Gay people have a “duty” to vote Tory!?!

Prospective Tory parliamentary candidate Margot James yesterday urged all gay people to vote Tory, arguing that:

“Gay people are net contributors to public services through their taxes, because very few of them have children.

I think gay people have got more angst on this issue than anybody else because gay people are paying in, through their taxes and actually using far less of the NHS because they tend not to have families, less of the education system for the same reason and all the more reason to be angry with this government for the waste of their taxes.”

James, herself a lesbian, is apparently oblivious to the fact that Tory MPs are generally opposed to enabling gay people to have children in the first place: as part of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill back in May, 144 of them voted for the legal requirement to consider a child’s supposed need for a “mother and a father” when providing IVF treatment, with only 13 voting against and in favour of replacing this stipulation with consideration of “supportive parenting”. The latter, which will make it easier for lesbians to have children through IVF, was only voted through thanks to Lib Dem and Labour.

Similarly, only 14 Tory MPs voted against the proposal that providers of fertility treatment take into account the need for a “father or male role model” in the child’s life, with 143 supporting the motion. Again, this anti-lesbian motion was only rejected thanks to Labour and the Lib Dems.

So I guess it’s back to the drawing board on that one, Margot.