Gay Candidate Loses, London's Gays Worry About New Mayor

Openly gay Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick (left) failed in his longshot bid to become London's mayor on Friday, losing to Conservative (Tory) candidate Boris Johnson. Paddick ended a 30-year career with the Metropolitan Police last year, a job he left as one of the top-ranked openly gay police officials in the world. Had Paddick been elected, London would have joined Paris and Berlin as major world cities with openly gay mayors.

The election of Boris Johnson (right) has alarmed London's gay community (and not just because of his Donald Trump hairstyle.) Johnson has been outspoken in his views against same-sex unions and has criticized attempts by his Tory party to reach out to gay Brits.

Pundits say that Johnson's win was not necessarily a disapproval of incumbent Mayor Ken Livingstone, but more a dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labor Party in general. Johnson is considered by many to be a wacky celebrity-obsessed "character", and before the election was quoted as saying, "Voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3."

As London has traditionally been a Labor stronghold, Johnson's election is thought to be a harbinger of the return of the Conservative Party to nationwide power in the next general election, which must be held by 2010. The Labor Party has been in control for 11 years.