Opinion

Alex Kane: This should be the last election where a gay unionist candidate is worthy of media attention

Alex Kane

Alex Kane

Alex Kane is an Irish News columnist and political commentator and a former director of communications for the Ulster Unionist Party.

DUP local candidate Alison Bennington Picture Mal McCann.
DUP local candidate Alison Bennington Picture Mal McCann. DUP local candidate Alison Bennington Picture Mal McCann.

In normal circumstances a 'gay' candidate shouldn't raise an eyebrow of interest in 2019; it certainly isn't a story that should be on the front pages of local newspapers or taking up an hour of time on the Stephen Nolan show.

And yet Alison Bennington, a candidate for the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, may well be the best known of 900 or so candidates seeking office next Thursday. Not, primarily, because she is gay; but because she is standing for the DUP. Yes, that DUP, a party not previously known for its sympathy for, or understanding of, the gay community.

Does her candidacy - which would have had to be rubber-stamped by the party leadership - suggest that the party is about to take a softer stance on LGBT issues? Or, to put that more bluntly, if the DUP leadership now believes that it is acceptable to nominate a gay for political office, does it follow that they are opening the door to the much broader LGBT community?

Personally, I hope that it does. I couldn't care less about the religious background, gender, race, sexual orientation, profession or social/educational circumstances of any candidate. All that concerns me is their ability to do the job for which they seek election. It doesn't matter to me if a unionist candidate is gay. I couldn't care less. All that matters is that they are pro-Union and capable of making a coherent argument for the Union. How they find and consummate their love is, and always should be, their business.

And as it is for political candidates, so it should be for everyone else.

What has worried me over the years is that sections of unionism sometimes make it very difficult for people - thousands upon thousands of them, I suspect - to support them at the ballot box. How could you support a party which tells you, or certainly conveys the very clear impression, that your sexual orientation is wrong, misguided and immoral? So if Bennington's candidacy is a sign that the DUP is preparing to make itself a comfortable place for those people then I welcome it.

DUP MLA Jim Wells takes a different view. A very different view. He believes that the DUP is betraying its core values. He believes that the late Ian Paisley would be 'aghast'. He believes that a significant section of the party will be appalled and unsettled by this development. He believes that it undermines the DUP's core values of belief in 'traditional' marriage and family life. All of which seems to suggest that Jim doesn't think that a gay person is capable of making exactly the same case for the Union that he makes. Or that I make.

I have been with my partner, Kerri for almost 20 years. Our children were born out of wedlock. I'm an atheist, while Kerri has a much more spiritual outlook. What holds us together is unconditional love for each other. A love that hasn't required a 'traditional' marriage to underpin it. A love that isn't dependent on a 'traditional' family life. My unionism has nothing to do with any of that. It is an entirely separate part of my life. Jim and I were at university around the same time in the mid/late 1970s. While we would differ on many things I don't think he would ever question my commitment to, or passion for the Union. So why should the non-traditional lifestyle of Alison Bennington be a concern for him?

When Jim joined the DUP, back in the 1970s, it was still very much the poorer cousin of the unionist mainstream; more of a protest, fringe group, than anything else. It is now the dominant voice within unionism, attracting votes on a scale that would probably have seemed unimaginable when it was on the losing side of the 1998 referendum. He and I share a desire for the Union to be sustained and for the majority required to do that to be constantly grown. And that means that you don't close the door - or be seen to close the door - to unionists who may not share your definition of 'traditional' lifestyles.

The equality they seek is commonplace south of the border and across the rest of the United Kingdom. In the event of a border poll it may well be the case that unionism needs every vote it can muster. Why would any unionist make those necessary and potential voters feel uncomfortable?

Bennington's candidacy is a small, but significant step. It will raise questions for the DUP leadership, inside and outside the party, particularly if she wins. With any luck it will also mean that this will be the last election in which a 'gay' unionist is worthy of column inches and phone-ins.