LGBT community comes out and proud in London

Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter in London
Monday July 4, 2011
The Morning Star

Tens of thousands of rainbow-flag waving revellers turned central London into one massive street party this weekend.

Trade unionists, activists and flamboyantly dressed revellers followed dozens of floats set up on buses and lorries to mark the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LBGT) community's biggest celebration of the year.

The annual London Pride festival snaked its way through Regent Street and Whitehall for a rally in Trafalgar Square, followed by an afternoon of live entertainment, food counters and campaign stalls.

A massive trade union contingent sponsored by the TUC marched behind the Love Music, Hate Homophobia lorry floats, while campaigners handed out lollipops with the slogan "Homophobia Sucks."

Police and ambulance staff drew some of the biggest cheers from the thousands of bystanders who had lined the streets to watch the Pride march.

St Martin in the Fields church on the square also showed its support by flying the rainbow flag on its mast and ringing the church bells.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber told the huge crowd that he "brought solidarity from millions of workers we represent" and urged LGBT people to join the fight against cuts.

"These reckless spending cuts will put LGBT equality at grave risk," he warned.

"Not just the massive reduction in local authority funding for voluntary sector groups, nor just the cancellation of gender reassignment surgery on the NHS, but also the colossal cut in police spending, which will undermine the fight against hate crime.

"The government's education reforms will give a green light to more faith schools - a recipe for more prejudice against LGBT pupils and staff.

"Let's work together, campaign together and fight together for a fairer and more equal Britain."

By the stalls in the square, young Labour activists were handing out "Never Kissed a Tory" stickers, which proved very popular with many angry over the coalition government's attempt to dilute hard-won equality laws.

The previous Labour government won favours with the LGBT community for introducing the Civil Partnership Act and repealing the Thatcher administration's infamous section 28, which banned local authorities from promoting homosexuality.

Prime Minister David Cameron has come under fire for assigning the equality brief to Home Secretary Theresa May, despite her voting record on LGBT rights.

And London Mayor Boris Johnson, who was a staunch supporter of section 28, enraged equality campaigners after he cancelled Pride parties at City Hall as part of wider cuts to events for specific minority groups.

Labour mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone, who attended Saturday's Pride parade, vowed to reverse the Tory mayor's "backward" decision if elected.

"A fairer London depends on our city continuing to move forward on equality," he said.

On the union stalls, revellers were invited to sign a petition against the government's "red-tape challenge" designed to weaken the Single Equality Act and health and safety laws.

PCS equality rep Ian Crossland branded the initiative "a disgrace. It is imperative that we preserve and ornament the law, especially when in many countries around the world LGBT people are still being persecuted," he told the Star.

As the afternoon drew to a close, partygoers spilled out into the Soho district - famous for its many LGBT-friendly clubs and bars - to continue the celebrations with street parties and events long into the night.

'Make it legal worldwide' Friday 01 July 2011

Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter in London
Friday June 30, 2011
The Morning Star

TUC LGBT Conference: Gay rights activists called on the trade union movement today to fight for same-sex relationships to be made legal around the world.

The TUC lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender conference heard of the persecution and death that LGBT people still risk because of their sexuality.

Many countries still treat same-sex acts as a crime, while in some countries including South Africa lesbians are subjected to "corrective" rape to "cure" them, delegates at Congress House in London heard.

Conference welcomed the recent UN Declaration of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, which commits member states to respect and protect LGBT people's human rights.

It called on TUC-affiliated unions to work with sister organisations across the world to press for a universal decriminalisation of same-sex relationships.

Delegates honoured the memory of Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato, who was bludgeoned to death this year after a newspaper published photographs of him and other LGBT people under the headline "Hang them."

Same-sex acts are illegal in Uganda and an MP tried unsuccessfully to push for the death penalty.

Delegates praised Ugandan activists' success in defeating the infamous anti-gay Bill.

Unite delegate Adam Umney urged the TUC to step up its work with sister unions internationally against countries with anti-gay laws, including awareness campaigns and government lobbying.

Unison speaker Darienne Flemington said: "We must raise LGBT profile and exploit our contacts at ETUC, ITUC and groups like Amnesty to push for a universal decriminalisation of same-sex consensual relationships."

Conference also urged affiliates to support UK Black Pride - a not-for-profit organisation supporting LGBT black and ethnic-minority people as well as gay asylum-seekers fleeing rape and murder.

In her address, UK Black Pride director Phyllis Opoku-Gyimah highlighted the racism suffered by LGBT black people.

She welcomed delegates' commitment to reclaim the gay rights issue from the far-right English, Welsh and Scottish Defence Leagues.

Delegates had raised alarms in a debate on Thursday that fascist groups were whipping up Islamophobia over gay rights.

They vowed to "fly the rainbow flag" at counter-demonstrations.

Ms Opoku-Gyimah urged delegates to encourage their unions to affiliate to UK Black Pride and do more to recruit LGBT black members.

"We need to send a united message - no to public service cuts, no to fascism and no to Islamophobia."

Name the date for strikes in autumn, say delegates

Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter in London
Friday July 01, 2011
The Morning Star

TUC LGBT Conference: Public servants fresh from Thursday's picket lines called on union leaders today to "name the date" for a million-strong strike in the autumn amid thunderous applause from the floor.

Delegates at the TUC lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender conference in London heard from speakers who had missed Thursday's debates because they were on pickets and rallies across Britain.

Refuting right-wing claims that the strike had little public support, lecturers' union UCU delegate Pura Ariza said: "Workers, parents, children, students and anti-cuts campaigners joined our 5,000-strong strike rally in Manchester."

Civil Service union PCS rep Jeff Grist reported that 84 per cent of the 250,000 PCS members balloted took part in the strike. "We also recruited 170 new members," he said.

Conference heard that prison officers' union POA members had held lunchtime protest meetings in solidarity and Unison members working in schools had refused to cross picket lines.

POA delegate Stewart McLaughlin thanked the strikers for "losing a day's pay to stand up for my pension.

"Current legislation makes it a criminal offence for POA to take any form of industrial action even though our pension is in the same boat as other public-sector workers."

Mr McLaughlin said the POA was prepared to take the "nuclear option" of breaking the law unless ministers changed course.

Ms Ariza called on union leaders to use the momentum to bring down the "weak and divided" government.

"Name the date for strikes in autumn - we're ready to fight," she said to thunderous applause.

Julia Neal, whose union ATL went on strike for the first time in its 127-year history, said: "We must keep the issue alive and continue the action until we win."

LGBT delegates show solidarity with strikers

Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter in London
Thursday June 30, 2011
The Morning Star

TUC LGBT delegates sent a message of solidarity to public-sector workers on strike today and vowed to play a leading role in the fight against the government's ideological attacks on the working class.

Pointing to the empty seats on PCS, UCU, NUT and ATL delegation tables, conference chairwoman Maria Exall expressed support for the pickets and urged delegates to "dig deep" when contributing to a lunchtime collection for their striking comrades.

"This Conservative-led government is intent on attacking working people. We must not let those in power divide and rule us."

In her opening address Ms Exall said that LGBT people were among those hit by cuts to local services and attempts to erode hard-won equality rights.

"David Cameron's Tories position themselves as a 'socially inclusive' party but they oppose almost all of the equality laws introduced by Labour," she said.

"They talk about fighting homophobia and transphobia in schools but want to set up so-called free schools which will fragment the system and make it harder to tackle the issue."

Delegates expressed concerns that cuts to police funding would harm the investigation of hate crimes, making LGBT people and other minority groups more vulnerable.

Unite rep Maggie Ryan noted the rise in the number of hate crimes in the past two years as communities are being pitted against each other and forced to compete for social services and jobs.

And similar fears were heard that cuts and changes to the NHS would have a "serious impact" on health and support services for LGBT patients.

Unison delegate Manjit Kaur highlighted that LGBT people were already denied equal access to care because of their sexual orientation.

"I recently asked my GP for a smear test. He told me: 'You're a lesbian, you don't need one dear'," she said to laughs.

CWU delegate Merlin Reader warned Con-Dem ministers of a "much bigger united strike" in the autumn unless they halted the cuts and considered the alternative of progressive taxation and investment in jobs.

"We must criticise Labour leader Ed Miliband and others who say workers are wrong to strike. How else are we going to defend our rights and pay and pensions?"