David Laws: Tim Farron held prejudiced views – he was right to resign Tim Farron was right to resign this week as Leader of the Liberal Democrats. He has had an immensely difficult […]

Tim Farron was right to resign this week as Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

He has had an immensely difficult job to do over the last 2 years, and has helped rebuild his party’s membership and provide thoughtful opposition in Parliament.

But you cannot be a leader of a liberal party while holding fundamentally illiberal and prejudiced views, which fail to respect our party’s great traditions of promoting equality for all our citizens. Many of us have despaired over the last few weeks in seeing all the good work of Liberal Democrats, such as Lynne Featherstone – who drove through the equal marriage legislation under the coalition – undermined by Tim’s failure to be able to give direct and liberal responses on his own attitudes to homosexuality.

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A Liberal Democrat election campaign which should have appealed to liberal voters of all ages has been undermined by the outdated opinions and views which Tim clearly holds.

Far more importantly, Tim has propagated the dangerous myth that our society can respect and embrace people in same sex relationships, while believing their activities and character to be in some way immoral.

What sort of message of reassurance is that for the bullied gay child in a school in a part of the country that still struggles to recognise and respect homosexuality? “You are doing wrong, but we will tolerate you” isn’t nearly good enough.

Of course, many defenders of Tim will argue that his position on these issues is perfectly liberal, and that it is his critics who are failing to be “liberal”, by not respecting his Christian views. Tim has made this point himself, and clearly implied that he views same sex relationships as wrong, but will as a liberal vote to tolerate people who are in such relationships.

But as a gay man, I do not wish to be “tolerated”. I wish to be respected for who I am. And I want a party leader whose respect for human equality comes before outdated and frankly offensive religious views.

Homophobic attitudes have done enormous damage to our society and to so many millions of citizens over many years. Children are bullied, and some have even taken their lives, and still do. These attitudes are wholly unacceptable to a true liberal – as unacceptable as racism or sexism.

You do not remove homophobia from society by communicating as a political leader that same sex relationships are immoral, but should be “tolerated”.

It is immensely sad to me, as someone brought up in the Christian faith, that Tim cites his Christianity to defend his views on these issues. The Christianity that I know and respect has at its very heart the overriding principle: “love your neighbour as yourself”.

It is astonishing and depressing that otherwise rational and compassionate leaders of our Christian faith can continue to promote their messages of intolerance and prejudice in the 21st century – no wonder organised religion seems so outdated and irrelevant to many people, particularly from the younger generation. These absurd prejudices will, if sustained, turn our churches into places of historic interest only.

Christians, and certainly all true liberals, should stop “tolerating” and “forgiving”.

We must move from the outdated, prejudiced and dangerous attitudes of yesterday to recognise the equality of all citizens, without regard to sex, sexuality, race, creed or colour.

Tolerating irrational prejudice has nothing to do with the liberalism I know and love.

David Laws was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Yeovil from 2001 to 2015