Results 1-20 of 20 for gay speaker:Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Written Answers — House of Lords: Defra: Staff (5 Nov 2008)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...travel costs). Staff can join a network of their choice. Defra has four networks:the Ethnic Minority Network—(for black and minority ethnic staff);DisNet—the Disability Network;Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Network; andWork-life balance Network Defra, alongside many other government departments recognises that staff networks are instrumental not only in providing a...

Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill (21 Apr 2008)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, for raising this important point. I have great sympathy with what lies behind it. I agree that allegations that gay people are prone to being paedophiles are particularly damaging and distasteful and that such allegations should be challenged vigorously. I also agree that in many instances those allegations will be threatening and...

Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill (3 Mar 2008)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...are unfounded. First, I want to say why we have brought forward this proposal in the first place. The Government have seen evidence, and the committee in the other place took oral evidence, that gay people are a target for threatening words and behaviour which stir up hatred. Noble Lords will have seen some of the evidence presented. As we have heard, it shows extreme political parties...

Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill (3 Mar 2008)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...papers suggesting that homosexuals must all be paedophiles and therefore should be treated as criminals. The noble Lord is right to raise that as a matter of concern and to understand that for the gay community that can be very divisive and can generate fear and hostility. Where I do not agree with him is on the necessity for his amendment, for the reasons that the noble Lord, Lord...

Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill (22 Jan 2008)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...offences of inciting homophobic hatred will attract much debate in this House, and rightly so. In constructing the offences we have been very conscious of the need to balance the protection of the gay and lesbian community from material inciting hatred with the right to freedom of expression. We believe that we have struck the right balance in the Bill. The new offence will apply only to...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Health: HIV (14 May 2007)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...1989-90 12.000 1990-91 10.000 1991-92 11.000 1992-93 11.230 1993-94 9.410 1994-95 9.870 1995-96 8.060 Since 1996-97 the department has funded separate HIV health promotion for gay men and African communities. Expenditure is set out on the following table. £ million 1996-97 0.820 1997-98 1.375 1998-99 1.400 1999-2000 1.400 2000-01...

Health: Sexually Transmitted Diseases (16 Apr 2007)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: .... But the circumstances are different now—much less was known then, and the programme targeted the whole population. We now know that the main area of concern around HIV and AIDS is for gay men and those with contact with various parts of the world where the disease is prevalent, and the programme of action the department has enunciated is targeted at those at-risk groups. The noble...

Health: Sexually Transmitted Diseases (16 Apr 2007)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...about HIV/AIDS, which is why a campaign aimed at the general population was the most appropriate. However, we now understand that the groups at increased risk of HIV sexual transmission remain gay men and people who have had links to countries overseas where there is a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, such as sub-Saharan Africa. The campaigns that the department is involved in funding are...

Commons Amendment (17 Nov 2004)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...recognition or status. Those difficulties may relate to the rights of the next of kin, visiting rights in hospitals, key medical decisions or inheritance or pension issues. Anyone who knows of gay couples in secure, permanent relationships will know of the insecurity, trauma and distress that can be caused because currently no legal recognition is given to their relationship. I have no...

Local Government Bill (10 Jul 2003)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: .... I do not think—and it is a value judgment after all—that one should be able to equate a matter of conscience in relation to the abortion law to a matter of conscience in relation to gay adoption. At the end of the day it is a matter of individual decision as to how one equates the issues and whether there is a hierarchy of conscientious objection, but as this Parliament...

Lords Amendment (5 Nov 2002)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...-Savours raised the issue of research. I have looked at varying degrees of research. More is needed—I have no doubt about that. However, there is no evidence to suggest that children of gay men and lesbians are significantly more likely than children of heterosexual people to become homosexual. Indeed, most lesbian and gay people grow up in heterosexual families. There is growing...

Lords Amendment (5 Nov 2002)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...may not marry. It may have nothing to do with their commitment; it may, as the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Oxford suggested, be because of the trauma of an earlier failed marriage. Gay couples, of course, cannot marry. Society is as it is, not as we would wish it to be. It is as it is. In 2000, more than 40 per cent of births were outside marriage. More than 40 per cent of...

Lords Amendment (5 Nov 2002)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ..., who by virtue of their life experience, are unable to remain in their families of birth". When we debated this matter on Report some of the discussion was more about adoption by single and gay people than adoption by couples. Frankly, I found that surprising. Single people and gay single people already can and do adopt children. Indeed, as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd of...

Lords Amendment (5 Nov 2002)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...Thompson said: "In my own Ministry often amongst children totally deprived of love, I have seen single parents abandoned by their husband or wife give exceptional care. I have also known many gay teachers, doctors, clergy, nurses and others who have demonstrated a lifetime of dedicated care of children, and indeed of people of all ages. I know of an eight-year-old child who had been...

Adoption and Children Bill (16 Oct 2002)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...of the assessment process is a judgment that stands or falls not on whether the couple to be assessed are married or unmarried but on the effectiveness of the process itself. I turn to the issue of gay adoption, which was the subject of the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin of Roding. The debate is not about gay adoption: gay men and lesbians can already adopt. If the...

Written Answers — House of Lords: HIV (23 Jul 2002)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...who have sex with men and heterosexuals from or with close links to African countries. For a number of years we have funded the Terrence Higgins Trust to undertake national HIV prevention work for gay men through the CHAPS project (Community HIV/AIDS Prevention Strategy). As part of the implementation of the Sexual Health and HIV Strategy we are working with the African HIV Policy Network...

Adoption and Children Bill (10 Jun 2002)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...adopt the child. Arguably, that denies the child the permanence and security of having two parents. The noble Baroness, Lady Masham, put that issue well. So far as concerns the issue of adoption by gay and lesbian couples, I re-emphasise that adoption legislation already allows lesbian women and gay men to adopt as single people. If they are living as part of a couple, they will be...

Written Answers — House of Lords: HIV/AIDS: Public Education Spending (31 Jan 2001)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: In 1999-2000 the Department of Health spent £1.6 million on work for gay men and people who travel to, or have links with, high-prevalence countries and £1.4 million on the general population, including World AIDS Day. In 2000-01 the department allocated £1.6 million for gay men and people who travel to, or have links with, high-prevalence countries and £0.73 million for...

HIV/AIDS: Awareness Campaigns (12 Jun 2000)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: ...to be targeted at the various groups concerned. Some of the material that is being funded by the Department of Health is already so targeted. I should mention in particular the work on CHAPS for gay men and work with Enfield and Haringey Health Authority for African communities. As far as concerns my noble friend's more general point, I can tell her that the sexual health and AIDS strategy...

HIV/AIDS: Awareness Campaigns (12 Jun 2000)

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, the noble Baroness is right to raise that issue. The latest figures I have for 1999 show that the number of new diagnoses among heterosexuals exceeded those among gay and bisexual men. For those who have been classified by place of infection, 77 per cent were infected in Africa. As regards any future targeted prevention programme, we shall have to think carefully about how best to...