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Tatchell: What Gay Rights Policies Will a Tory Government Deliver?

David Cameron is all talk and no action on homophobia, Outrage! says
 

■ Peter Tatchell: “I challenge [Cameron] to back up his gay-friendly words with concrete policies to end the remaining vestiges of homophobic discrimination.”

LONDON, October 5, 2009  –  Conservative Party leader David Cameron is all talk and no action on gay rights, Peter Tatchell said this morning as the Tory party annual conference got underway in Manchester.

“I challenge him to back up his gay-friendly words with concrete policies to end the remaining vestiges of homophobic discrimination,” said human rights campaigner Mr. Tatchell of LGBT group OutRage!.

“So far, he has not promised a single new policy for gay equality.

“The Conservatives will never be taken seriously as defenders of gay human rights unless they promise concrete policies for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.  We don't know what a Tory government would do because David Cameron offers only vague generalities, not policy specifics,” added Mr Tatchell.

“Mr Cameron has a poor voting record on gay issues.  Only last year voted to deny lesbian couples equal access to IVF fertility treatment.  In 2003, he voted to retain Section 28.

“My challenge to David Cameron is this: what legal reforms will you pledge to the lesbian and gay community?  What would you do, as Prime Minister, to end the homophobic discrimination that Gordon Brown is refusing to abolish?”

Mr. Tatchell presented a list of eight examples which he suggested the UK LGBT community wanted to know whether a Conservative government would address.

● Amend the Equality Bill to protect LGBT people against harassment;

● Repeal the ban on same-sex civil marriage and on opposite-sex civil partnerships;

● End the blanket, lifetime prohibition on gay and bisexual men donating blood;

● Cancel Labour's proposal to allow faith schools to teach sex and relationship education in accordance with their own religious ethos, which usually condemns same-sex couples as sinful, immoral, unnatural and inferior;

● Withdraw from the European Parliament alliance with the homophobic Polish Law and Justice Party, Dutch Christian Union and Latvian Fatherland and Freedom Party;

● Refuse visas and work permits to Jamaican reggae singers, like Bounty Killer and Buju Banton, who incite the murder of LGBT people;

● Halt the deportation of genuine LGBT asylum seekers to violently homophobic countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Nigeria, Jamaica, Iran and Uganda;

● Urge the police and Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute record stores and radio stations that promote songs encouraging the killing of LGBT people.

“These are eight specific examples of on-going gay inequality.  Will David Cameron get rid of them or will he retain them?

“Until he assures us that these discriminations will be ended by a Conservative government, Mr Cameron will not deserve the support of the lesbian and gay community,” Mr Tatchell concluded.

■ Peter Tatchell is the prospective Green Party Parliamentary candidate for the Oxford East constituency.

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