Gays are no better than dogs says Tory in 1999
1999
Mike described a conflict with a Conservative Councillor for Harborne who, in response to an issue over some public funding, complained in a Birmingham City Council meeting that "gay people were no better than dogs". He received unsympathetic coverage by the Evening Mail and Mike (as Publicity Officer for Switchboard) was called in by the local media to make a response. What he found positive was that he was able to make a response (for Heart and Galaxy radio stations) and to point out that gay people were human beings and rate payers and "whether this man liked it or not, in a big city there were going to be several thousand gay men and women living in the city whose needs need to be met." He felt that there was no point in confronting the Councillor about his views but asked whether the radio station was going to get the Councillor in to explain his views, to which the response was "You must be joking. We're not having him in this studio" which was a very positive response.
Contributed by: Mike