It’s an insult to the LGBT community to give David Cameron the ‘Ally of the Year’ award for introducing same sex marriage

Yesterday, David Cameron was presented with a PinkNews Award for ‘Ally of the Year’. The reason for this accolade? His work on securing ‘equal marriage’. The online response has been less than enthusiastic, with good reason. As has already been highlighted, Cameron’s unswerving devotion to the politics of austerity has led to devastating cuts to LGBT services at a time when the community is least equipped to sustain them. But hey, same-sex couples are able to participate in a socially conservative ritual and attain a level of respectability once considered utterly unimaginable. You win some, you lose some, right?

If there is a touch of sarcasm emanating from these words, it’s because David Cameron’s legacy as some kind of LGBT super-ally simply does not stand up to even the most superficial scrutiny. Despite his appropriation of the introduction of same-sex marriage as a personal triumph, the culmination of what one would presume was years of activism on LGBT rights, contradicts all evidence. A one-time champion of Section 28, Cameron was a latecomer to the equality party, his journey aided substantially by the introduction of Civil Partnerships by the Blair government, as well as the dogged determination of Liberal Democrat Under-Secretary for Equalities, Lynne Featherstone.

One need only look to the Commonwealth for further proof of the shallowness of David Cameron’s words. Notwithstanding his assertion that "It's simply appalling how people can be treated — how their rights are trampled on and the prejudices and even the violence they suffer," homosexuality remains a criminal offence in 36 of the 52 Commonwealth states. Furthermore, a 2015 report by the Human Dignity Trust in association with the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association concluded that the HIV/AIDS crisis was being exacerbated by Commonwealth countries where same-sex relationships continue to be subject to criminalisation. The report established a direct link between draconian legislation and rates of infection, with the damning statistic that the Commonwealth is home to 60 per cent of HIV-positive people worldwide, despite accounting for just 30 per cent of the global population. David Cameron’s missives of disapproval at the rampant discrimination faced by up to 175 million LGBT Commonwealth citizens ring hollow when confronted with the hideous legacy of six years of diplomatic inertia.

Closer to home, the country has inherited a sickeningly toxic bequest from Cameron’s tenure at Number 10 - a society riven with deep-rooted divisions. His premiership has already been defined by June’s EU referendum, the impetus for which was Cameron’s desperation to pacify his right-wing backbenchers while stemming the haemorrhage of Tory voters to UKIP. With bigots the length and breadth of the country emboldened by the result of the vote, homophobic hate crime has since increased by a staggering 147 per cent. That ring on your finger will offer no protection against the insults hurled across a packed bus or the left-hook aimed at your face.

In truth, with soaring numbers of homeless LGBT people, mental health services decimated, access to justice in the workplace curtailed and open hostility at an all-time high, it is an insult to the LGBT community to honour the overseer of this social regression in this manner. It is also symptomatic of the myopia of the mainstream LGBT media, so often dominated by cisgender gay men, many of whom seem unable or unwilling to see beyond their own wedding suit tails. David Cameron is no ally of mine. This award is not in my name.