Gay Mayor of London hopeful: ‘Gay men need to grow up’

London mayoral hopeful Ivan Massow has claimed that gay men need to “grow up”.

Massow, who is gay, hopes to become the Conservative Party’s candidate for the 2016 Mayor of London elections. He told Gaydio that there is a “huge drug issue” amongst gay men and argued that it’s hard for a straight mayor to tackle the issue without coming across as homophobic.

“I’m actually quite…I’ve had my own…you can’t ignore the fact that on the London gay scene – especially gay men more than the gay ladies, there is a huge drug issue,” said Massow.

“Especially crystal meth and all things,” he explained. “Unsafe sex has gone to a completely new level and weirdly it’s quite hard for a straight mayor probably to deal with some of that because it would come over as homophobic.”

The 47-year-old continued: “We have a place at the seat of society, we’ve been given this place in community now and, uh, look, we’re absolutely legally – supposed to be – equal members of society but we don’t have a blueprint for how we’re supposed to behave as members of society.”

“We need to engage with our own community. How do we want to be considered? We need to grow up collectively,” he added.

Meanwhile, a gay man’s account of being refused service in a supermarket because of his sexuality has gone viral online this week – find out more here.

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