Jeremy Corbyn helped save a gay community centre from fascists
Jeremy Corbyn has revealed how he helped to save a gay community centre from attack by fascists.
He shared the story during an LGBT History Month event in his office as Leader of the Opposition.
The labour leader revealed that angry fascists had tried to “assault people” in a bid to close the gay venue, which was in the area he represented.
Corbyn, who was first elected as a north London councillor in 1974, said: “Sometimes you can find support in the most surprising places.”
He recalled a battle between himself and the local council over a proposed redevelopment of properties in the area.
He said: “There was one building that had a big sign outside saying ‘North London Gay Centre’.
“And it was a centre where gay people met, some lived there and stayed there, and it was fine.
“They were very nice, they were very friendly to everybody.
“Then the National Front heard about it.”
The National Front was a far-right political group in the UK, at its most prolific during the 1970s and ’80s.
“They tried to barricade it,” the Labour leader said, “tried to assault people, and all of the rest of it.
“And so we asked the community, ‘have you got a problem with the gay centre?’
“We had a community demonstration – including lots of people who left the pub for the evening, a big hardship – and defend the gay centre against the fascists.
“The gay centre carried on, the fascists disappeared!” he finished.
The Labour leader has been a long-standing supporter of LGBT rights.
At the PinkNews awards he praised Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron for the passage of same-sex marriage, commenting: “But I say this about him – without any ambiguity – without his tenacity, without his commitment, without his persistence and without a few hundred Labour MPs, equal marriage would not be law in this country today.
“He should rightly be proud of what he achieved because without him leading the way there are people in this room tonight who would not have the same status as heterosexual couples.”.
Watch the full video from the PinkNews Facebook page below:
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn launches UK LGBT History Month
Posted by PinkNews on Wednesday, February 1, 2017
