Stonewall: Go and vote tomorrow to keep homophobes out

As the homophobic British National Party (BNP) look set to gain a seat in the European Parliament, Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill calls on gay voters to go to the polls.

It’s been a tough month for politics. From moats to mortgages, dog food to duck islands, the credibility of the democratic process in Britain has been hit hard.

But at Stonewall we know that politics matters. So many of the advances we’ve seen in lesbian and gay equality in this country have come from Parliamentarians we’ve convinced of our case and who’ve voted to change the law.

So our message this month is simple. Please, please vote in tomorrow’s elections – the local elections if you have them, the European elections wherever you are.

There are real differences in the approach of the parties to equality – and a real danger that candidates standing on an extreme explicitly homophobic platform will be elected. The voting system means that every vote for a non-homophobic candidate makes it harder for them.

Please make sure that yours is one of those votes.