Results 1-19 of 19 for gay speaker:Vera Baird

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: New Clause 11 (7 Jul 2009)

Vera Baird: ...Government’s attempts to strike a balance, which we believe we have got in the right place, between sensitive matters such as the rights of people with a religion or belief, and the rights of gay, transsexual and lesbian people. How would those delicate balances be affected by the superimposition of this undefined concept of equality?

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: Schedule 23 (2 Jul 2009)

Vera Baird: ...contribute towards its maintenance costs, it would be possible to refuse to let the hall to people whose religious beliefs were offensive to the followers; but that would not apply in the case of a gay or lesbian group, even if letting to that group would—and it is hard to understand why it would—outrage some particular members of particular religious communities. The question is...

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: Clause 153 (30 Jun 2009)

Vera Baird: ...be resentment if it is only used as a tie-breaker is wholly unrealistic. Often, people think that they did not get a job because the successful candidate is younger, prettier, taller, blacker or gayer  than they are, so there is really no guarantee that changing the wording to “equally qualified” will remove such resentment. If a candidate is, as the hon. Gentleman...

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: Clause 143 (30 Jun 2009)

Vera Baird: ...patchwork of coverage survives, Jews and Sikhs would still be covered under the race strand, whereas Christians, Muslims and humanists would not. There seems to be a sense among Opposition Members that gay people and religious people hate each other relentlessly all the time, that that happens throughout life, and that every day is full of perpetuated hatred between those groups. That is a...

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: Clause 143 (30 Jun 2009)

Vera Baird: ...the welfare of the child is always paramount. Of course, the welfare of the child  might be best suited by a local authority having adoption services with particular interests—a religious or a gay interest. That might well be in the interest of the welfare of a child being paramount. Therefore, I cannot see a clash between the two.

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: Clause 143 (30 Jun 2009)

Vera Baird: ...of helpfulness in the answer. The hon. Gentleman was asking about the provision of adoption services, and the obvious answer is that they should be able to offer every option for a child, including gay adoption if necessary. The quibble is about a question that was answered by someone else, but I hope that I have satisfied him that nothing has undermined—it would be earth-shattering...

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: Schedule 9 (23 Jun 2009)

Vera Baird: One would hope not. As I said, they are intended to operate on a fact-sensitive basis with the tests of proportionality and reasonableness. Is there some fear perhaps that a gay organist would not play at a marriage ceremony or something similar? I cannot imagine that they would take that view or that the Church would exclude someone who is gay from doing so on the basis that it was somehow...

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: Schedule 3 (18 Jun 2009)

Vera Baird: ...donation presents a risk to the public or to the individual donor. The Bill also requires that refusal, even if grounded on that evidence, to be “reasonable”. The issue is not just about gay people. Blood services sometimes need to exclude all people who share a protected characteristic from giving blood. For example, the EU requires blood services to refuse donations from people...

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: Clause 13 (16 Jun 2009)

Vera Baird: It is not a defence, if a gay person, for instance, is discriminated against, to say, “It is not discrimination, because I am being myself.” There is no such defence at all. I hope that that is sufficient for the hon. Gentleman’s purposes.

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Equality Bill (11 May 2009)

Vera Baird: ...come here, I imagine that it would have been deeply opposed by most of the right hon. Lady's Back Benchers, given their contributions tonight. For poorer people, black, white, old, young, straight, gay, women or men, disabled or able bodied, this Bill will enlist public authorities to come to your aid and alleviate your socio-economic disadvantage. For believers and non-believers...

Women and Equality: Equality Bill (10 Mar 2009) has video

Vera Baird: ...duty in favour of religious organisations. We then consulted 11 religious and non-religious organisations and re-consulted 20-odd public authorities. We also took in the views of four lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups and women's groups. There was more or less a clear consensus that the provision should progress in the way that I have set out, and that there were no major...

Domestic Violence (8 May 2008) has video

Vera Baird: ...the country. We continue to fund a matrix of helplines: the 24-hour national domestic violence freephone helpline; the men's advice line for male victims; Broken Rainbow, a service for those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities; and the RESPECT phone line for perpetrators, which offers advice to those seeking help. While I am on the subject of funding, I want to...

Orders of the Day — Children and Adoption Bill (2 Mar 2006)

Vera Baird: ...talk about domestic violence against women because the vast majority of domestic violence involves women, but there is domestic violence by brother on brother, father on brother, brother on father, gay partner on gay partner and women on men. In every situation it is a hidden problem that needs teasing out, because, as it is wrapped up in a relationship, it is not easy to speak freely...

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill [Lords]: Clause 10 - Groups (29 Nov 2005)

Vera Baird: ...killed by men. One in two women has been stalked, has been raped or has suffered violence at home. Some 23 per cent. of people with learning disabilities have suffered physical abuse and 48 per cent. of gays in the east end of London have suffered from homophobic crime. Groups other than vulnerable racial and religious groups face threat, danger, injury and harassment. All the examples...

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill [Lords]: Clause 10 - Groups (29 Nov 2005)

Vera Baird: ...rehearse any factual situations to make this point, but there is sometimes conflict between equality strands. Unfortunately, to prefer race and religion or belief over gender or the rights of the gay community could undermine the confidence that other sectors might have in the Bill. I ask my hon. Friend the Minister to look again at the purpose of the clause. My amendment simply proposes...

Orders of the Day — Equality Bill [Lords] — Order for Second Reading read. (21 Nov 2005)

Vera Baird: ..., but two women a week are killed by a violent partner or former partner. Just under half of all women experience domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. Forty-eight per cent. of east London gay people suffer from homophobic crime, and 23 per cent. of adults with learning disabilities have experienced physical abuse. Let me say gently that there has sometimes been conflict between...

Debate on the Address: [First Day] (17 May 2005)

Vera Baird: ..., I want to welcome the equalities Bill, establishing the commission for equalities and human rights. Discrimination too holds people back, whether it is against women, ethnic minorities, disabled, gay and lesbian people, or on the grounds of age or religion. It will not be ended by legal cases, by the accident of someone happening to discriminate against somebody who happens to have the...

Orders of the Day — Constitutional Reform Bill [Lords] (17 Jan 2005)

Ms Vera Baird: ...on. So that is not an argument either—sheer discrimination is the argument, and I make no bones about saying that. I know senior people at the Bar who are black, who are female and who are gay who are better in many ways than some of the people who are currently on the bench, but they have not been put on to the bench. That is bound to be so, as long as there is discrimination. I...

Orders of the Day — Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill [Lords] (14 Jun 2004)

Ms Vera Baird: ...important to note that most domestic violence against men—although clearly not in the case he describes—is by men on men: by fathers on sons, brothers on brothers, sons on fathers and gay men on other gay men. The joint inspectorates of constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service, which conducted a thematic inquiry into domestic violence, found a female to male domestic...