The leader of the Labour Party also lamented the Conservative Party for stoking “culture wars”
BY ELLA GAUCI
Keir Starmer promised that a Labour Government would bring about major improvements to LGBTQIA rights at home and abroad in his speech at the LGBT+ Labour event in Parliament this evening (29 January).
From modernising the Gender Recognition Act to banning so-called conversion “therapy”, the leader of the Labour Party drew on the Party’s long history with LGBTQIA rights to solidify his commitment to change.
“Labour governments and the LGBT+ movement have a history of achieving incredible things together,” Starmer told attendees of the event, which included the likes of Angela Rayner and Anneliese Dodds. DIVA Publisher Linda Riley was also in attendance alongside MPs Dawn Butler and Kate Osborne.
“Look what we did: decriminalised homosexuality, the Equality Act, repealed Section 28, the Gender Recognition Act and the Civil Partnership Act,” he continued. “A whole raft of groundbreaking legislation that moved the dial towards the equal rights LGBT+ people deserve, protected people from discrimination and changed people’s lives.”
The leader of the Labour Party also lamented the actions of the Conservative Party, claiming that they have stoked “culture wars” and “pitted people against each other”. Starmer warned that the recent decisions such as their failure to ban so-called conversion “therapy” and disbanding their LGBT Advisory Panel have “put vulnerable people in danger”.
New hate crime statistics published by the Home Office last year saw that hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation are up by 112% in the last five years, and transphobic hate crimes have increased by 186% across the same period.
Starmer told the attendees at the event that a Labour government would be committed to changing this worrying reality. He pledged that Labour would fight to make sure that LGBTQIA people can live in a society where they aren’t just safe, but celebrated.
“We’ll strengthen the law, so every category of hate crime is treated as an aggravated offence,” Starmer said. “We’ll cut NHS waiting lists for LGBT+ people waiting for urgent physical and mental health care. We’ll modernise the Gender Recognition Act. We’ll implement a full, trans-inclusive, ban on all forms of conversion therapy. We fully support the view that conversion therapy is psychologically damaging abuse.”
“We are committed to a decade of national renewal and will work with all the organisations in this room tonight so every child can feel proud and confident in who they are, to stand up for LGBT+ rights at home and abroad and to get Britain’s future back.”
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