Gay councillor loses seat after alleged homophobic campaign by Labour

By Benjamin Cohen • May 5, 2006 - 0:00

Charles Anglin received just 676 votes

3 Comments on Gay councillor loses seat after alleged homophobic campaign by Labour

The gay Liberal Democrat councillor who was the victim of an alleged homophobic campaign by the Labour party has lost his seat in Lambeth, south London.

Lambeth Labour posted an article written by the South London Press on their website last month which claimed gay Liberal Democrat councillor Charles Anglin was posting naked pictures of himself on the internet.

The front page story of an edition of the South London Press last month claimed the openly gay councillor posted nude images and recounted sexual wrestling fantasies on the Gaydar internet site. Extracts from the article were then used on the Labour Group's website.

Mr Anglin received just 676 votes in the elections held yesterday, Loma Campbell the Labour candidate in the ward received 1586 votes from electors in the Princes Ward.

Earlier this week, Mr Anglin told PinkNews.co.uk: "Any mainstream party seeking to profit from that kind of attitude is despicable.

"The article is sneeringly homophobic and deeply hypocritical. It is a disgrace that any mainstream political party would seek to create the kind of atmosphere and attitude that bigots have always used to justify their homophobia.

Lambeth Labour leader Steve Reed told PinkNews.co.uk there is no question of their article being homophobic, he said: "We took out everything relating to sexuality and didn't mention the website it was on.

"The article just questioned the wisdom of councillor posting naked pictures of himself on a website."

"We refute implications that this is homophobic, there are a number of openly gay Labour councillors and candidates in Lambeth and we do a lot of work for LGBT rights.

He said the article was taken down after claims by Mr Anglin that they were being homophobic.

PinkNews.co.uk will be updating throughout the day as results for other key gay candidates are announced.

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