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Conservative London mayor pulls "gay cure" ads from buses



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So not only did the conservative mayor of London, Boris Johnson, pull a series of "ex-gay" ads from the London bus system - Johnson said it's offensive to suggest that being gay is an illness - but he and his liberal (i.e., left-wing) opponent in the mayoral race got into a back-and-forth over the issue, trying to prove that each was more pro-gay on the issue than the other.

Imagine that happening in America.  A Republican trying to outdo a Democrat on being pro-gay.  Oh yeah, that's right - that's what Mitt Romney did in 1994 to Ted Kennedy; Romney claimed at the time that he was better on, and would be better for, gay rights than Senator Edward Kennedy, probably the most pro-gay US Senate at the time, and likely any time.

But there's something even more disturbing abou the news. It's part of a larger trend where the religious right in England is trying to replicate the stridency, and tactics, of the religious right in America, some of whose top members have now officially been declared "hate groups."  We've seen NOM recently mention,  in its infamous secret memo documenting plans to incite a race war in America in order to harm gays and further the far-right agenda, its desire to be more influential in Europe.

Are American hate groups meddling in British politics?  Are Brits really ready for oversized billboards of aborted fetuses to be paraded on the side of trucks all over Britain, like the nuts do here in America?  And do British conservatives really want to be in bed with people who consider it fair game to incite a race war to get their way?

So far, at least as far as the city of London is concerned, the answer is thankfully "no."

More from the Guardian here and here.

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