LGB Alliance, which claims to stand for gay rights, argues it isn’t homophobic to oppose same-sex marriage in deleted tweet
LGB Alliance logo.
The LGB Alliance, which claims to stand for lesbian, gay and bisexual rights, has come under fire over a tweet suggesting that it is not homophobic to oppose marriage equality.
The anti-trans pressure group performed a swift volte-face after making the claim in a since-deleted tweet, sent Thursday (June 18), which read: “To those people saying it is ‘homophobic’ not to be in favour of gay marriage have a look at the statistics. It seems it’s rather a small minority who have made their wedding vows.”
It also included the hashtags #CanWeDropItNowPlease, #NotABigDeal and #PluralityOfViewsIsAllowed.
The evidence used to back up this argument was an image of a graph from the Office for National Statistics showing that lesbian, gay and bisexual people are more likely to be single than married.
This is hardly surprising, considering that marriage has only been available to same-sex couples since 2014 in England, Wales and Scotland, and since February 2020 in Northern Ireland.
As the ONS explained when it released the graph used by the LGB Alliance: “More than two-thirds of the LGB population are single (never married or entered into a civil partnership). This reflects the younger age structure of this population, the changing attitudes of the general population to marriage and the fact that legal unions have only recently been available for same-sex couples.”
Anti-trans group claims same-sex marriage support ‘isn’t universal among LGB activists’.
After a swift backlash, the LGB Alliance deleted its tweet and explained: “That same-sex marriage tweet was very badly formulated!
“The introduction of same-sex marriage was a great breakthrough for gay people. But support for it wasn’t universal among LGB activists: many saw it as a sellout – joining the establishment. A minority still view it that way.”
The group faced significant criticism from members of the LGBT+ community over the comments.
LGB Alliance arguing the case that it’s not homophobic to oppose gay marriage. Odd position to take for a supposed ‘LGB rights’ org.
Scottish National Party MP Mhairi Black tweeted: “It is absolutely homophobic to oppose LGBT+ people having the same legal rights as straight people.”
Journalist Owen Jones wrote: “The anti-trans ‘LGB Alliance’ is now defending opponents of equal marriage from accusations of homophobia. Amazing.”
Actor David Paisley tweeted: “LGB Alliance arguing the case that it’s not homophobic to oppose gay marriage. Odd position to take for a supposed ‘LGB rights’ org.”
“Can’t have anything to do with their high profile supporter Baroness Nicholson, can it?” he asked, referring to Nicholson’s recent comments in opposition to same-sex marriage.”
Other LGBT+ activists were quick to criticise the group for its comments on equal marriage.
https://twitter.com/SpillerOfTea/status/1273664220521955328
The transphobic hate group LGB Alliance stating that it "isn't homophobic to be against same sex marriage" just further proves they are nothing but a trojan horse that actually aims to harm the entire queer community
Every single LGBTQ person needs to resist them. #Pride
— Jack D 🏳️🌈 (@JackDunc1) June 18, 2020
https://twitter.com/KatyMontgomerie/status/1273659919938523137
The LGB Alliance, homophobia and biphobia.
The LGB Alliance has faced strident criticism from the queer community since it was launched in October 2019.
It primary focus appears to be opposing the advancement of transgender rights. It has paid for newspaper adverts arguing against reforms to Gender Recognition Act reforms, a topic it devotes much of its Twitter usage to.
While the alliance purports to stand for the advancement of LGB people, critics have labelled the group’s views as homophobic.
One of the groups co-founders, Malcolm Clark, said in January 2020 that there shouldn’t be LGBT+ clubs in schools because of “predatory gay teachers“. Colin Macfarlane, the director of LGBT+ rights group Stonewall Scotland, said Clark’s comments were “the worst sort of homophobic rhetoric”.
The group has also expressed concerns about children being exposed to drag queens, who it says are “highly sexualised and only appropriate for adults”.
This view was described as “painfully homophobic” by gay author Dr Senthorun Raj.
The idea that drag queens are a threat to children is as painfully homophobic as it is unoriginal. The LGB Alliance should spend less time moralising about gay culture and more time, you know, seeing a therapist about their internalised homophobia. That, or find a bin to stay in. pic.twitter.com/mP2mqXsO7B— Senthorun Raj (@senthorun) December 9, 2019
The group has also been accused of ignoring the bisexual community and of failing to distance itself from biphobic supporters.
A Change.org petition created and back by a group of long-time advocates for the bisexual community asked the group to remove the ‘B’ from its branding.
It said that “high profile supporters”of the group “have made public statements of biphobia”.
“LGB Alliance have chosen not to distance themselves from these sentiments,” the group added.
“[The group] are cynically leveraging the bi community to further their agenda. We do not believe that LGB Alliance intend to genuinely include bisexual people in their mission.”
Earlier this year, PinkNews revealed that the LGB Alliance counts neo-Nazis and homophobes among its supporters. There is nothing to suggest the LGB Alliance has sought or welcomed such supporters, but when asked by PinkNews to denounce neo-Nazis, the LGB Alliance refused.
The group has also applied for charitable status, but more than 30,000 people signed a petition calling on the Charity Commission to deny their requests.
In April, the LGB Alliance had two fundraising pages permanently removed following weeks of targeted harassment and abuse from its supporters against gay SNP MP John Nicolson.
PinkNews has contacted the LGB Alliance for comment.
