Results 1-15 of 15 for gay speaker:Emily Thornberry

Outlawries Bill: Debate on the Address — [1st Day] (18 Nov 2009)

Emily Thornberry: ...bars and Georgian squares, awash with the chattering classes and the birthplace of new Labour; we are more than that. At my recent surgery, people from 17 countries came along. We have a large gay population and gay weddings are held at the town hall every Saturday. We are a tolerant community. We tolerate the bankers living among us; we tolerate the journalists living among us; and my...

Clause 1 — Reports on implemenation of Law Commission proposals (16 Oct 2009) has video

Emily Thornberry: ...at all. I gave some examples in Committee on 8 July. For the sake of brevity, I shall repeat only my favourite now. Hon. Members may remember a homo-erotic poem about Christ published in the Gay Times to which Mary Whitehouse took exception. As a result, a prosecution for blasphemous libel was taken out. The whole team at Gay Times were prosecuted. The editor was fined and given a...

[Ann Winterton in the Chair] — Abortion Law (Northern Ireland) (15 Jul 2009)

Emily Thornberry: Does the Minister remember that all the gay rights that were recognised within the law in Northern Ireland were imposed in the teeth of opposition from local politicians?

[Ann Winterton in the Chair] — Abortion Law (Northern Ireland) (15 Jul 2009)

Emily Thornberry: No. There are good things about Northern Ireland, and many good things have happened there. Its economy is booming, and it is becoming much more liberal socially. There are now gay pride marches in Northern Ireland. There is a growing group of people there who come from a socially liberal background and are still not adequately represented by their elected representatives. The 21st century is...

Public Bill Committee: Law Commission Bill [Lords]: Clause 1 (8 Jul 2009)

Emily Thornberry: ...taken too many years to implement. I wish to highlight that fact with three examples, the first of which members of the Committee might remember. A homoerotic poem about Christ was published in the Gay Times, and Mary Whitehouse took exception to it. A private prosecution took place for blasphemous libel. The whole team at the Gay Times was prosecuted, and the editor was fined and given...

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: Clause 24 (18 Jun 2009)

Emily Thornberry: What, therefore, would happen to a young man whose Catholic parents want him to go to a particular school, but who, at the age of 13 or 14, decides that he is gay, and finds himself bullied by teachers who tell him that there is something profoundly wrong with him because he wants sex outside marriage?

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: Clause 24 (18 Jun 2009)

Emily Thornberry: That person was a registrar in my constituency, where a large number of gay weddings, as we call them, take place. Every day, many gay couples leave the town hall, finally having been allowed to have some sort of union. This woman decided that, despite the background in my constituency, her religious beliefs were more important than those of the people whom it was her job to marry, by...

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: Clause 24 (18 Jun 2009)

Emily Thornberry: ...will accept the argument in these terms: a registrar’s duty is to ratify a contract that is justified in law passed by Parliament. Parliament passed a law allowing civil union between gay couples, so it is her job to ratify that contract. If she does not like the law, she has to get another job—she has to move out and do something else.

Public Bill Committee: Equality Bill: Clause 24 (18 Jun 2009)

Emily Thornberry: In the past 12 years, huge changes have been made to equality legislation, and the gay and lesbian community is now on the verge of absolute equality under the law. However, much remains to be done. Clearly, one of the most important areas on which people quite rightly focus is the way in which young gay and lesbian people are treated at school. The extent of homophobic bullying is...

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

Emily Thornberry: Is my hon. Friend aware that since 2002 Pride in Canterbury has been lobbying for Canterbury city council to promote gay culture in Canterbury and has been fobbed off, so it took the matter to the local government ombudsman, only to be told that no regulations could be used to criticise the council for not supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community? This Bill will change that.

Modernisation of the House of Commons (Standing Orders): Speaker's Conference (12 Nov 2008) has video

Emily Thornberry: ...for us all. I wholeheartedly support this initiative, but with one reservation. The proposed Speaker's Conference should expand its remit to consider the increased representation of lesbians, gay people and bisexuals, because to have only one out lesbian in this place of 1,300 politicians is not sufficient to be able to speak about the lived experience of Britain's 1.8 million lesbians on...

Orders of the Day: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (12 May 2008) has video

Emily Thornberry: ...and Finsbury, where there are 3,640 single parents. If there were a league table of single parents with dependent children, Islington would be in the top 20. In Islington, there are a great many gay marriages; there is at least one gay marriage a day, and a very large number of gay people in my constituency now live together in legally recognised, loving relationships. It is the experience...

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

Emily Thornberry: Is my hon. Friend aware that the highest percentage of gay couples live in Islington, which is another reason why the commission should be in London?

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

Emily Thornberry: Does the hon. Gentleman agree that a proper Christian will understand that one can be gay and be Christian as well? If someone is to close their doors to a gay couple coming to their bed and breakfast, should not the answer simply be that they should be prosecuted, as we should not discriminate against people on the basis of their sexuality?

Health and Education (24 May 2005)

Emily Thornberry: ...Smith. He is recognised nationally as the man who delivered the right to roam and free admission to museums and galleries, and internationally Chris is probably best known as being the first openly gay Cabinet Minister in the world. Inspired by the testimony of Nelson Mandela, he decided to speak publicly about how he had been living with HIV since the 1980s. To the gay community and many...