DLPs. Contact: Frances Done, Manchester City Labour Party; Hulme Labour Club, 1 Stoneylow Close, Manchester M15 SOUTHWARK Trades Council meeting on YTS. Thursday March 3, 7.30, at Walworth Town Hall. Speaker: Clare Short. Labour Campaign for Gay Rughts public mecting: 'Gay liberation and the labour movement"

Friday March 18, 7.30 at County Hall. London SEI. Speakers inclucie Andy arris (GLC), a Labour MP, and a NUPE representative.

-AMALIST do it, and we don't have the administrative support to be running a Gays and Local Government centre here.

Also I've got all my other council work. I'm vice-chair of the employment committee and I'm on the housing committee. That takes up a lot of time and a lot of energy.

Having to be the only gay councillor as well as all that means that I get very tired and it does affect your personal life. It has affected my personal relationships. Since last year I haven't always had the time and energy at the right times for the people I like.

I do want to have a social life. I think I'm entitled to one.

....L..TI..

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Sheffield Labour movement conference on Ireland. Saturday March 19, Sheffield University Students' Union, 9.30 to 4.30. Sponsored by Sheffield Trades Council, Sheffield District Labour Party, and Sheffield LCI.

----- pull-quotes -----

"I think it's important for Labour Party because it encourages gay people to 'It will also encourage lesbians and gay men to join

the Labour Party... to get involved in collective action'