Smith has rising star status and in a Tony Blair government is likely to be the most powerful openly gay politician of recent years. Homophobes should not think mild- mannered Smith is a pushover.Smith: “I’m quite capable of giving as good as I get.”DAVID STARKEYAuthor, pundit, panelist, personalityFrom Noel Coward to Gilbert Harding to a certain contemporary art critic:Starkey stands in a tradition of bolshie, bitchy, upmarket Tory queens. Still, the historian’s impatience with hypocrisy cuts against the stereotype of his grand duchess manners and Dame Edith Evans voice. Whether shredding sundry pieties on Radio 4’s Moral Maze or chairing Torche, the Tory Campaign for Homosexual Equality (from which he has since resigned), the man known as the rudest in Britain glories in frightening people.
On the gay age of consent, he famously told Jeffrey Archer on Question Time: “Englishmen sit on the fence so much because they enjoy the sensation.” His high visibility and high malice are the stylised expression of gay men’s frustration with an unthinking world.Starkey: “Being gay is quite important in terms of a – how shall I say? – general element of stroppiness, of being pretty sceptical about the appearance of things.”JIMMY SOMERVILLESingerWith Bronski Beat and later the Communards, and with a successful solo career, angry young Somerville made pop political by taking what was often covert in a recording and making it overt (those cover versions of “Don’t Leave Me This Way” and “You Make Me Feel Mighty Real”). He has provided snapshots of his gay generation – “Smalltown Boy” (he’s leaving home), “Tell Me Why” (he’s leaving homophobia). As Somerville’s falsetto once memorably insisted, there’s more to life than boy meets girl.Somerville: “I’ve discovered myself. I’ve also discovered what it’s like to be touched by the grief and anger of Aids, which has taken away several close friends.”ANDREW SULLIVANEditor, authorGay men of most political hues were puzzled by the ecstatic critical reaction won by Sullivan’s essay, “Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality”.
They had been debating the same stuff (bigotry, equality, gay marriage) for decades without attracting media attention. But then Sullivan is unusual: the openly gay editor of a leading US political magazine, The New Republic. His credentials have earned him a hearing in arenas previously deaf to gay concerns; he has a power to persuade as well as plead.PETER TATCHELLWriter, activistSaint or Satan? The Australian-born former Labour candidate for Bermondsey, south London, circa 1983, has many pluses to recommend him. As early as 1972 he fought the classification of homosexuality as a mental illness, his co-ordination of a mass candlelight vigil in London is widely credited with forcing the inclusion of a commitment to opposing anti-HIV discrimination at the 1988 World Aids Summit. But for many these accomplishments are overshadowed by his outing activities with OutRage!, the organisation he helped found, accused by gays and straights alike of doing the tabloids’ job for them.Tatchell: “In fighting for the rights of queers, we are helping to create a more sexually emancipated society which benefits everyone – both gay and straight.”NEIL TENNANTSongwriter, singerTennant only came out last year, an essentially superfluous act after 1992’s indiscreet South Bank Show profile. The Pet Shop Boys’ music – deadpan disco and cocktail ballads – have teasingly proclaimed a definite sexual perspective since the release of “West End Girls” 11 years ago.
