Photo by Jeff Swensen/The New York Times
The number of gay men and lesbians serving in a public capacity has increased considerably in recent years. There are now lesbian and gay cabinet ministers and even government leaders as well as town hall mayors. In America alone, of the estimated 500,000 elected officials in the United States, 495 are openly gay, up from 49 about 20 years ago, according to the Victory Fund. That is still less than 1%. Source
In 2007 Brian Coleman wrote in The New Statesman about some of the gay men who had held public office in Britain over the years.
Gay men and lesbians standing for public office, including running a gay group or a campaigning group, being a school governor, parish councillor, magistrate or any other activity in society, want to show themselves in their best light.
Standing for public office is a responsible thing to do as a member of society, but you need to be aware that it always involves some degree of loss of privacy in your private life, and be prepared for that. That is the price of being a public figure.
It is worth familiarising yourself with the summary of the Nolan Committee’s First Report on Standards in Public Life. This report was issued in 1995 and has a wealth of advice for people taking on public duties.
The Nolan Committee identified seven areas of behaviour which were critical and in which the highest standards of professional and personal behaviour should be displayed by all holders of public office. In many cases a departure from these standards, especially in the holding of a councillor role, could result in you being reported for your conduct, and investigated by the council’s standards committee.
The Nolan Committee listed the seven principles of public life as being:
Selflessness,
Integrity,
Objectivity,
Accountability,
Openness,
Honesty,
Leadership.
There is also some good material of an international nature at Transparency international.
In particular, because this catches out gay men time and again: never, ever, give strangers your own money or your bank details.
If you want to have a public as well as a private life, it is also good practice to avoid uploading any explicit information or photographs of yourself on networking and gay web sites – and to check that someone else isn’t doing just that, pretending to be you.
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Page updated and links checked 19 May 2012
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