‘Being openly gay and winning against the odds was a big thing’

A former Lib Dem MP has revealed that he faced homophobia when he first ran unsuccessfully for the Bristol West seat in 2001.

Stephen Williams represented the constituency for a decade until 2015. In that time, the ex-Avon county councillor was parliamentary under secretary of state for communities and local government during the Tory and Lib Dem coalition.

“It wasn’t until 1997 when a politician’s sexuality became something we became widely aware of,” Williams told Bristol24/7.

“Being an openly gay man and winning against the odds in 2005 was a big thing. In the vast majority of the country, it’s not really an issue for gay people to stand for election nowadays. The first trans MP will be a big step forward.”

Trans rights is “a minefield of competing rights,” Williams said, adding that while he was an MP he was proud to support changes to passport laws so that intersex people could be recognised on documentation.

He also recalled a Daily Express article that described him as a “loony lefty liberal” for advocating changes to the 2011 census to include asking participants their sexuality and gender identity.

“It doesn’t matter how small these groups are,” the Welsh-born 52-year-old said. “The state operates on the basis of its customers and if the default position is that its customers are white, for example, your policies will be deficient. Knowing more about your population is essential.”

Williams is taking part for the first time in LGBT History Month, talking about his experiences as an openly gay MP at an event at the M Shed on February 16, and said that he is looking forward to contributing because he has “got a lot to say in a personal and political sense”.

When his fellow MPs voted for gay marriage, there were some “that maybe five years before would have opposed it”, Williams recalled.

Party grandee Shirley Williams, however, still spoke in the House of Lords in vehement opposition to what would eventually become the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.

“So much has changed in the time I’ve been an active politician,” Williams said. “Some of my colleagues in the party did not vote the right way on gay rights and when I entered parliament I made a point of talking to them and changing their minds.”

Talking to any Lib Dem, especially one who lost their seat in 2015, it is hard to avoid asking them their opinions on the coalition.

So, with the Conservatives back in power with a confidence and supply agreement with the DUP, does Williams envy the influence the ten Northern Ireland MPs have over the Tories?

“The coalition – and I know a lot of people didn’t like it – was more effective,” he answered. “The DUP have gotten money for Northern Ireland and opposed government policy, but they’ve not been as effective as the Liberal Democrats were.

“Maybe we should have been more like the DUP. Been a pistol against the head of the Tories. But now we’ve learned that lesson, we’re not in a place to do anything.”

Stephen Williams will be in conversation with Bristol24/7 LGBT Editor James Higgins at the M Shed at 3.30pm on Saturday, February 16 as part of LGBT History Month. For more information, visit www.outstoriesbristol.org.uk/category/events-upcoming

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