Gay Rights Would 'Grind to a Halt' Under Tories

10.31.54am GMT Sun 17th Jan 2010

A third of Tory MP's voted against the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations in March 2007 to stop the government making regulations to prevent discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation

Parliamentary Spokesperson for the Lib Dems, Cllr Marc Ramsbottom, has warned that gay rights would 'grind to a halt' if the Conservatives won the next election. His claim is based on research carried out by the Liberal Democrats which shows that nearly a third of David Cameron's shadow cabinet voted against gay rights legislation over the last two parliaments. David Cameron himself voted against legislation to repeal section 28, which for a long time banned local authorities and schools from 'promoting' homosexuality, in 2003. Nineteen members of the shadow cabinet joined an attempt to block the Equality Bill, which included a requirement for all publicly funded bodies to promote equality.

"The Tory record on gay rights is shameful. Any progress that has been made in recent years to achieve equality would come to a grinding halt if the Tories won the election", said Cllr Marc Ramsbottom, prospective parliamentary candidate for Manchester Central for the Liberal Democrats.

Liberal Democrats have recently proposed a series of measures including reversing the decision to ban gay men from giving blood; a requirement that faith schools implement anti homophobic bullying policies; a change in the law to allow civil partnerships to be regarded as marriage; and a guarantee of asylum to refugees who have fled a country because of persecution over their sexual orientation.