By Casey Byrne and Edited by Tom Guyton-Day
Credit: Rodolfo Barreto
Ever since they abruptly came onto the scene, the Orthodox Conservatives have preached of tradition and preserving tradition. Many people who are of the same ideology are more than happy to tell Conservatives like me that we don’t belong in the party. The number one question is ‘What do you want to conserve?’ They do not realise how poorly they have formed this argument. When talking about conserving, it means to protect and preserve something. Yet, I argue that this group and many of the same ideology do not wish to do that. They talk about tradition, as if it is some kind of amazing thing, the golden times, if you will.
The tradition they talk about was a time when women were still treated, on the whole, as lesser than men; a time when minorities were racially abused and discriminated against, a time when homosexuality was illegal, and the LGBTQ+ community also faced discrimination institutionally. They preach of tradition and how wonderful it is - yet, for so many traditions represent something which is hurtful, damaging, and deeply traumatic for those old enough to have gone through it.
The tradition they talk about was a time when women were still treated, on the whole, as lesser than men; a time when minorities were racially abused and discriminated against, a time when homosexuality was illegal, and the LGBTQ+ community also faced discrimination institutionally. They preach of tradition and how wonderful it is - yet, for so many traditions represent something which is hurtful, damaging, and deeply traumatic for those old enough to have gone through it.
Credit: Ashwini Chaudhary
They may argue that they mean tradition as in things such as the nuclear family or marriage, but these things are deeply hurtful and damaging to LGBTQ+ people, single mothers, and those that do not fit their “perfect society image”. They would attack me for listing what I have above, yet they cannot give me an example of when the ‘tradition’ they refer to existed and where LGBTQ+ people, women, and minorities alike did not face discrimination. That is because it doesn’t exist. The tradition only existed when these things did too and therefore, they are unable to provide an example of when it does actually work in a positive way. Any example they could give will always include these things.
Whilst I think that excluding LGBTQ+ people from marriage and from having families is wrong, they are free to preach these things however hurtful they may be, but they must do so honestly. They say they are not homophobic, yet they don’t believe LGBTQ+ people should have the same right to marriage and family. They say they are not homophobic, yet their President tweets that ‘children need heteronormative parents.’ [1] They are opposed to self ID for trans people, despite the fact that many trans people suffer from mental health issues or are more at risk from suicide, and self ID would help them massively. [3] They say that they are not racist or Islamophobic yet their founder tweets “It’s miraculous how in countries where there are hardly any Muslim Arabs, spontaneous church combustion doesn’t seem to be a problem.” [2]. They called the Northern Ireland abortion legislation radical and a moral decline, despite all it is doing is bringing Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK. [4] Their founder also implied that religion means that religious people are less likely, and atheists are more likely, to commit suicide. [5] Their opposition to no fault divorces, which would assist in helping women who are trapped in loveless and/or abusive marriages. [6]
These things do not sound like tradition to me, if anything they sound like a completely new landscape in the 21st century. But to take the argument. ‘What do you want to conserve?’ and apply it here, what do they want to conserve?
Scrapping marriage equality isn’t conserving.
Scrapping the right of LGBTQ+ people to adopt isn’t conserving.
Scrapping the right of women to choose and to have an abortion isn’t conserving.
Reverting back to the nuclear family isn’t conserving.
What do they actually want to conserve? I cannot see anything they have wishes to conserve, but rather that they have wished to regress. The conserving argument they, and others like them, use against Tories like me, immediately comes back to bite them. Because rather than conserving they would happily change much.
The argument that they are in favour of tradition and that they are not anti LGBTQ+ people, immediately falls apart when you realise there is no time when tradition existed that women, LGBTQ+ people, and other minorities weren’t abused, treated lesser than or criminalised to varying degrees.
Orthodox? Perhaps unorthodox is a more applicable term here.
Whilst I think that excluding LGBTQ+ people from marriage and from having families is wrong, they are free to preach these things however hurtful they may be, but they must do so honestly. They say they are not homophobic, yet they don’t believe LGBTQ+ people should have the same right to marriage and family. They say they are not homophobic, yet their President tweets that ‘children need heteronormative parents.’ [1] They are opposed to self ID for trans people, despite the fact that many trans people suffer from mental health issues or are more at risk from suicide, and self ID would help them massively. [3] They say that they are not racist or Islamophobic yet their founder tweets “It’s miraculous how in countries where there are hardly any Muslim Arabs, spontaneous church combustion doesn’t seem to be a problem.” [2]. They called the Northern Ireland abortion legislation radical and a moral decline, despite all it is doing is bringing Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK. [4] Their founder also implied that religion means that religious people are less likely, and atheists are more likely, to commit suicide. [5] Their opposition to no fault divorces, which would assist in helping women who are trapped in loveless and/or abusive marriages. [6]
These things do not sound like tradition to me, if anything they sound like a completely new landscape in the 21st century. But to take the argument. ‘What do you want to conserve?’ and apply it here, what do they want to conserve?
Scrapping marriage equality isn’t conserving.
Scrapping the right of LGBTQ+ people to adopt isn’t conserving.
Scrapping the right of women to choose and to have an abortion isn’t conserving.
Reverting back to the nuclear family isn’t conserving.
What do they actually want to conserve? I cannot see anything they have wishes to conserve, but rather that they have wished to regress. The conserving argument they, and others like them, use against Tories like me, immediately comes back to bite them. Because rather than conserving they would happily change much.
The argument that they are in favour of tradition and that they are not anti LGBTQ+ people, immediately falls apart when you realise there is no time when tradition existed that women, LGBTQ+ people, and other minorities weren’t abused, treated lesser than or criminalised to varying degrees.
Orthodox? Perhaps unorthodox is a more applicable term here.
[1] Dominqures heteronoative tweet
https://twitter.com/dominiquetaegon/status/1273382014381633542?s=20
https://twitter.com/JackHadders/status/1273376629499314178?s=20
[2] Islamophobic tweet from Tom
https://twitter.com/tomcolsy99_/status/1284437452489461763
[3] Selfi ID
https://twitter.com/orthodoxconsgrp/status/1272460188243689473?s=21
https://twitter.com/orthodoxconsgrp/status/1253646959098892288?s=21
[4] Abortion extreme NI tweet
https://twitter.com/orthodoxconsgrp/status/1273536173336559617?s=21
https://twitter.com/orthodoxconsgrp/status/1263040516356259840?s=21
[5] insert link to tom’s thread on religion and suicide
https://twitter.com/tomcolsy99_/status/1247855048551432193?s=21
[6] no fault divorces tweet
https://www.orthodoxconservatives.uk/articles/the-no-fault-divorce-legislation-is-contrary-to-the-nature-of-marriage-sam-george
https://twitter.com/dominiquetaegon/status/1273382014381633542?s=20
https://twitter.com/JackHadders/status/1273376629499314178?s=20
[2] Islamophobic tweet from Tom
https://twitter.com/tomcolsy99_/status/1284437452489461763
[3] Selfi ID
https://twitter.com/orthodoxconsgrp/status/1272460188243689473?s=21
https://twitter.com/orthodoxconsgrp/status/1253646959098892288?s=21
[4] Abortion extreme NI tweet
https://twitter.com/orthodoxconsgrp/status/1273536173336559617?s=21
https://twitter.com/orthodoxconsgrp/status/1263040516356259840?s=21
[5] insert link to tom’s thread on religion and suicide
https://twitter.com/tomcolsy99_/status/1247855048551432193?s=21
[6] no fault divorces tweet
https://www.orthodoxconservatives.uk/articles/the-no-fault-divorce-legislation-is-contrary-to-the-nature-of-marriage-sam-george
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