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Boris starts early to appease gay Londoners
Barnes
Johnson makes first gay appointment as Mayor of London
"Having made many ill-advised comments about gay men and lebsians, he knew he had to move fast"
Boris Johnson has made a very early move to appease gay and lesbian Londoners left bitterly disappointed at his election.
Having made many ill-advised comments about gay men and lebsians - he refered to Civil Parnterships as a "ludicrous" version of marriage, said that if two men could get married why not two men and a dog and was a supporter of Section 28 - he no doubt realised he needed to show an early willingness to include London's hugely influential gay community in his inner circle.
The choice is openly gay Conservative former council leader Richard Barnes who has been named as one of several Deputy Mayors. Other gay men given official roles in the new administration are Brian Coleman, a gay Assembly Member, who has been put in charge of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and Sir Simon Milton, who is now Senior Advisor on Planning.
It is being seen by London's gay and lesbian community as the first move in a wooing which will continue when Johnson appears - for the first time - at London's Pride events later this summer.
