Tributes have been paid to pioneer and activist Maureen Colquhoun, Britain’s first openly lesbian MP after her death today at the age of 92.
“Ms Colquhoun served as a Labour party politician for five years”
Educated at the London School of Economics (LSE) and working as a literary research assistant, Maureen Colquhoun was Elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Northampton North in 1974 at the February general election.
Ms Colquhoun served as a Labour party politician for five years where she campaigned for laws on abortion rights, gender balance, and greater protection for prostitutes.
Ms Colquhoun fought off efforts for deselection in 1979 after news broke that she was in a relationship with another woman, at a time when there were fewer than 30 woman politicians at the time. Her death was announced as British Parliament marks LGBT+ History Month.
Labour MP Angela Eagle said: “This is very sad news. Maureen Colquhoun was a feminist pioneer and paved the way for all those of us who came after her – RIP.”
As Britain’s first openly lesbian MP, Ms Colquhoun left her husband, the Sunday Times journalist Keith Colquhoun, in 1975 for the publisher of Sappho magazine Babs (Barbara) Todd and divorced Colquhoun in 1980. It is said that Ms Colquhoun and Ms Todd were still in a relationship into the 2000s.
In 1975, Ms Colquhoun introduced the Balance of Sexes Bill with the objective to require men and women on public bodies in equal numbers. She had identified 4500 jobs appointed by Ministers, and 174 public bodies that were almost entirely male.
In February 1976, Colquhoun asked the then Commons Speaker George Thomas to refer to her as “Ms” instead of Miss” where it was the first time such a request had been made. Also in this year, she was among nine Labour MPs who advocated in a letter to The Times an “alternative policy” on Northern Ireland, which included the removal of British troops in the country.
“My sexuality has nothing whatever to do with my ability to my job as an MP”.
Ms Colquhoun was deselected in her position as MP for Northampton North due to her sexuality and feminist views, with 23 votes to 18, but after an appeal to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, she was reinstated after they agreed that she had been unfairly dismissed due to her sexual orientation.
In an article for Gay Times in 1977, Ms Colquhoun said: “My sexuality has nothing whatever to do with my ability to my job as an MP”.
After her defeat to Conservative MP Anthony Marlow on an 8% swing, Ms Colquhoun worked as an assistant to other Labour MPs in the House of Commons and was elected to Hackney London Borough Council, serving as a member of the council from 1982-1990.
Leaving London, Ms Colquhoun moved to the Lake District where she was a member of the Lake District’s National Park Authority where she campaigned for speed limits on Lake Windermere and argued that members of the park authority should disclose their membership of the Freemasons. She also served as a parish councillor on Lakes Parish Council standing in the Ambleside ward until May 2015, when she was de-seated in that year’s elections.
Shawna Healey
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