Gay men are Liberal and lesbians are Conservative is the obvious conclusion emanating from a couple of reports yesterday.
National Post correspondent James Cowan reported Sept 10 on research conducted at Wilfred Laurier University into gay and lesbian voting patterns. It’s no surprise that gay men and women are united in their opposition to the Conservative government and voted for other parties in vast majorities in the last election. It’s reassuring that gay men and women also prefer the Liberal Party to the NDP, although the margin is small.
What is interesting is where they cast their votes and how gay men and lesbians differ. It seems that 40% of gay men prefer the Liberals compared to 41% of gay women who prefer the NDP. That is troubling news for the advancement of LGBT interests because NDP votes usually are votes to elect a Conservative candidate.
John Barber writes (The Globe and Mail, Sept 10)that the NDP Serves only to give victories to Tories. I can’t recall, aside from the most blatant partisan pamphlet, ever seeing it put so clearly. The NDP, and to some extent the Green Party, are the Conservatives most important allies in Canadian electoral politics, just as the Reform Party was Jean Chretien’s secret weapon during his extended tenure. NDP supporters love to wax eloquently about building for some far-off future victory but, in fact, they are narcissists taking responsibility for nothing save their own egos and utterly devoid of political acumen. What a different position we would be in today if those 20 seats in “progressive” Ontario ridings, and more in similar riding across Canada, had been won by Paul Martin in 2006! Stephen Harper would be a footnote in history books.
Barber notes that the founding premise of the NDP was that the Liberal Party would wither and die, yet after 40 years the NDP remains stalled at a level of support that makes a serious challenge to the leading parties impossible. The uneasy of alliance of conservative trade unionists, wistful environmentalists, trendy academics and United Church do-gooders does not make for a strong coalition or meaningful national credentials. It was inevitable that Jack Layton would be, however briefly, Stephen Harper’s tag-team buddy in trying to keep the Green Party out of the upcoming leaders’ debate. They need each other. If the Liberals return to power, Jack will be checking out which courses are open for him to teach at Ryerson U and Steve will be grading undergrad papers at U of Calgary.
The challenge for a gay man, then, is to convince more gay women to come over to the only party that can hope to re-establish progressive government in Canada. That, and to convince a good share of their heterosexual friends and neighbours that Stéphane Dion’s progressive option is the best choice in this election.
The full WLU full report can be read here .
