Archive: from David Cameron to Zack Polanski, revisiting Attitude’s political history from Issue 189 to 396
From former Conservative leader David Cameron to the Green Party's Zack Polanski, Attitude has seen its fair share of political moments. But open Issue 189 and you’ll find more than just politics – with Danny Dyer and Alison Goldfrapp proving great talent defies time
Issue 189 of Attitude, with then-future Prime Minister David Cameron on the cover, felt like a turning point for us. Five years earlier, then-Labour leader Tony Blair covered our election special, but given Labour’s historical (though no longer assured) alignment with LGBTQs, that was unsurprising. To give a Tory MP a cover was a curious choice – but, as the coverline suggests, it was far from an endorsement…
As out gay Green Party leader Zack Polanski brings hope to generations of queers with his inclusive policies, we’ve been looking back on Attitude’s relationship with politicians. Keir Starmer’s written for us, Sadiq Khan speaks to us routinely, and a pre-Katy Perry Justin Trudeau granted us an exclusive in 2017, making history by becoming the first Canadian Prime Minister to appear on the cover of an international LGBTQ+ magazine.
But David Cameron’s appearance on our cover in 2010 caused this writer to double-take in WHSmith. “As Conservative Party leader I stood up and said I support marriage – whether it is between a man and a woman, a man and a man or a woman and a woman,” the sharply suited then-43-year-old told us. We can’t imagine current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch or indeed Reform UK‘s Nigel Farage coming out with such words today.
“My view is we want to encourage adoption into stable families” – David Cameron in his Attitude magazine cover interview
To be fair, Cameron put his money where his mouth is, advocating for marriage equality in England and Wales by leading and sponsoring the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 through Parliament. “I was the first centre-right leader in the world to take the initiative and pass gay marriage,” he would go on to write in the Independent in 2023. “It is one of the achievements of which I am proudest.” It’s almost enough to make us forgive his being absent for votes on equal adoption in 2002, the repeal of Section 28 in 2003, and the gender recognition bill in 2004. Oh, and the 14 years of political chaos he ushered in!
But even then, Cameron’s capacity for empathy – this is the man who implemented bludgeoning austerity policies in 2010 and called for the Brexit-causing EU referendum in 2016, after all – had its limits.
“My view is we want to encourage adoption into stable families,” he also told us. “Children do best when there are two parents, obviously, and the ideal adoption is finding a mum and dad.” Yes, he voted to impose anti-discrimination regulations on same-sex adoption in 2012, but his prior opinion – the kind we still fear many of our cishet “allies”, particularly those with kids, secretly hold – still stings. If you know any such people, make them watch Lost Boys and Fairies!
“This is what I find interesting about Lady Gaga’s music” – Alison Goldfrapp speaking to Attitude in Issue 189
Elsewhere in the issue, we spoke to Head First-era intelli-pop veterans Goldfrapp about working with the one and only Christina Aguilera. “We did a week of writing,” Will Gregory revealed. “She kind of put some lyrics to what we were doing or added some… We just left it with her. We had a nice time, and she seemed like a very focused person and singer.” The collaboration was never officially released – but perhaps this pair, two of the biggest musical influencers of the century, inadvertently informed Aguilera’s massively underrated LP Bionic?
Alison Goldfrapp also waxed lyrical on the biggest pop star of that moment – and this. “This is what I find interesting about Lady Gaga’s music,” she mused. “It’s a series of bits. There’s a hook and you get a lot of them and they’re just bam-bam-bam-bam, so it’s not even a traditional song structure: verse, chorus, verse, chorus. It’s a series of hooks.” And to think, that exact formula is now tradition for Gaga, what with ‘Abracadabra’ and the like, while Goldfrapp is still garnering critical acclaim with breezy electro ditties as per her excellent solo albums of recent years.
“It opened me up to a new audience” – Danny Dyer on posing naked for Attitude magazine
Finally, on our back page, veteran actor Danny Dyer reflected on posing naked for Attitude several years before, saying: “I’m chuffed with that shoot. I think I came out really well. It opened me up to a new audience.” And we’re still watching – have you seen him in the saucily silly Disney+ series Rivals?