POPULAR dance contest Strictly is to allow same sex couples to compete together for the very first time – but it is a charity making the bold move rather than the TV show.
Despite public pressure, the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing has so far refused to take the step, leaving it to SBH Scotland to fly the flag for diversity.
Like the TV show, The Spina Bifida sufferers’ charity’s Strictly Come Prancing event will see 13 couples take ten weeks of professional dance lessons before going head-to-head in a ballroom dancing challenge.
Unlike the TV show, organisers have opened up the contest to same sex couples, with their decision being made before the recent BBC debate on the issue.
At the event in Glasgow on November 10, a total of 13 couples - some mixed sex, some not – will demonstrate their best dance moves in front of a judging panel which includes Scots TV and radio presenter James Smith, Scottish singing sensation Carol Laula and TV fashionista Gok Wan.
Smith said he hoped the BBC would follow the lead of SBH Scotland, which provides support to children and young people affected by spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus.
“Whether your partner is a man or a woman shouldn’t make any difference if you’re having fun,” said Smith, a self-confessed fan of the TV show.
“Hopefully the BBC will see it that way one day, too. It would be a huge (dance) step forward in the ongoing mission to advance the equality and social inclusion of those who identify as part of the LGBTQI community in front of a mainstream audience.”
Currently screening its 16th season on Saturday nights, Strictly Come Dancing pulls in millions of viewers but while it has had openly gay contestants over the years they have had to dance with a partner of the opposite sex.
The BBC announced before this season started that they had no plans to change their “longstanding ballroom dancing format”.
Smith said it was further evidence that the BBC is “all for innovation and doing something different but only if it involves a man dancing with a woman”.
He added: “There have been contestants from all celebrity walks of life: rugby players, chefs, models, comedians, boxers, actors, paralympians, singers and cricketers. A real mixture. And yet, more than a decade on, we are yet to witness a same-sex couple being allowed to dance together. It seems each time society takes a step forward, something pulls us back.”
Last year, Strictly contestant Reverend Richard Coles said it made “no sense that anybody resists the idea” of same-sex contestants being partnered together.
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