Oh fuck.
One reason I was concerned about having a Tory government was that, with their record of homophobia, they would revoke all of the rights that LGBT people have been given by the Labour government. Obviously, there's other reasons to be concerned about having a Tory government, but that's just one that I felt most strongly, especially after it was revealed recently that Philippa Stroud, apparently a star of the Tory party who is credited with shaping many of their social policies, founded a church that tried to 'cure' gay people by the power of prayer. (Interestingly, the article about this that was on the Guardian website has now gone, but thankfully Google cached it. If the link doesn't work, just Google for Philippa Stroud, I'm sure it'll come up.)
Even though I was afraid that something would happen to affect LGBT people, I didn't think it would happen so quickly. But less than 24 hours after the Tories are in power and it seems as though their intentions towards LGBT people are quite clear. The new Minister for Women and Equality has been announced as Theresa May. Her voting record shows that she's pretty much voted against the majority of all rights for LGBT people. From pinknews.co.uk:
In 1998 she voted against equalising the age of consent and in 2000, she voted against the repeal of Section 28, legislation that banned the 'promotion' of homosexuality by local government and schools.
In 2001 and 2002 she voted against gay couples jointly adopting children.
In 2004, like much of the Conservative front bench, Mrs May did vote in favour of civil partnerships. But in the same year, Mrs May didn't attend Parliament for any of the four votes that led to the Gender Recognition Act.
In 2008 she voted in favour of a defeated bill which said that IVF rights should require a male role model- effectively discriminating against lesbian fertility rights.
It does not bode at all well. There's a Facebook group demanding that she's sacked, and apparently there's going to be a petition for that too. I did hope that having the LibDems as part of the government would limit the chance of anything like this happening, but it looks like that was too much to hope for. There's just no words really.
Even though I was afraid that something would happen to affect LGBT people, I didn't think it would happen so quickly. But less than 24 hours after the Tories are in power and it seems as though their intentions towards LGBT people are quite clear. The new Minister for Women and Equality has been announced as Theresa May. Her voting record shows that she's pretty much voted against the majority of all rights for LGBT people. From pinknews.co.uk:
In 1998 she voted against equalising the age of consent and in 2000, she voted against the repeal of Section 28, legislation that banned the 'promotion' of homosexuality by local government and schools.
In 2001 and 2002 she voted against gay couples jointly adopting children.
In 2004, like much of the Conservative front bench, Mrs May did vote in favour of civil partnerships. But in the same year, Mrs May didn't attend Parliament for any of the four votes that led to the Gender Recognition Act.
In 2008 she voted in favour of a defeated bill which said that IVF rights should require a male role model- effectively discriminating against lesbian fertility rights.
It does not bode at all well. There's a Facebook group demanding that she's sacked, and apparently there's going to be a petition for that too. I did hope that having the LibDems as part of the government would limit the chance of anything like this happening, but it looks like that was too much to hope for. There's just no words really.