Respecting LGBT Rights is Important, But it's Not the Main Thing That Distinguishes Britain From Putin's Russia

Respecting LGBT Rights is Important, But it’s Not the Main Thing That Distinguishes Britain From Putin’s Russia

Charles Moore has written a good piece in the Telegraph about the recent tweet by Richard Moore, the head of MI6, seeming to say that “LGBT+ rights” are the most important freedoms that distinguish Britain from Putin’s Russia.

With the tragedy and destruction unfolding so distressingly in Ukraine, we should remember the values and hard won freedoms that distinguish us from Putin, none more than LGBT+ rights. So let’s resume our series of tweets to mark #LGBTHM2022
— Richard Moore (@ChiefMI6) February 25, 2022

This is what Charles had to say:

Mr. Moore is right that one of Putin’s many repulsive aspects is his persecution of gay people. But it is not true to state that LGBT+ rights stand at the pinnacle of all the freedoms that make us different from Putin’s Russia.
The central point about Western freedom is that it is a condition of all living. It cannot be boiled down to sexuality, sex, race, region, age, religion etc: it is not a list of specific rights granted to designated minorities, but freedom for everyone.
It follows that the most important defences of freedom are general too – the rule of law, habeas corpus, parliamentary democracy, freedom of speech. It is a serious mistake to exalt group rights over the rights of each person.
Mr. Moore’s tweet trivialises the evil that Putin embodies – a tyranny attacking all human dignity and all human choice. In this time of extreme crisis, “C” should not be counselling his staff to spend any time at all on LGBT+ “History Month”, or any History Month whatever.
“C”s tweet is unwise for another reason. The head of MI6, even now that he is publicly “avowed”, should not use his position to make moral/political assertions. In our free society, his job should be much more focused than that. His task is to lead the agency that supplies our Government with secret intelligence about threats posed by foreign powers and international terrorist networks, and personally to advise the Prime Minister on such matters.
Vauxhall Cross is the headquarters of Britain’s intelligence professionals, not Mr. Moore’s pulpit.

We’d better hope that Charles Moore and Richard Moore aren’t related or Christmas lunch could be a little awkward this year.