The Conservative Party in Norway wants to become
the GBLT-Party
Versión
en Español
“Gays
should vote for the Conservative Party [Høyre, which means
“the Rightist” in Norwegian]“ says chairman of the city Council
of Oslo Erling Lae to the Norwegian Newspaper Dagsavisen, [which
traditionally has had close relationship with the Social Democratic
Party]. The Party is running an aggressive campaign to win more gay
voters and several prominent politicians in the conservative party are
openly gay.
During
the last campaign for the local elections in the province [fylke] of
Oslo, the Conservative Party was actively aimed at attracting voters
with immigrant background, and this year, the GBLT-population is the
main target. The party has published a folder and is maintaining a
web-page targeting the GBLT-population. On this page; www.oslo.hoyre.no/skeiv,
the party outlines its politics towards the GBLT-community and
presents some of its openly gay delegates.
Queer Web Page
The
web page was inaugurated during the Queer Days [the annual pride
festival in Oslo: Skeive Dager], tells city council member
Helge l’Orange, who maintains and updates the page together with
chairman Erling Lae and a couple of other delegates from the City
Council. – If we had not thought this would bring results, we
would not have done it. We hope to reach the GBLT-population and also
that most voters within the target group will vote for the
Conservatives, says l’Orange. The Queer web page is only one
element in the conservative targeting of the GBLT-population. The
party had its own stand during the Queer Days in Oslo and distributed
folders to the participants. The Conservative Party was the only one
with a permanent presence during the entire festival. Chairman of the
City Council, Erling Lae walked in the first row in the pride parade
this summer, and he has donated funds to the campaign aiming at making
Oslo selected as host for Europride 2006. The Conservatives campaigned
in favour of stepchild adoption for GBLT-couples already in 1988.
Today they advocate that Gays and Lesbians should be granted the same
right to adopt children as heterosexuals. Yet, information is perhaps
the most important issue. Arguing that the “coming out-phase” is
the most difficult phase, l’Orange emphasizes that information in
schools is very important, just as it is to create positive
model-figures for GBLT-children. He says that the Conservatives in
particular have emphasized information work targeting GBLT-individuals
from ethnic and cultural minorities.
The
Chairman of the Oslo City Council underlines that other things than
money transfer from the authorities can contribute to strengthen the
GBLT-cause. He says that openness and honesty [on behalf of the
authorities] are more important than just funds [to GBLT-organisations
and institutions]. GBLT-individuals in high positions stimulate
tolerance and respect and may be of help for others. Norwegian
Minister of Finance, Per-Kristian Foss was the focus of international
attention last year, when he, as the first member of the government,
registered his partnership. Two further Members of Parliament from the
Conservative party are also openly gay; André Dahl and Bent Høie. In
the City Council of Oslo, 4 of 19 representatives from the
Conservative Party are openly gay. L’Orange says, it is easier to be
GBLT in the Conservative party than in other parties. “I believe it
has to do with the Conservatives’ emphasis on the individual’s
right to make its own choices, as opposed to the focus on
equality-thinking in the leftist parties”.
Invisible Discrimination
Lae
does not want to attack other parties’ policies regarding
GBLT-individuals. However, he points to the fact that GBLT-individuals
more easily achieve high offices in the Conservative Party. Regarding
the actual political contents, the differences are not that huge
between the different parties, he says. However, one might ask why so
few openly GBLT-individuals are elected for high offices in other
parties. Lae says; “Perhaps there is invisible discrimination”?
Then he adds that when it comes to the actual attitudes towards
GBLT-voters, there are probably not that important differences between
the different parties. Yet, the Conservatives do have most
GBLT-politicians in high positions.
Statement
from the official web-page of the Conservative Party:
The
Conservative Party has confidence in you and your choices. We
respect the right of the individual to live on its own terms. The
Conservative Party does not want to force any form of life or
life-style on anyone. You have the right to live your own life the
way you, yourself desire. We also know that human beings are
different, and it is diversity and plurality that creates a society.
The
Conservative Party is an open party, creating understanding and
tolerance. The Conservative Party is the party today with the most
openly Gay and Lesbian members. On several occasions, the
Conservatives have addressed issues concerning GBLT-individuals,
tolerance and living conditions, in Parliament, in the city council
as well as in the provincial government.
[”Høyre
har tillitt til deg og dine valg. Vi respekterer individets rett til
å leve på egne premisser. Høyre vil ikke tvinge livsform eller
levesett på noen. Du har rett til å leve ditt liv som du selv ønsker.
Vi vet også at mennesker er forskjellige, og at mangfoldet er det
som skaper et samfunn.
Høyre
er et åpent parti som skaper forståelse og toleranse. Høyre er i
dag det partiet med flest åpne homofile. Flere ganger har Høyres
representanter tatt opp spørsmål om homofili, toleranse og levekår,
både som stortingsrepresentanter, i bystyret og i fylkesting. ”]
Sources:
Høyre
vil bli homopartiet
30. 07. 2003: - Homofile bør stemme Høyre, sier Oslos
byrådsleder Erling Lae. Partiet
satser nå knallhardt på å få flere homofile velgere, og en rekke
sentrale Høyre-politikere er åpent homofile, by ANNE KARIN SÆTHER,
Dagsavisen
http://www.dagsavisen.no/innenriks/2003/07/744033.shtml
http://oslo.hoyre.no/skeiv/
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pero no es obligatorio. Muchas Gracias.
Atte.
Tu
Los
Martes de Enkidu
28.01.2003: 
Febrero 2007
