London's highest ranking gay Police official will again, try to become the city's first openly gay Mayor, after winning his party, the Liberal Democrats, nomination earlier this week.
Brian Paddick ran as their ominee in 2008, coming in last place. Paddick says his chances of beating the Conservatives' incumbent, Boris Johnson, and Labour's Ken Livingstone are looking brighter.
"You've got Boris Johnson who now has an appalling track record as mayor, Ken Livingstone was sunk last time because of his track record. Therefore I think I've got a chance," Paddick told the UK Press Association.
Paddick only barely won the nomination, according to the BBC, with his 1,526 votes just beating his closest competitor, London Assembly member Mike Tuffrey, who garnered 1,476 votes.
Paddick married Petter Belsvik in Oslo, Norway in 2009, a year after it became legal there. And he has since became a proponent of marriage equality in Britain.
"When civil partnerships came into effect here, I thought that was good enough," Paddick wrote in 2010 in the Independent. "I did not want to go again into what some people in the gay community regard as the heterosexual institution of marriage.
"My opinion changed on that day in Oslo. It had quite an impact on me when I stood in front of the judge in the court and she said: "We are here to witness the marriage of Brian and Petter." It powerfully struck me how significant and how important it was for us to be treated exactly the same as if we were a straight couple.
"Yet we are only married in Norway. Here in Britain our status reverts to a civil partnership and that doesn't feel the same at all."
London's highest ranking Openly Gay Police Official is going to run for Mayor
Advertise on Guidetogay.com
LOGIN or REGISTER
Who's Online
We have 385 guests online








