In response to this post on gay MPs in Britain, Joyner asks:
Granting that the House of Commons is somewhat larger than the combined U.S. House and Senate, how can the numbers be that different? Sure, there are parts of the country that where religious fundamentalism makes it hard for gays to run for office; but one imagines that’s true in the UK, too. But there are numerous urban centers in the United States where gays have lived openly since before Archie Bunker went on the air. And whole swaths of the country where rugged libertarianism is the norm. How come...few open gays are in senior positions in American politics?
One of his readers answers:
Part of what's at issue, I think, is that Britain has been much more tolerant on these issues than many parts of the United States have been...Also, I don't know that it's so much that there are more homosexual politicians in the UK as it is that there are more open homosexual politicians there.