Emma Best: ...could you just answer whether you will join the collective campaign that Stonewall and the FA have already said they would be interested in, making sure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Londoners feel welcome during the World Cup in Qatar this year [2022]?
Baroness Stedman-Scott: As a country with a proud history on LGBT equality, and with one of the world’s most comprehensive and robust legislative frameworks, the UK Government continues to be a leading funder of work to protect LGBT rights. The Government has provided over £6 million in funding to prevent and respond to bullying in schools, including LGBT-related bullying, of which £1 million was announced this...
Alex Norris: ...yet again. Remembering the holocaust and what it says about humanity’s past, present and future is an intergenerational necessity— 6 million Jewish people, Roma and Gypsy people, Slavic people, LGBT people, disabled people all savagely murdered. Antisemitism remains a scourge today that we all must fight together. I am proud that Nottinghamshire is home to the National Holocaust Centre...
Chris Bryant: ...I very much hope that the hon. Member will withdraw that allegation. I certainly do think that there are problems relating to the way in which the Government have created a hostile environment for LGBT people in this country. [Interruption.] I am simply citing the former Government Equalities Minister, the hon. Member for Finchley and Golders Green (Mike Freer), who said so himself when...
Chris Bryant: ...between people over gender identity and trans rights, and ignore the fact that their own Equalities Minister resigned because he thought the Government were creating a hostile environment for LGBT people, which is why the hon. Member for Heywood and Middleton (Chris Clarkson) should be ashamed to defend this Government. No, I don’t have confidence in this Government, because they have...
Amanda Solloway: ...on HIV and Chair of the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group, to discuss implementation of the HIV Action Plan and how it links to the Government’s ambitions on improving outcomes for LGBT people. NHS England and NHS Improvement is investing £20 million over the next three years to expand opt-out testing in emergency departments in the highest prevalence local areas to identify...
Lord Cashman: ...Human Rights Commission. I apologise for being blunt, but when I think about the practical impact of the Human Rights Act it is personal, because the impact of the Act has been deeply profound for LGBT people like me. Indeed, the very concept of equality, in which our legislation later developed, began with the equal age of consent. I think back to when the Labour Government introduced the...
Amanda Solloway: The Government takes all hate crimes seriously, and we have robust laws to respond to them. Whilst police recorded hate crimes targeting LGBT communities have increased, the biggest driver for this is improvements in police recording and the increased willingness of victims to come forward. However, we are not complacent about these abhorrent crimes. We will continue to work with the police...
Amanda Solloway: I acknowledge all the work that my hon. Friend has done on this subject. I absolutely agree that the legislation to ban conversion practices is fundamentally about protecting LGBT people from harm. The experience of victims needs to continue to be at the heart of all considerations, as I know they were when my hon. Friend was the Minister.
Amanda Solloway: The Government take all hate crimes seriously, and we have robust laws to respond to them. While police have recorded an increase in hate crimes targeting LGBT communities, the biggest drivers for this are an improvement in police recording and the increased willingness of victims to come forward. It is taken very seriously by the Home Office, and we are working with the police on it.
Amanda Solloway: ...team regularly engage with Cabinet and other Ministerial colleagues on the full range of equality issues. Ministers and officials meet regularly with a variety of stakeholders, including LGBT organisations, faith groups, health professionals and international bodies to build a full range of experiences and expertise into our work. Data from Census 2021, which included voluntary questions...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: ...human rights defenders, in protecting democracy and urged good co-operation between member countries and their respective national human rights institutions; and there is more specific to that. LGBT rights were raised by a number of noble Lords, including the noble Lords, Lord Purvis and Lord Collins. Since 2018, the United Kingdom has invested more than £11 million in programmes to...
Mike Freer: ..., bigotry does not rest in any one political party, and I remember the terrible election campaign that the Lib Dems ran against him, which was really quite shameful. On the politics, I just led an LGBT trade delegation to Texas and San Francisco. While I was there, I did not pull my punches—I was half expecting a telling off when I got back. I said that I simply did not understand the...
Nia Griffith: ...see the time racing by. I will make reference to Wales, but the issues are pertinent to all of us. This year, the Welsh Government are introducing a new curriculum that will have fully inclusive LGBT education for all pupils, with no right to withdraw. That is so important. We have all stressed that status is important, as is proper timetabling and training for teachers. We have the...
Vicky Ford: ...note the crucial work of the Council of Europe and PACE in this sphere. The UK is deeply concerned by Russian actions, targeting opposition politicians, civil society actors, religious groups, and LGBT people through prosecutions and repressive legislation towards so-called "undesirable" and "extremist" organisations and "foreign agents". We continue to call out Russia in international...
LGBT Inclusive Education
Bell Ribeiro-Addy: ...splitting up families would the Minister say is rooted in humanity? What part of the recently announced deportation flights to Nigeria and Ghana, which, during Pride month, will attempt to deport LGBT asylum seekers, is rooted in humanity? Attempting to deport mothers and grandmothers of people who are British citizens and have been in this country for over 25 years—what part of that is...
Bell Ribeiro-Addy: ...tears families apart and breaks human rights and equalities legislation. It is reported to be sending another deportation charter flight to Nigeria and Ghana. In Pride month, it will deport LGBT asylum seekers fleeing homophobia as well as grandmothers and mothers of British children who have lived in this country for more than 25 years. Given that the Home Office repeatedly gets it wrong...
Baroness Fox of Buckley: ...a stigma and a question mark on one’s reputation. You have only to look at the case files of Academics for Academic Freedom or the Free Speech Union to get the gist. In October 2020, a group of LGBT activists tried to get a porter from Clare College sacked because, in his role as a Labour councillor, he voted the wrong way on the issue of “trans women are women”. I do not blame those...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: ...recognise that many countries across the world, including those within the Commonwealth, are on a journey, specifically in relation to human rights; that may be on media freedom, religious freedom, LGBT rights or, indeed, women and girls. I look back on our own history and see that we as a country travelled on this very path, sometimes with great difficulty and challenges, but we overcame...