Interviewing George Galloway back in 2010 for one of his many political comeback attempts – at that time it was the Scottish parliament – I took a few lyrical liberties on a theme of Gloria Gaynor.
“And now he’s back! From outer space! He just walked in with that same look upon his face! We should have changed that stoopid lock… should have made him leave his key…”
Since then, George has proved himself the ultimate boomerang: always returning. Here he is, back again, two months into his new role as MP for Rochdale, making public statements that leave his audience deeply, and familiarly, divided.
According to George, who never allows an utterance to lack conflict or drama, children should not be taught that homosexuality is “normal” or “equal” to heterosexuality. This stance seems a little censorious for a man who once self-identified as feline.
“And would you like me… to be… the cat?” He purred seductively on Celebrity Big Brother. If you weren’t there, it was all about the dramatic pauses, and the tone that suggested he was offering to lick whipped cream from actress Rula Lenska’s face, the memory of which still has the ability to create a kind of toe-curling horror in those who did witness it.
Galloway has had some controversial views in his time – not least his connections to Iraq and Saddam Hussein – but what’s he playing at? Has he spent recent years in Doctor Who’s Tardis and come back in another century?
This year is the 10th anniversary of legislation giving gay couples the right to marry in Scotland, so his comments – which he hung up the phone to radio station LBC rather than defend – are retro to say the least. Though it’s right up there with modern-day Iraq, where a bill passed last month making same-sex relations punishable with 15 years imprisonment.
A minority is not an abnormality
Galloway declared that he wanted his children “to be taught that there are gay people in the world and that they must be treated with respect and affection, as I treat my own gay friends and colleagues with respect and affection.” (Are we talking pets again here? Is he offering to comb their coats?) “But,” he continued, “I don’t want my children to be taught that these things are equal because I don’t believe them to be equal.”
What else? That “the normal thing in Britain and society across the world is a mother, a father and a family.” Wow. “Normal” is a very tricky word here.
George Galloway is not a man who uses words lightly. Indeed, he can make something innocuous like: “Would you like a custard cream?” sound like a Churchillian invocation to fight the enemy on the beaches. (Who else can unfalteringly use terms like “indefatigability” and “popinjay” with such a declaratory ring?)
Around 1.7% of the UK population describe themselves as gay: a total of over one million people on these islands alone. That is a minority
So, no, “abnormal” is not a concept he has any excuse for misusing. It means – according to the thesaurus – aberrant, bizarre, unexpected, uncommon. How can relationships protected by law be rare enough to be aberrant and unexpected?
Around 1.7% of the UK population describe themselves as gay: a total of over one million people on these islands alone. That is a minority. It is not an abnormality. The two words are not interchangeable.
If you are a Chinese or Indian-born adult living in Scotland, your birthplace is in a minority compared to Scots-born adults. If you prefer cricket to football, you are in a minority of Scottish sport lovers. If you are a vegetarian, you are in a minority compared to meat-eaters. But in none of those cases does your minority status make you “abnormal” and, unsurprisingly, it would be considered offensive to suggest otherwise.
Get your priorities sorted, George
Galloway presents his argument as a protection of children, a line also promulgated by Sydney council in Australia, where councillors voted this month to “rid” eight council-run libraries of books about families with same-sex parents. How can it be good for children to airbrush the reality of the world – to teach them that some people are so unacceptable that we are just going to pretend they don’t exist?
According to one councillor, parents are “distraught” that this material is on library shelves. Distraught? Be distraught about children dying in war zones. Be distraught about their continued sexual abuse and exploitation.
But distraught about portraying the reality of children lovingly brought up by two mums or two dads? I’d say get your priorities sorted.
George Galloway might not like a person’s lifestyle. He might not share their needs or desires or values. But you need a robust ego to translate that into those who are different from you being abnormal and unequal.
Galloway, according to the website of the Workers Party of Britain, “trembles with indignation at any injustice anywhere.” That really is a very George phrase, but not one that sits easily with declaring gay people worthy of “affection” in lieu of equality.
“There’s only one George Galloway,” declares the party website proudly – a sentiment with which I think we can all happily concur.
Catherine Deveney is an award-winning investigative journalist, novelist and television presenter
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