The Prime Minister, John Major, yesterday (11th June 1996) lost more of his few remaining friends in the lesbian, gay and bisexual community by describing National Lottery grants to the to the Gay London Policing Group and Leicester Lesbian, Gay and Bi-sexual Centre at part of "A small number of the awards that do not in my judgement reflect the way that Parliament and public expected the Lottery money to be spent.", he went on to say "From time to time the lottery distribution boards made awards that were ill-founded and ill-judged".

It would seem that worthwhile projects such as the monitoring of gay bashing, other anti-gay illegal activity and prejudice against the gay community amongst the Police are not considered worthy of Lottery Money.

A Downing Street spokesman said National Heritage Secretary Virginia Bottomley had noticed the "controversial" awards and drawn Mr Major's attention to them. Mrs Bottomley has now asked for a report on these awards from David Sieff, chairman of the National Lottery Charities Board.

Under the existing law, the Government has no power to block the awards and no direct part in choosing which organisations should receive lottery money, that responsibility lies with the independent distribution boards.

Peter Tatchell, of OutRage, said "We hope Opposition parties will challenge this mean spirited attack on gay organisations that provide a valuable community service." "These organisations are legitimate charities and deserve every penny that has been awarded. It is a disgrace that the Prime Minister is questioning financial aid to gay groups which provide support to vulnerable members of the community"

BBC Radio 4’s celebrated "Today" programme (12th June 1996) challenged Mrs Bottomley over the attach and her role in it, suggesting that the government supported a ban on all gay charities receiving lottery grants. Mrs Bottomley responded by stating her view that the government had to step in where "public concern" was aroused. The interviewer suggested that the massive grants to the Royal Opera House and to buy the Winston Churchill papers (from a conservative MP) had caused a huge public outcry but that the government had remained tight lipped about those payments. Mrs Bottomley explained that these "flag ship" projects attracted tourism.

Peter Tatchell also said "The money awarded is minuscule. There are plenty of other gay charities that also deserve money. " "Since we are 10% of the population we deserve 10% of the Lottery handouts."

£50,000 was awarded to Leicester Lesbian, Gay and Bi-sexual Centre and £26,000 to the Gay London Policing Group. Two other awards also came in for critisisum, that of £66,000 to the West Midlands Anti-Deportation Campaign and £82,000 to the Scottish Prostitutes Education Project.

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© John Roulston-Bates, 1996.