Less Racism, More Homophobia

The Rev George Hargreaves leader of the Christian Party has a problem. He desperately wants to distinguish and distance his party from the BNP.

“Now is the time for the Church to practically show that the racist attitudes of the BNP have no place in the Church. We are making this election virtually a one-issue campaign: to distance the Church and all right minded people from the tactics, beliefs and attitudes of a party which seeks to further disintegrate Britain and damage community relations”

For Hargreaves, the BNP poses two tactical problems. Firstly, he believes that the BNP has benefited from  endorsement from the Church of England but he wants that spiritual respectability conferred to his extremist views. Secondly and more obviously, the BNP is an overtly racist party of white supremacists and for Hargreaves, who is black, this is problematic.

Hargreaves is mindful of the fact that his London constituents are largely black pentecostal church-goers which is arguably why he has played on their fears about the racist policies of the BNP. What he doesn’t mention is that the Christian Party is a bunch of homophobic Bible-thumping moralists.

Because if race is the “one-issue campaign” for the BNP, for the Christian Party and Hargreaves, it is homosexuality.

More queer-bashing please, we're British

Back in the 1980s Hargreaves made millions from writing and producing the gay anthems ‘So Macho’ and ‘Cruising’ as well as a host of other Hi-NRG crap. Today Hargreaves still earns thousands of pounds each month in royalties from “So Macho”.

This is back to old-school homophobia and very British moral hypocricy. The Archbishop of Canterbury has made it a point to publicly condemn the BNP “and other extremists”. But no mention of the Christian Party whom many of his congregation will vote for on the strength of their name, in spite of the extremist views of Rev Hargreaves.