May 2 really was St Boris Day who in fact is the patron saint of Bulgaria but definately not the patron saint of London nor a friend of LGBT people although Boris Johnson, the newly elected London Mayor would have you believe he is. Some of us will remember the recent Stonewall hustings when he lost his temper when being questioned over his position on gay rights seeing that sometimes he votes in favour and then writes homophobic banter. He repeatedly said that he did not believe that the state should not intervene in matters such as marriage and what is taught in schools. This is probably an indication that LGBT equality will not be high on his agenda now he is Mayor and it would be interesting to know what else he does not think the state should interfere in.
Dave Prentis, UNISON's General Secretary said to the BBC "The election of Boris Johnson as mayor is a bad day for London, for Londoners and for the capital's public services. In time, Londoners will regret electing this Conservative as their champion. We are particularly worried about the effect that the election of a BNP assembly member will have on race relations and community harmony."
The London Assembly results showed a swing to the Tories with Labour managing to keep hold of some seats but the election of the BNP candidate Richard Barnbrook is a travesty. He denies the BNP is racist. He also says "You can be gay behind closed doors, you can be heterosexual behind closed doors, but you don't bring it onto the streets, demanding more rights for it."
For more comments on the election read Craigs LGBT blog.
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