Nearly 30,000 people have joined a Facebook group calling for Theresa May to be sacked as Equalities Minister. She repeatedly voted against gay rights measures.
Nearly 30,000 people have joined a Facebook group criticising the appointment of Theresa May as Equalities Minister in just 48 hours. A petition has also been circulated calling for Ms May “to resign, or be removed” from the position.
Campaigners object to the new Home Secretary’s voting record and calling for the sacking of the “new homophobic equality minister”. They point out her voting record on gay rights which includes:
– Voting against the repeal of Section 28
– Voting against lowering the age of consent in homosexual relationships to 16
– Voting against gay adoption rights
The Facebook group stresses that:
“Please remember: this is not an anti-Tory campaign. This is not an anti-Theresa May in office campaign. We do not oppose her appointment as Home Secretary. We simply do not believe she is appropriate for the position as Equality Minister.”
But states that:
“As a result of her clear stance on these issues we do not think she is at all qualified to be minister for equality, and would like to call for her immediate resignation from this post.”
The petition says:
“Her appointment is symbolically counter-productive as it suggests that there is not a more appropriate person for the job who has been positively campaigning for gay rights. We would also question her commitment to implementing effective change in this country considering her own views. Her appointment is therefore both intrinsically and instrumentally unacceptable.
“Therefore, we ask for her immediate resignation from this post and for her replacement with a more suitable candidate.”
60 Responses to “Campaigners call for Theresa May to be removed as Equalities Minister”
Confused of Croydon
The votes were all years ago. Let’s judge her on what she does now.
SadButMadLad
If I remember correctly the Tories had a three line whip to vote against the repeal of section 28, so you can’t hold that against her. Labour was forced to impose a whip on their own MPs to vote for it’s repeal because not all Labour MPs were against s28.
Also, I remeber loads of Muslims being against the repeal. Now who rights come first? In those times it was gays. In these times its Muslims. Are you going to demonise all Muslims for being homophobic, because if not then you are being hypocrtical.
The result of your policies is that every group must have protection. You then get the situation where different groups have competing rights. Who wins? The best solution is to have a free society where anyone can say anything even if it offends, but in return they might find themselves offended. An open society is one where you have the right to be offended.
SadButMadLad
Oh and you stupid lot, Theresa May is the Home Office Minister not Equality Minister.
It’s now been announced that the Equality Minister is Lib Dem Lynne Featherston. And don’t crow that your Facebook campaign made it happen as TM was never Equality Minister to have it taken from her.
Neil R Grayshon
RT @leftfootfwd: Campaigners call for Theresa May to be removed as Equalities Minister http://bit.ly/djHXEx
adambanksdotcom
@SadButMadLad: Theresa May was appointed “Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equality” and her own website http://www.tmay.co.uk/ still has this title. She defended her selection as equalities minister on Channel 4, as reported at http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/05/13/theresa-may-promises-defends-equalities-role/ : “Certainly there were some votes I wasn’t present for. But what we intend to do in government is taking forward an agenda on equalities across the whole range of equalities.”
So she clearly was made equalities minister. Yet the Mail today reports it’s Lynne Featherstone http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278433/New-equalities-minister-Lib-Dem-Lynne-Featherstone-hits-male-pale-party-negotiators.html?ITO=1490 – so either there are two equalities ministers, or they’ve switched, in which case the Facebook campaign may well have had an effect.