THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY
“I’m very proud to have introduced same-sex marriage in the UK; it is right that the love two people have for each other — and the commitment they wish to make — is recognised. It sends a powerful message to young LGBT people, clearly saying ‘you are equal’ and should be able to achieve your full potential. This is important as we work to create a society in which people are no longer bullied because of their sexuality.” David Cameron, Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party Nicky Morgan is the Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Equalities Why are the Conservatives the party best placed to deliver equality? The Conservative Party believes in a society where people can live their lives and achieve their potential without fear of discrimination because of their sexual orientation. Over the course of this parliament the Conservative Party has worked towards securing full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people and one of the government’s first acts was to announce legislation which allowed people to erase What policies would the Conservatives put in place to combat homophobic bullying in schools, including academies, free and faith schools? All schools, regardless of type, should tackle homophobic bullying and we have made that absolutely clear to heads and teachers around the country. We’ve also been clear with schools that they also have a duty to tackle not just direct homophobic bullying, but the use of phrases such as “that’s so gay” to describe something as bad or rubbish. Clearly, there is more to do, which is why last year I announced a £2 million fund to help organisations carry out work to tackle homophobic bullying in schools. We received a range of high quality bids and I’m confident that successful projects will make a real difference in improving the school experience of LGBT young people.
We’re pleased that the evidence shows that, whilst homophobic bullying remains too common, it is falling, and that teachers report growing confidence in their ability to tackle it. Over the next five years we want to continue to support schools to tackle homophobic bullying and hold to account those schools that are failing to do so. And in the workplace? England has some of the strongest workplace discrimination laws in the world when it comes to sexual orientation. But we know that doesn’t mean that every workplace is taking steps to tackle bullying. The best employers recognise that people perform best when they can be themselves and that means creating a workplace culture where people can be open about their sexual orientation. Workplaces that don’t do this risk losing out on the best talent. We would encourage employers to use tools like Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index to see what more they could do to make their workplaces supportive environments for their LGBT staff.
Within the public sector, and where the government is the employer, we continue to take steps to ensure that we attract the best of LGBT talent. We have recently commissioned a review by former Stonewall CEO Ben Summerskill into what more can be done to Would a Conservative government upgrade homophobic crimes to “aggravated” offences on a par with religiously and racially motivated hate crimes? Homophobic hate crime is a blight on our country and something that we should all be committed to eradicating. That’s why this government has worked hard with local police forces to improve the recording of hate crimes against LGBT people — from April 2012, police forces have been required to collect this data, and the first set of data was published as official statistics in 2013. In March 2012, the government also published Challenge it, Report it, Stop it, an action plan to tackle all forms of hate crime, including homophobic and transphobic hate crime. A report on progress was published on 1 May 2014.
We’ve also increased the length of sentences for those convicted of hate crime directed at transgender people. We’ll be closely monitoring the impact of these changes, and if they aren’t having the impact we all want to see we won’t hesitate to take further action. Should marriage equality have been devolved in Northern Ireland? Marriage equality is a devolved issue in Scotland and Northern Ireland. We believe that it is right that the decision should be taken by the people of Northern Ireland and their elected representatives. How would the Conservatives apply pressure internationally to uphold the human rights of LGBT people around the world? The Conservative Party is committed to supporting the rights of LGBT people not just in the UK but internationally. In government we have worked to support LGBT activists throughout the world through the Department for International Development and we have also used our position on the world stage to make clear our concerns about the treatment of LGBT people – this included the Prime Minister raising his concerns about Russia’s new anti-gay laws. If re-elected the Conservative Party would continue to position Britain as a beacon of equality for the rest of the world. We’re immensely proud to have seen Britain ranked as the number 1 country for gay equality in Europe and want to do more to use our influence in the rest of the world. Should legislation and votes which directly concern sexuality be “free” or subjected to a party whip? I think that issues of conscience should be left up to individual MPs outside of a party line whip. Some issues affecting sexuality will fall into this category and others won’t. Have you ever been to a gay wedding? I haven’t yet had the opportunity to go to a gay wedding, but have been to a number of civil partnership ceremonies.
Do the Conservatives know how many of