BY JON ALEXANDER

Poor Tim Farron. When the General Election was announced, he was in the prime position of being able to hoover up disgruntled Labour voters and Remainers, thereby turning around the fortunes of the Liberal Democrats and giving them a strong chance of becoming the UK’s third largest party in Westminster again. Sadly, t’was not to be. Poor Tim has been repeatedly asked about his stance on The Gays, even dodging the question of whether he believes gay sex is a sin.  As amusing as the ripostes on social media regarding this have been, it is rather undermining the gay community.

Tim is what’s termed amongst the “progressives” as a “Straight Ally” – a straight man that believes in gay rights, his commitment to this highlighted by the fact he voted in favour of Gay Marriage a few years ago along with 43 of his Lib-Dem colleagues.  I consider him pro-gay and he seems quite happy to live and let live.

Tim is a religious man which no doubt brings him at odds with many aspects of modern life but I’m going to stick my neck out and say that he has some admirable qualities. He seems to value human beings and their rights rather than getting caught up in the endless labels the Left inflicts on us.

Does it matter if Farron believes gay sex to be a sin? Must his thoughts be controlled as well?  I do wonder what those pursuing him are hoping to achieve. Are they hoping he’ll come out as gay or bisexual?  If he does announce he doesn’t find gay sex a sin will he be then rounded on by the same people accusing him of lying?

Poor Tim doesn’t stand a chance now.  This relentless desire to control citizens’ thoughts and feelings has now gotten out of control. Indeed, it’s now transphobic for a straight man to not be attracted to a male who identifies as female.  Let’s face facts: we all have our likes and dislikes, I don’t blame Tim Farron if he does find gay sex a sin. I’m not fond of the thought of straight sex to be honest, if I found it in any way appealing I’d probably be bisexual or straight.

This witch hunt has got to stop.

Once again as a community we (the gays) have misread signs of apathy or nonchalance as a sign of hostility instead of tolerance.  We can’t force people to think differently, only to try to convince them to think about us otherwise politely and this takes time.  My worry is that we’re attacking Farron now after he’s taken a a big step in standing against his religious beliefs in the past when he treated us as a community of human beings – and this is wrong.  What message does that send to others? We’re damaging our own cause here, we run the risk of others backing away from the subject or, worse, ignoring it all together for fear of the same onslaught that Farron received.

Tim Farron should receive credit for what his positive actions regarding the gay community so far. Those who have hounded him recently about his thoughts on gay sex should really question if they are the right people to be getting on his back. Maybe they should sit this one out until their outrage has passed and they’ve realised that more important things are happening in the world.

As much as I disagree with Tim Farron on so many things I find myself having a new-found respect for him. It is possible for someone to be tolerant of others without agreeing with them 100%; without your personal feelings being scrutinised and dragged out in public.  I’m pretty sure his constituents didn’t vote for him based on his stance on anal sex or popper use. He must have some redeeming qualities to keep winning in his constituency.

One final quibble – do we really want to know more about politicians’ thoughts on sex? I mean was not John Prescott bending his secretary over his desk or the mental image of John Major ploughing Edwina Currie enough for you people?

Tolerance, it’s a wonderful thing.