How the British Government is failing to adequately represent the high levels of political engagement in the LGBTQ community.
The LGBTQ community is as much a political movement as it is a socially constructed categorisation of the non-heteronormative. Figure 1 shows how more lesbian, gay and bisexual people (48.6%) participated in a political activity in 2013/14 than heterosexual people (45.9%) (Miletzki and Wardrop 2015: 1). Yet for years, we have known that there is an underrepresentation of this community in plenty of facets of society; but none more worryingly than political life. This blog will reveal how the government has hidden behind inadequate research commissioned by its own department into the community’s engagement. There is a strong argument that despite evidence that LGBTQ individuals can succeed in British politics, candidate selection processes amongst political parties are plagued by an unwillingness to justify the sexuality of their candidate to an electorate that have been proven to vote on the basis of policy.
FIGURE 1
Data sourced from: Miletzki and Wardrop (2015), information sourced from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
In 2010, a report was commissioned by the Governments Equalities Office to nature of political engagement of LGBTQ persons. Their objective was to understand ‘the nature and levels of involvement’ of the LGBTQ community with ‘political life’, and what barriers they may face (Ryrie et al. 2010: 1). There was a recognised need for political understanding of the ‘meaning and effects of being visibly LGB or T’ in the UK, and ‘the nature of demand among these groups to participate more’ (Ryrie et al. 2010: 1). The aim of the study was to see how the government can ‘increase representation’ of LGBTQ persons in the UK (Ryrie et al. 2010: 1).
In the year that the report was commissioned, 1.5% of adults identified as either gay, lesbian, or bisexual in the UK’s integrated household survey (Gates 2011: 3). The UK population that year (2010) stood at around 62 million (World Bank 2017); so even without taking into account the trans/queer community, the IHS figure stands somewhere around 930,000. The government’s report interviewed just 79 LGBTQ individuals: 20 lesbian, 22 gay, 13 bisexual and 21 transgender (Ryrie et al. 2010: 1).
Considering this community breaks down into five clearly defined categories, these 79 individuals would represent just 0.008% of the already conservative IHS figure. Commissioning studies into nuanced social groups that vary by a multitude of factors (such as geography or class) requires representation of people from all aspects of society. Failure to do so in a document that’s intention is to go on and inform policy is not only a waste of taxpayer money, but disregards the political efforts and engagement of the LGBTQ community over the years.
In 2012, Stonewall highlighted a YouGov study in which 2,092 lesbian, gay and bisexual adults from England, Scotland and Wales were asked whether they would expect to face barriers in their political engagement if they were to run for parliament. Figure 2 shows the results. Out of those interviewed, 74% believed they would ‘face barriers from the Conservative Party if they wanted to stand as MP’, 37% expected to ‘face barriers from the Labour Party’, and 29% expected the same from ‘the Liberal Democrats’ (Guasp 2013: 2). Moreover, Stonewall found that 76% of gay people believed that LGBTQ persons are ‘more subject to greater scrutiny […] compared to heterosexual politicians’ (Guasp 2013: 2).
FIGURE 2
Data sourced from: Guasp (2013: 7), information sourced from Stonewall, YouGov study.
Whilst it could be argued that these are merely perceptions that lie within in the community, it is Dame Anne Begg, previously Labour MP for Aberdeen South, whose 2012 comments (highlighted in the Stonewall report) go some way towards justifying the scepticism with which LGBTQ individuals view the party political system:
“We should ask ourselves why certain groups are under-represented. The reason is not that the electorate will not vote for women, people with disabilities, people who are gay or people from ethnic minorities – they clearly will; otherwise many of us would not be here – but that political parties do not choose enough candidates from diverse backgrounds to fight winnable seats.” (Guasp 2013: 7)
There are currently 32 MPs who identify as being homosexual out of a total house of 650 representatives (Shariatmadari 2015). Although the LGBTQ community is not as underrepresented as other minorities within parliament (with 41 ethnic minority MPs despite BAME citizens making up 11.9% of the UK (Institute of Race Relations 2017)), their levels of engagement would suggest more representatives in national government. But it would seem that communities are not even being given the chance to vote for diverse candidates of any kind due to the outdated procedures by which political parties disregard candidates for constituencies based on media-skewed political ideologies rather than putting forward engaged, often socially conscious individuals.
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Bibliography
Gates, G.J. (2011) How many people are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender? The Williams Institute. Accessed 23/04/17 from https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Gates-How-Many-People-LGBT-Apr-2011.pdf (3)
Guasp, A. (2013) Gay in Britain: Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual People’s Experiences and Expectations of Discrimination. Data found on YouGov Plc. Published by Stonewall. Accessed 22/04/17 from https://www.stonewall.org.uk/sites/default/files/Gay_in_Britain__2013_.pdf (2-7)
Institute of Race Relations (2017) Ethnicity and Religion Statistics. Accessed 22/04/17 from http://www.irr.org.uk/research/statistics/ethnicity-and-religion/
Miletzki, J. and Wardrop, H. (2015) Political representation in Britain is becoming more diverse; political engagement less so. London School of Economics: London. Accessed 22/04/17 from http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/73566/1/blogs.lse.ac.uk-Political%20representation%20in%20Britain%20is%20becoming%20more%20diverse%20political%20engagement%20less%20so.pdf (1-3)
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Ryrie, I., McDonnell, S., Allman, K., and Pralat, K. (2010) Experiences of and barriers to participation in public and political life for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Report to the Government Equalities Office. Office for Public Management (OPM): London. Accessed 22/04/17 from http://www.equality-ne.co.uk/downloads/736_lgtb-experiences.pdf (1-19)
Shariatmadari, D. (2015) The quiet revolution: why Britain has more gap MPs than anywhere else. Accessed 24/04/17 from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/13/quiet-revolution-britain-more-gay-mps-than-anywhere-else-lgbt
World Bank (2017) Population, total. Accessed 24/04/17 from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL