Text Box: Birmingham Evening Mail, Tuesday, April 26, 2005 Mail Comment This is not Freedom Birmingham’s so-called Queer question time—a chance for the city’s gay community to quiz election candidates degenerated into farce. Police arrested Nikki Sinclaire, a 6ft 4ins lesbian standing for the UK Independence Party, after a row erupted when she was refused a place on the platform. The organisers banned an Evening Mail photographer from taking pictures and threatened to expel our reporter. Such heavy-handed behaviour has no place in an election campaign. Politicians must have the right to have their say at forums such as these unless there are compelling reasons otherwise. And newspapers must be free to report on such events. Stifling the media is not an option.