Protesters last night stepped up the pressure on Theresa May by calling for a full explanation of her past record and an apology "in the form of an affadavit".
The protesters whose online campaign forced equalities minister Theresa May to say she had “changed my mind” about gay adoption on Question Time last night have stepped up the pressure by calling for a full explanation of her past record and an apology “in the form of an affadavit”. The campaigners have also called for more awareness to be raised of her voting record, which included opposing the repeal of Section 28 and lowering the homosexual age of consent to 16.
The “Sack Theresa” website says:
“Tonight we witnessed quite an extraordinary event on national television: a Facebook campaign caused a senior government minister to annouce she had “changed her mind” concerning gay couples adopting. I am of course refering to Theresa May’s comments when confronted by a teenager on Question Time regarding her gay rights record…
“This doesn’t stop us questioning her record however and we will continue to do so… Furthermore her argument that is was ”some years ago” seems intriguing. Whilst we accept that she may have recently changed her mind, we question why she still voted against the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill in 2008, containing clauses which would stop discrimination against lesbian couples receiving fertility treatment.
“This was a free vote; she did not have to follow her party. Therefore, the fact that she voted against it shows that to a certain extent she genuinely holds these beliefs independently of any pressure from the party. More importantly; this was 17 months ago. This was not the Theresa May under party obligations of 1997, this was the Theresa May, free agent, of 2008…
“We are calling for a full explanation of her views and an apology for her previous voting record in the form of an affidavit. We still regret her appointment, since she is not a very symbolically positive candidate whom we could trust to continue the progress made over the last few years. We will continue to raise awareness and to call for her resignation. We will give her a call tommorrow to present our proposal.”
Still very much calling for the equalities minister to be removed from her post, one of the main campaigners Jane Cahill told Left Foot Forward:
“I don’t think its ok for her to be Equalities Minister. I think our campaign is showing that many people have been angered by her appointment and dismayed by her voting record- a few words on a Question Time where the one person you’d expect to grill her (Shami Chakrabarti) didn’t seem to know a thing about it? I don’t think this answers our more compelling concerns.
“I don’t question her sincerity on gay adoption, but nor do I view it as the ultimate test of someone’s views on LGBT equality. That she voted against Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill as late as 2008, which was aiming to stop discrimination against lesbian couples receiving fertility treatment, indicates to me that she isn’t committed to LGBT rights. I should also point out that the vote on that bill was a free one.
“I wholeheartedly welcome her comments, but we are now looking for something more substantial to reassure us that this isn’t just some words said on Question Time to avoid a difficult issue. We will be phoning her today to request a sworn apology for her previous voting record, in the form of an affidavit. Until that point we shall be pushing for her resignation.”
The “Sack New Homophobic Equality Minister” Facebook group now has nearly 70,000 members while an online petition “Requesting Theresa May’s Resignation from the Post of Equalities Minister” has received nearly 30,000 signatures.
28 Responses to “Protesters unimpressed by Theresa May’s conversion on gay rights”
Issac Greaves
RT @SackTheresa: RT @leftfootfwd: Protesters unimpressed by Theresa May's conversion on gay rights http://bit.ly/bZ7g0w
Tom White
LOL@tomtiddler: yes it is because a) the alternative is ‘Care’, b) because being gay is perfectly normal c) lots of the people (including dads) ‘wearing stockings and wanking themselves’ are straight etc. Stop wasting our time with this rubbish.
@Paul Canning: you certainly have a point in suggesting that Labour’s record is not perfect, and that the EU played an important role in helping to stimulate Labour government action. But you’re in danger of going too far in the other direction: don’t start kidding yourself that because Alan Duncan writes a nice article, the culture of the Tory party has changed. It hasn’t. It may be *changing* but that’s not the same. People have every right to question (although not to obsess) about Tory ministers’ records. And indeed to be sceptical of David Cameron’s commitment to gay equality after his appalling interview with PinkNews. So: yup, of course nobody’s perfect here. But one party’s record on LGBT issues in power is much better than the others.
SackTheresaMay
RT @leftfootfwd: Protesters unimpressed by Theresa May's conversion on gay rights http://bit.ly/bZ7g0w
Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman
Theresa May remains unfit for the role of Minister for Women and Equalities.
Ian Tucker criticises the Facebook petition that continues to call for Theresa May to be removed from the role of Minister for Women and Equalities. (Cf. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/23/theresa-may-gay-rights-facebook) He claims that “its reaction perhaps helps illustrate how you often get little respect for changing your mind”. On the contrary, there are three reasons why this petition quite rightly continues, in spite of her professed change of mind.
First, she changed her mind on gay adoption, and her professed reasons for doing so had nothing to do with a belief in equal gay rights. They had to do with the welfare of children in care. (Cf. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peAmygbh7CQ) Why should this particular change of mind, for this particular reason, give us any cause to think that Theresa May now believes in equal gay rights?
Second, while I welcome the fact that, in 2004, she voted freely for civil partnerships, this is not evidence that she had, at that time, changed her mind on equal gay rights more generally. For, only a year prior, in 2003, she didn’t bother to turn up to vote for the repeal of Section 28, and, earlier in 2004, she didn’t bother to turn up to vote for the Gender Recognition Bill. Moreover, as recently as 2007, she didn’t bother to turn up to support the Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations Bill. Furthermore, in 2008, when she was given a free vote by her leader, she voted against the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, thereby denying, to those same couples she had previously agreed could be civilly partnered, any rights of access to fertility treatment.
Third, at a moment when gay Malawians face 14 years imprisonment, gay Ugandans face the death penalty, and a lesbian Iranian asylum-seeker is about to be deported from Britain to face torture, the public perception of the Minister for Equalities will make or break our ability to push for equal gay rights around the world. Indeed, the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said as much to Eddie Mair on BBC Radio 4’s PM last Thursday: “if we are going to win over other countries to our own values, we have to increasingly inspire them with how we represent those values ourselves”.
Theresa May does not represent those values. She does not inspire them. Whenever the gauntlet of equal gay rights has been thrown down, Theresa May has invariably either run into hiding or paraded her homophobia. We need an inspirational champion of equal gay rights, not someone who begrudingly concedes them. Theresa May remains unfit for the role of Minister for Women and Equalities.
Nick Wilde
She is clearly refusing to celebrate LGBT culture. How can such a person represent anyone in a progressive country. Surely, such a person should not be in public office.