It is a pleasure to open this cross-party Backbench Business Committee debate as Pride Month 2021 comes to its conclusion. All too sadly, once more coronavirus restrictions have meant that it has been more online than on the streets, and less visible and impactful because of that. Coronavirus has hit the LGBT community especially hard, because it has caused huge disruption in those sectors that often provide employment, as well as closing completely many of the safe social spaces on which the community relies.
Pride Month is a time when the LGBT community can celebrate our diversity, commemorate those who fought to end our oppression, and support those who continue to fight against the ongoing discrimination and bigotry that are sadly still prevalent in our society. This Parliament has made great progress since I was first elected, as I think your predecessor in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker, was anxious to say at the end of the last debate. We have transformed ourselves from a virtually LGBT-free legislature into one of the gayest Parliaments in the world—that is often on my mind when I sit on these green Benches waiting to be called. I therefore look forward to contributions to today’s debate from all parts of the House.
It is impossible, however, not to observe that this debate is taking place against a confusing backdrop of simultaneous progress and backlash for LGBT+ people in our own country, and across the world. On the one hand we have the historic and welcome decision by the Methodists to allow same-sex marriage, but on the other we have an increasingly hostile atmosphere for LGBT people on our streets. It demonstrates that while we celebrate the progress made, we cannot take it for granted or give up on the fight for global LGBT rights across the world.
Here in the UK, the cross-party agreement on LGBT rights, which has been such a welcome feature of our politics since 2010, appears to be under some strain. That strain may not be reflected in today’s debate, but it is demonstrated by the Government’s increasing appetite for fomenting divisive culture wars that seek to pit one group in society against another. That emboldens bullies and problematises vulnerable minorities. It generates fear and resentments, which can only do harm. That divisive tactic has especially been directed towards trans people, who are often among the least protected and the most vulnerable in our community.
Theoretical support for LGBT+ rights is of course hugely welcome, but we must judge a Government by their actions as well as their words. An LGBT person here in the UK might have been badly affected by the Government’s decision to end funding for anti-bullying work in schools last November. They might be worried that the Government are intent on rolling back some of the progress already made, by tearing up their 2018 LGBT action plan and disbanding the advisory panel because, in the words of the current Secretary of State responsible for equalities, it was created by a “previous Administration”.
If a person is trans or non-binary, they might be mortified that here in the UK their very existence appears to be up for debate in the name of someone else’s “free speech”, while crucial health support for them is increasingly unavailable. Meanwhile, out on our streets, homophobic hate crimes have soared, increasing by 19% last year, with transphobic hate crimes up 16%. Over the same period the number of prosecutions has plummeted from 20% of reports to a mere 8%. If an LGBT person looks abroad, they might see their Hungarian counterparts being subjected to a section-28 style anti-LGBT law that bans the so-called “promotion of homosexuality”—that has a familiar ring to it—or their Polish counterparts being forced to live in newly established “LGBT free zones”.
Although the Government’s LGBT envoy Lord Herbert has rightly condemned the new Hungarian law, our own Prime Minister’s eagerness to roll out the red carpet in Downing Street for its author Viktor Orbán was an unconvincing way of expressing his official disapproval. The total silence that has accompanied the homophobic baiting of Kim Leadbeater, Labour’s candidate in the Batley and Spen by-election, sends its own signal to those perpetrating the abuse.
To improve on their LGBT credentials, the Government have to make good on the promises they have already made. As a minimum, they must introduce a ban on conversion therapy, with no religious exemptions and no loopholes; progress the long-promised reform of the Gender Recognition Act 2004; and oversee the proper introduction of inclusive sex and relationship education in schools, with robust, proactive guidance. The Government must take action against demonstrations outside schools that are organised to stir up hatred and intimidate children and teachers.
In March this year, we had a very disappointing response from the Minister for Equalities to the petitions debate on banning the abhorrent and abusive practice of conversion therapy. This led to an unprecedented cross-party letter to the Government in support of an outright ban, signed by the LGBT+ groups of eight political parties represented in this House. A full 12 months have passed since the Prime Minister’s pledge to ban conversion therapy. We are told that a Bill is in the works—I sincerely hope one is—but all we have seen are the assurances given to the Evangelical Alliance that “religious freedoms” will be upheld. If the forthcoming Bill creates exemptions for religion, it will not actually constitute a ban, because 50% of conversion therapy takes place in a religious setting.
The leaderships of all the major religions have stated that they are in favour of a ban on conversion therapy, as is the UN. Abuse, coercion, corrective rape and exorcism have no place in a civilised society and no place in acceptable religious practice. The UN independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity has concluded that conversion therapy is
“degrading, inhuman and cruel in its very essence”.
The US independent forensic expert group on conversion therapy has concluded:
“All practices attempting conversion are inherently humiliating, demeaning, and discriminatory”,
and that they
“generate profound feelings of shame, guilt self-disgust, and worthlessness”.
It is no wonder that those subjected to conversion therapy often suffer mental health breakdown as a direct result, so what on earth are the Government waiting for? They should now proceed with a complete ban, with no loopholes.
The Government have reneged on their own stated intention of reforming the Gender Recognition Act. Instead, they appear to be much more focused on encouraging the waging of a disgraceful hybrid war on Stonewall because it is trans-inclusive. The Government should concentrate instead on modernising the arrangements around gender recognition to make them more humane.
Trans people are finding themselves under siege, used as an excuse to bring back the same old anti-LGBT tropes, which those of us who are old enough to have experienced them recognise from the 1980s: stirring up fear about predators, safety in bathrooms and, most insultingly of all, the safety of children. This Government seem to have completely forgotten that at the heart of this long-overdue reform are people who are just trying to live their lives.
I am a proud lesbian, a proud feminist and a trans ally, and I see absolutely no contradiction between any of these values. The battle for equal treatment, dignity and human rights for all can be achieved only with empathy and solidarity between those who have been oppressed by discrimination and bigotry and their allies. Change is achieved by working together. That is why some seek to foment fear and division to prevent progress to a fairer society, free of all discrimination.
The Government continue to claim that the UK is a world leader in LGBT rights. For that to be the case, they must stop giving a green light to those stoking fears and isolating an already vulnerable community that feels under siege and increasingly abandoned. The Government must follow international best practice and allow trans and non-binary people to obtain legal gender recognition through a simple administrative process. To address another myth head on, that does not mean that Keith will be able to identify as Kathy whenever they choose and then switch back again. It means that trans people can establish their legal status in a simple process and do the things that the rest of us take for granted, such as getting married in the right gender or having their pension and insurance policies administered in the right gender. The current bureaucratic, demeaning and intrusive process, which involves them having to get doctors to agree that they are suffering from a mental illness and to certify that they have lived in their preferred gender for two years, is no longer fit for purpose. Again, I implore the Government: you promised you would do this, now just get on with it.
On 27 March 2019, this House took a historic decision when it voted by 538 to 21 to approve a set of draft regulations to introduce inclusive sex and relationship education in our schools, putting it on a statutory footing. That guarantees that children are properly equipped for adult life and ensures that they can be supported to live a happy and safe life. The Government must recognise and defeat the challenge posed to Parliament’s intention by the organised demonstrations outside schools which lie about the content of the lessons and seek to foster panic and hatred, while intimidating children and teachers. They must be robustly dealt with.
We have come a long way in our campaign to ensure that LGBT+ people are a part of our society, with equal rights under the law. We have further to go to ensure that those theoretical rights exist in reality in our country and in the world. I for one will continue to fight until LGBT equality is achieved.
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Wallasey (Dame Angela Eagle). I was proud to co-sign the application for this important debate.
To begin, I wish everyone in this House, in my constituency, in the UK and around the world a very happy Pride indeed. It has not looked the same this year as it has in previous years. We have been moved to online events and we have not been able to have our usual festivities and celebrations, but I hope that from 2022 onwards we can certainly get back to that to celebrate the contribution of LGBT+ people to this country, recognising how far we have come, and acknowledging the work that is still left to do and the progress that is left to be made.
We are now more than 50 years on from the Stonewall riots in the United States and from the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in the United Kingdom. Next year, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first ever Pride rally in the UK, in London. LGBT history, however, stretches far back, not just over the past 50 years, but to the beginning of time itself, as I am sure the Minister knows—by that, I do not mean that the Minister was there at the time and could tell us all about it.
I believe it to be a sign of better times that I can stand here today as a proudly openly gay man in what was until last year, when New Zealand beat us to the post, the gayest Parliament in the world, happily engaged to my fiancé Jed, having grown up with an accepting family, a supportive school, supportive workplaces and in a country that recognises my rights. Indeed, just yesterday, as was mentioned by the hon. Member for Wallasey, we reached yet another milestone with the Methodist Church’s welcome overwhelming support for same-sex marriage in their churches.
During Pride, it is important that we recognise the progress that has been made and celebrate those champions who fought to get us to this point, but it is especially important to recognise that there is still much to do. There are so many issues that it would be important to raise but, in my short contribution today, I cannot do them all justice. However, I want to highlight some of the most pressing.
It means a great deal to me to speak in this debate.
If I could give one piece of advice to a young person today, it would be this. Be proud of who you are and who you choose to love. You may have had the frightening realisation that you feel different from the expectations that society has for you. You may be questioning your relationships, your gender or your sexuality. It is frightening. There is good reason to be fearful. Coming out is scary and you might suffer because of it. But what you probably have not been told is that hiding who you are into adulthood will cause you far more suffering anyway.
Just growing up LGBT, with the cumulative effect of the daily denials, the constant fear of being found out and the internalised shame, causes a deep trauma. Despite social progress, and despite many of us never having experienced direct discrimination or abuse, rates of depression, loneliness, substance abuse and suicide among gay men are many, many times higher than across society, each of these in turn causing more shame, more fear and more trauma.
That is what happened to me. It took me a long time to admit that I was struggling with my mental health and alcohol addiction. Actually, it took repeated interventions from the people who really love me. I did not know, or I denied, that I had a problem. I suppressed my emotions, as I had learned to do as a kid, and I told myself things were fine. Only looking back now have I been able to accept that in my 20s I twice nearly lost my life to alcohol; I was saved only by the actions of others. Drinking was destroying my body. It was damaging to me, to my relationships and in so many other ways.
Alcohol addiction is not just about drinking every day or drunkenness. For me, it was about losing who I was over a long period of time. It was desperate isolation. It was shutting down my personal life using a drug, alcohol, to feel better but ultimately to escape and give up on living. I now know that it has blighted most of my adult life. Fortunately, I have a mother who would protect me at all costs, a father who is the most generous, selfless man I have ever known, a brother who supported me through all this without judgment, and friends who quite literally saved my life.
What a hugely impressive, moving contribution we have just heard from the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Dan Carden)—a really brave thing to do, but important, because a lot of people outside this place do not think that the people within it address and deal with these issues themselves. It is really important, but it doubles down on a bit of guilt that I personally have, because I feel that I have found it very easy since I came out. That is because of the work and efforts of so many other people, and other people who have heard what the hon. Gentleman has had to say today will have their journeys impacted and made easier by it.
I do not think there is any definitive way to come out, and we must not in any way try to prescribe what people should do. Everybody has to do what is right for them, and they have to make their own decisions, but I have no regrets. I benefited from a loving family, great friends, and the supportive working environment here. There was already a strong cross-party LGBT+ community within Parliament, and it was extremely supportive. Coming out did not seem to stand in the way of what I then regarded as a political career, either, because I was the first openly gay Conservative Cabinet member, and I was hugely honoured when my then Cabinet colleague Justine Greening subsequently said to me that I had been the inspiration for her own coming out.
Only one constituent has raised the issue negatively with me face to face on the doorstep, although I realise that, as my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Elliot Colburn) set out, that is not the same for everyone. However, we do now face the well of poison that is social media, and I am sad to say that homophobia is a real part of that. I try not to pay too much attention to what is said there: like, I assume, so many people here today, I do not read a lot of what is said about myself, but sometimes we do have to push back. For me, that occasion was when a blogger called “Wings Over Scotland” asserted that gay people should not have children, with particular reference to my older son, who is a Member of the Scottish Parliament. Among others, Kezia Dugdale, the former Labour leader in the Scottish Parliament, spoke up for us, and she, for her support, ended up being sued by the self-same blogger who had put up the article. The matter went to court in a well-documented case in Scotland, but I am pleased to say that he lost. I regard that as a victory, at least in Scotland, for those willing to stand up against homophobia, and I remain particularly grateful to Kez for her support.
Where once the UK played a major role in exporting homophobia around the world, over the last decade, I am glad to say, we have actually had a relatively positive story to tell. Previous speakers have talked eloquently of the progress that we have made, but this Pride month it is important for us to take a snapshot of what it is currently like to be LGBTQ in the UK.
As we have already heard, there is evidence today that we are more likely to self-harm, to feel suicidal and to have negative experiences in accessing healthcare. We are more likely to be the victim of a crime, but less likely to feel safe enough to report it to the police, so there is no shortage of areas where we still have work to do. But a trans person is even more likely to experience everything I have just listed—and worse. That is because over the last five years there has been an organised and concerted international campaign against the trans community, and the UK is no exception.
Where 40 years ago the media, the religious right, and the institutional powers would spread fear and distrust about homosexuals, today we are witnessing the same tactics being recycled and deployed against the trans community. We know this because the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation published a study just this year looking at the evolution of extremism in the first 100 days of the Biden Administration, and it found that:
“Transphobia has long been one of the most major and ubiquitous narratives around which the far right mobilises… Transphobia should be recognised as a security concern.”
We also know it because the Southern Poverty Law Centre in the US noted an annual right-wing, fundamentalist event called the Values Voter Summit, where transphobia was openly discussed as a tactic to be deployed, because rallying against homosexuals was not working any more. In 2017, one of the far-right panellists said:
First, I thank the hon. Member for Wallasey (Dame Angela Eagle), my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Elliot Colburn) and the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire (John Nicolson) for securing this debate, and I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Dan Carden) for his powerful personal contribution to it. I think we were all very touched by his words in this House.
LGBTQ heritage is everywhere in central London in my constituency of the Cities of London and Westminster. It is embedded in the buildings, in the landscapes and all around us, as well as in the significant contribution made by the personalities connected to those landmarks. I feel truly honoured to represent an area with such a rich LGBTQ social and cultural history, from the west end, Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus to the incredible cultural hub that is Soho. In fact, the first gay bar in Britain in the modern sense was The Cave of the Golden Calf, which opened in 1912 in Heddon Street in the heart of the west end—[Interruption.] I think a couple of my fellow Members may have been to the opening.
With Pride Month drawing to a close, I want to put on record how incredibly proud I am of our community for rallying together to celebrate. Despite the great challenges faced by LGBTQ people during covid-19, one thing that the crisis has shown is the value and power of community. I am proud that when I became leader of Westminster City Council, one of the first appointments that I made was to establish a lead member for the LGBTQ community. I am delighted that Councillor Ian Adams, who I appointed, retains that position today. Owing to his success of championing LGBTQ rights in London, Ian has won the global OUTstanding LGBTQ role model award, and I am sure that the whole House will join me in celebrating that momentous achievement.
I am very pleased to speak in this debate, which was opened so strongly by my hon. Friend the Member for Wallasey (Dame Angela Eagle). I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Walton (Dan Carden) for his deeply honest and brave contribution, with its incredibly powerful message.
What drives me and so many others in politics is a determination to make sure that the future will be better than what has gone before. In so many ways, the struggle for LGBT+ rights is one that shows us that things can get better. I do not mean that they have got better for everyone, either in our country or around the world, and progress should never be taken for granted or assumed to be permanent; but as a testament to the power of politics and activism to change things for the better, the LGBT+ rights struggle is one that has given me and many others hope.
In the year I was born, there were no openly LGBT+ MPs. The following year, Chris Smith came out. And 35 years later the most recent general election returned more lesbian, gay and bisexual MPs than any other Parliament around the world. I have spoken to Chris Smith over the years, and I have always been incredibly grateful to him for his personal support and for being one of the giants on whose shoulders I and so many others stand.
So many of the basic rights that we have today—from being able to get married, to being protected from discrimination—were not in our country’s law when I first began to understand the problems caused by their absence. Yet a coalition of campaigners, activists, trade unionists and progressive politicians made it possible to change our country for the better. As a teenager, I remember the Labour Government abolishing section 28, which had caused so much harm. When I was in my 20s, we introduced the Equality Act 2010, which made discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex and gender identity illegal. In my 30s, our votes were crucial in winning marriage equality.
This debate has been marked by incredibly powerful contributions, not least from the hon. Member for Ealing North (James Murray), whom I have the privilege of following in this debate. Even before we began, the statement by Mr Deputy Speaker from the Chair sent its own message about the importance of this debate and the example that this, the mother of Parliaments, can show around the world to other Parliaments about the progress that will be made as human societies become more comfortable with people being able to be themselves; not seeing that as a threat to order in their societies, but as a positive asset in the richness that can be brought to the life of a whole country and a whole nation, as well as the enormous enrichment that then comes from the individual being able to live their life as they wish.
All of us taking part in this debate so far have been on that journey. My experience is similar to my right hon. Friend the Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell). That is the reason why both of us are contributing to this debate and making it an important part of our contribution to Parliament as long as we have the privilege of remaining here. It is why Mr Deputy Speaker, in closing the previous debate and teeing this one up, made the statement he did. I am very proud that in Pride Month we all can be so proud of the contribution that this Parliament has made and will make.
It is my pleasure and privilege to chair the all-party parliamentary group on global LGBT+ rights and to do that with the support of the hon. Member for Wallasey (Dame Angela Eagle), who opened the debate so powerfully. I associate myself with everything she said. She is quite right to point out how much needs to be done and how, even in the United Kingdom, the atmosphere has not necessarily changed for the better over the last couple of years. I want to look forward. I think this Administration have now started to grip the issue and perhaps, in due course, ground will be made up on one or two things that slid in the last year or so —in particular on the misfired response to the consultation on the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
My apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker. Of course I will do that. In conclusion—I was about to do this anyway—will my hon. Friend the Member for Finchley and Golders Green confirm that we will deliver as a Government on the commitments undertaken? That will give us the capacity to lead globally on LGBT rights in a way that will also work well with the parliamentary liaison scheme. A decent proportion of that money should be spent through embassies and the missions in-country, because every jurisdiction is difficult and there is a challenge faced by LGBT people globally. In that way, we can make our British missions overseas more effective in advancing the rights of LGBT people globally. Our message will be delivered much more effectively if every ambassador and high commissioner who represents the United Kingdom in countries where people like us are criminalised or actively oppressed, can bring to bear resources in whatever way is appropriate to support local organisations and legal challenges, and to support the shaping of the media debate around achieving the “right to be me”.
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The first is the need to remember that, while we are lucky to live in a country that does recognise the rights of LGBT+ people in law, to this day, around the world, LGBT+ people face persecution and even the death penalty simply because of their sexuality, gender identity or expression. In some countries, particularly in eastern Europe, in places such as Hungary and Poland, we do seem to be taking a step backwards. So the United Kingdom must remain strong in condemning these abhorrent human rights abuses, and I hope that we can use our position as the host of that global LGBT+ conference to push that agenda and re-establish that commitment.
We have made great strides in the UK, but far too many LGBT+ people in this country still experience hate crime and discrimination. Since being elected as an MP, I have received a death threat that focused on my sexuality. I had a shocking reminder of that just this week when my gay office manager, Tommy, was spat at and called a “faggot” in the streets. I met members of the LGBT+ community at the Pride reception that the Prime Minister held on Tuesday, where I was sad to hear the story of Josh, who was brutally attacked in Liverpool.
Since 2015, recorded hate crime based on sexual orientation has doubled and hate crime based on gender identity has tripled, but, as we know, so much goes unreported. I know that a review is taking place into hate crime, so I wonder whether the Minister can set out how the review will seek to improve those statistics. No one should feel unsafe to be simply who they are. One way that we can move towards that is by bringing about that all-important ban on LGBT+ conversion therapy in the United Kingdom.
Since being elected as an MP, it has been my privilege, and it has been humbling, to work with colleagues, campaigners and survivors over the past year and a half on trying to bring about that ban and I am delighted that plans to do so were in the Queen’s Speech. As I led the Westminster Hall debate on this issue only a few months ago, I do not want to revisit all of the points that I made there and that were very ably made by the hon. Member for Wallasey. But it does bear repeating that these abhorrent practices have not been consigned to the past; they are happening right now, today, in the United Kingdom. People are being forced to go overseas to undergo some truly abhorrent treatment. We owe it to them, after hearing the heartbreaking stories of those survivors, to secure that ban and I hope that it will be this Parliament that secures it.
I know that the Government are issuing a consultation on this prior to legislation. I would be grateful if we could get an update on the steer and scope of that consultation and on timelines, because every single day that we delay there is a chance of another person being subjected to these practices.
Another area in which we need to make much greater strides is, of course, LGBT+ healthcare. The powerful telling of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the TV series “It’s a Sin” has brought back into sharp focus how far we have come in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. June 2021 marked 40 years since the first cases of HIV were reported. A lot has changed since then in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. It is no longer a death sentence in the United Kingdom. We are now in a position to end new transmissions by 2030 and the Government have committed to that goal, but it will not be easy to achieve it. The action plan must be worthy of its name. Any update that we can have on the date of the publication of that plan will be very welcome.
Elsewhere in the UK, accessing healthcare can still be very difficult, uncomfortable, and, in some cases, even traumatising for LGBT+ people, particularly for the trans community, who face years and years of waiting lists, no support in that time and, often, when they are eventually through the door, a less than satisfactory service. I hope that we can use this moment here today to take some of the heat out of this debate and discussion, because having an increasingly polarised debate helps no one whatsoever. We need to be leading from the front. Sadly, politics, media and academia have been responsible for a lot of the polarising discussions that we have been having not just in the UK, but across the world. It is our responsibility to try to calm that back down, have a sensible discussion and do what is right by those thousands of people who are just trying to live their lives.
Pride is more than just a four-week period of parties, parades, festivals, and companies changing their logos in the western world, but not in the middle east. Pride is a shared experience, but also a deeply individual one. To me, Pride is about exactly what it says on the tin: it is about pride; about being proud. It is a seemingly simple notion to feel proud in your own skin, to be proud of who you are, but one that, sadly, way too many LGBT+ people in this country and around the world are still unable to feel in themselves. Instead, they live with confusion, anguish, or even fear. It is for this reason—because there are those who live in fear, those who suffer violence simply because of who they are, and those who in the most tragic of circumstances believe that they would be better off dead—that Pride is still so important and still needed to this day.
I am now in the third year of recovery, and I am proud of it. Like so many in the recovery community, I am happy, I am healthy, I love my life, I have a wonderful, loving partner, and I appreciate everything that I have. But it took AA meetings, psychotherapy and counselling to get here, and, honestly, to stay here takes commitment and daily determination. I am in a privileged position. I am all too aware that not everybody makes it. Addiction is fatal if not treated. I have gone from not recognising addiction in myself for so long to seeing it everywhere, and doing its worst damage in the most deprived communities. Addiction is killing more people and ruining more lives than ever. It has killed Members of this House, yet we would still rather hide its ugly reality.
I hope that my openness today can help challenge the stigma that stops so many people asking for help, and nothing would mean more to me than turning the pain I have been through, and that I have put my family and loved ones through, into meaningful change. I know I have to be authentic if I am going to do that. Pride is about celebrating who we are without shame. In the end, it is a simple choice: choose to hide, or choose to live. My advice is to choose to live.
As we have heard already, my positive experience is not shared by everyone, and for many it is still hard to come to terms with their identity. Although we have a record number of LGBT+ MPs, I am sure there are others who have chosen not to come out. As I said in my initial remarks, it is always a personal decision, and there is no one approach or right answer as to how to do it. What is not acceptable is that people feel unable to come out because of fear of abuse or discrimination. I think that particularly we as parliamentarians have a duty to ensure that sexuality is never a barrier for people who wish to pursue a career in public office.
Of course, this is not just about MPs or public office; it is our job to stand up for the young people bullied at school, those discriminated against whatever their workplace, and particularly, as the hon. Member for Wallasey (Dame Angela Eagle) very eloquently set out, the trans community, who continue to experience so much discrimination and inequality and have their human rights abused. I strongly believe that education is our most powerful tool to bring about real change—and I particularly welcome this Parliament’s effort in providing more LGBT resources for school students to develop their thinking about LGBTQ+ rights, equality and legislation—but there is much more that needs to be done in that regard.
I acknowledge particular initiatives such as the TIE—Time for Inclusive Education—initiative in Scotland, which has done so much to promote the need for LGBT+ education in our schools, and School Diversity Week, which was an initiative of, among others, Paul Brand, the ITV reporter. I particularly want to commend Paul because I think he is a great ambassador for the community, especially in moving into the position where he is now. He once told me that if people were LGBT in the media, it was fine if they were an arts and culture reporter, but they were not allowed to do serious news, but Paul has absolutely demonstrated that that is just not the case.
As I have said, as MPs we have a responsibility to call out discrimination and highlight the injustices that members of the community face, but—this has already been touched on—not just in the UK. I see this as an important part of my role as a member of the executive committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. I hope that we will be able to push LGBT+ equality and human rights up the Commonwealth agenda, delivering better rights for LGBT+ communities around the world. It is absolutely and completely unacceptable that in some Commonwealth countries the death penalty still applies for homosexuality, and that in others LGBT+ people are routinely harassed or arrested by the authorities. As the Terrence Higgins Trust and others have pointed out in relation to combating HIV, the criminalisation of LGBT+ people in many countries is actually one reason why those from the community receive such poor treatment or no treatment for their HIV.
I particularly commend the initiative of my hon. Friend the Member for Reigate (Crispin Blunt), who, as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on global LGBT rights, many of whose members are participating today, is promoting a scheme that will link Members of this Parliament with groups in countries around the world where the LGBT community is under threat. I look forward to playing a part in that scheme.
I echo much of what the hon. Member for Wallasey and my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington said about conversion therapy. The debate that we took part in was totally unsatisfactory; I hope that it was then a catalyst for the action that we have seen from the Government—obviously, that now needs to be followed through. One development since then that I particularly welcome is the appointment of Lord Herbert as the Prime Minister’s envoy. Few people have done more in this place and elsewhere to promote LGBT+ rights around the world than Lord Herbert. I am convinced that he will be a force for good.
I want to finish on a positive note, about this Parliament. I was asked to write an article during history month about the role of parliamentarians and Parliament itself. What I found out was that since I was first elected in 2005, Parliament itself has made great strides to become more inclusive and diverse. The House of Commons and Parliamentary Digital Service have a higher representation of LGBT+ staff—at 5.6%, as of 2020—than the civil service, the UK or London. They have become a really good working environment for those of us in the LGBT+ community. The efforts of Parliament’s LGBT+ workplace equality network, ParliOUT, which recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary, have played a huge role in achieving that. On the back of that, it has been especially encouraging to see so many LGBT+ colleagues elected at the 2019 general election. As is the theme of Pride, I was myself very, very proud to be one of them.
“Trans and gender identity are a tough sell, so focus on gender identity to divide and conquer…trans activists need the gay rights movement to help legitimize them…If you separate the T from the alphabet soup, we’ll have more success”.
Is it not interesting that this was around the same time that we saw a swathe of online Twitter accounts seeking to establish themselves in the UK and purporting to speak for LGB people against trans rights, especially when studies consecutively show that LGB people overwhelmingly support the trans community?
That panellist went on to identify a range of potential allies outside the fundamentalist right who could potentially be most effectively drawn in. The list includes
“women, sexual assault survivors…ethnic minorities who…value modesty, economically challenged children…and…children with anxiety disorders”.
As with all far-right recruitment tactics, a minority has been targeted, and hatred and distrust are stoked against them by preying upon people’s fears—in this instance, by projecting a manipulative and false narrative that there is conflict between trans rights and women’s rights, when the truth is that we are battling the same problems and the same patriarchal beast. Trans people are just as—if not more—likely to experience poverty, crime and sexual violence.
Looking at the UK, we can see what was advised at this right-wing event playing out. We see self-proclaimed organisations and blogs, which have already been mentioned, projecting things that are factually and scientifically incorrect. We see trauma and poverty being treated as a recruitment tool. We see attacks against women’s organisations and rape support crisis centres for daring to be trans inclusive. But worse yet, we see a media in this country that continually platform and project these hateful, disproportionate views, uncritically.
I have always been clear that in order to progress, we have to give people the space to educate themselves and ask the ignorant questions without fear of repercussion, otherwise nobody moves forward, but this has to be done respectfully and on the terms of those who are affected most. That is not what is happening with the trans community, and that alone speaks volumes.
More personally, my office and I have been left in a position for years whereby our workload has been increased not just by world events, but by people—not just my own distressed LGBT constituents, but people from all across the UK—who have contacted me because they are too frightened to contact their own MP. These are constituents of Tory MPs, Labour MPs and, I am ashamed to say, SNP MPs. I have ran out of excuses to give them. There are numerous parliamentary inquiries and reports that make clear the expert legal and medical advice, and explain clearly the lived experience and reality for trans people. It is there for anybody who wants to educate themselves on the matter.
Be in no doubt, we are living within a moral panic right now, and it is being fanned by organised disinformation and online radicalisation. If we as legislators capitulate to it, all we do is send an international message that disinformation works.
My final remarks are to trans and queer people directly. This is an ugly and shameful time for all of us, but that shame is not yours to feel or yours to carry. In the same way that we teach young people about gay history now, and they are horrified when they hear of our past treatment, so, too, will future children be when they find out how trans people were treated today. This will pass and, in the meantime, know that there are allies everywhere that are with you and are fighting for you publicly and behind the scenes, and, as our community is so often having to tell people, we are going absolutely nowhere.
Of course, in normal times, we are so fortunate here in London to have such a wealth of celebrations during Pride Month, not least the great London Pride march, which, last time it was held, in 2019, attracted an estimated 1.5 million spectators. I took part in that Pride march. It was my first and by no means my last; I was part of the Westminster City Council parade group. I am not sure if there is one in Parliament, but perhaps if there is not, we should organise a cross-party parliamentary group from both this place and the other place to take part in the next Pride march.
Even without the scale of events we are used to, I remain proud of my constituency’s LGBTQ history and how people here have still made sure that we have had a really great Pride Month. It is this fortitude that represents the ultimate triumph of London. After all, although the vibrant festivities remain a key part of our celebrations, what this year has afforded us is the time to reflect, remember and regalvanise our efforts to support the LGBTQ community. On this, I wholeheartedly support the Government in their ambitions to ensure that the UK remains one of the most open and tolerant countries in the world. Like other Members, I also welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement that the UK will host its first ever LGBTQ conference in June next year, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the first ever London Pride march. It is my hope that here we can bring into sharp focus a fresh discussion on legislative reform to tackle violence and discrimination, and ensure equal access to public services, including health services, for LGBTQ+ people.
I also want to take this opportunity to welcome the Government’s landmark ban on conversion therapy. Our special envoy on LGBTQ+ rights, Lord Herbert, is correct when he says:
“It is a cruel practice which has no place in a modern society”.—[Official Report, House of Lords, 19 May 2021; Vol. 812, c. 607.]
Especially in London, this Pride Month is wholly different from previous years, but it still serves as a tribute to all those who have fought for an equal society where people can love freely and live in peace and without inequality. We stand on the shoulders of giants and we thank them for all they faced to get to where we are today. Even in this place, I was shocked to discover, it was only 19 years ago, in 2002, that Sir Alan Duncan became the first sitting Conservative MP to voluntarily announce that he is gay.
I wish everyone a happy Pride Month. May the spirit of love continue throughout the year. As a former member of my constituency, the brilliant Oscar Wilde, once said:
“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden”.
By the grace of fortune, my story of coming out as a teenager is one of brilliantly supportive family and friends. My story as a young gay man is one of acceptance in this great city that I was born in and love—from my first London Pride parade, volunteering as an access steward in 2005, to joining the Mayor of London as one of his deputies in leading the parade just over a decade later. And my story as someone in his late 30s is one of representing the area I grew up in, where my partner and I have now made our home.
It is not true, however, to say that I have avoided homophobia in my life—from the more blatant incidents I can remember, to those moments when I was younger when I bit my tongue or did not feel able to call out what someone else had said. Crucially, while we should be thankful to all those who have fought for the progress we have made, the fight for equality for everyone in our country and around the world must continue with urgency and conviction. Far too many young people have families who will refuse to accept who they are if they come out. Members of the trans community suffer some of the worst violence and hate crime in society, and they need our solidarity and support. Around the world, the law in 69 countries still criminalises homosexuality. Hungary shows us how the law can move backward. Here, the abhorrent practice of LGBT+ conversion therapy remains legal.
As we have heard, conversion therapy has no place in modern Britain and should already have been banned. A survey in 2018 found that well over half of the people subject to this practice had suffered mental health issues as a result, with a third having attempted suicide. The Government promised to outlaw conversion therapy three years ago. Their prevarication is unjustifiable and it raises deep suspicion among those of us who want a comprehensive and effective ban to be in place without delay. There must be no more excuses.
As an MP, some of the messages from my constituents that I remember most vividly have been from members of the LGBT+ community, particularly young people who have said that my being their MP and talking about being gay encouraged them as they learned to understand their identities. That is an important part of what made me so keen to speak here today. We know that LGBT+ people can face greater mental ill health because of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, as well as difficult experiences of coming out and rejection, and we know that young people can be particularly vulnerable. Almost a quarter of young people at risk of homelessness are LGBT+, usually because their families reject them, and half of LGBT+ young people have said they fear that expressing their identity to family members would lead to them being evicted.
If that promise of politics, a determination to make the future better than what has gone before, is to mean anything, we must continue to fight for LGBT+ equality here and around the world, and particularly to stand up now for the next generation. Pride Month is a moment to be motivated by knowing we can change the world for the better, but not to rest for a moment in making that happen.
I want to try to focus on the positive elements of what we can do going forward, and particularly on the parliamentary liaison scheme that was referred to so generously by my right hon. Friend the Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale. However, the debate has been so dominated by the speech of enormous courage from the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Dan Carden). He is right to link the trauma that can be found in the whole process of coming out with, too often, the problematic use of drugs to manage that trauma. Trauma is also associated with the addiction that goes with that to make one feel better. In his case, the drug he turned to was alcohol, and he was brave about the journey he has been on to manage that addiction.
I want to refer to the other issue to which I am principally devoting my time: reform of our drugs policy. There is a link to the trauma that colleagues have been through, because so many people manage trauma by a problematic use of drugs, whether legal ones such as alcohol or illegal ones. Frankly, we are in a real mess with our drugs laws and drugs policy in this country. That is not new—it has been in a process of development for more than 60 years—and perhaps, rather like a frog not noticing the temperature of the water gradually rising around it, the water is now boiling fiercely and thousands of our fellow citizens are dying needlessly as a consequence of our drugs policy. As a consequence, there are a terrifying number of victims of crime who need not be in that position. However—this is important for the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton and the lesson he gave us—there are huge opportunities that we have missed as well.
In our rush—the world’s rush—to prohibit drugs that, with evidence, sounded as though they might be dangerous, we have prohibited classes of drugs such as cannabis and the psychedelics with no proper cost-benefit and risk analysis in evidential terms and therefore put science and research back 50 years. There is now really exciting research about treatment for addiction. The psychotherapy through Alcoholics Anonymous and others that the hon. Member referred to can now be reinforced through microdosing treatments including methylenedioxymethamphetamine, lysergic acid diethylamide, dimethyltryptamine and, in particular, psilocybin, which open up the prospect of dealing with addiction, trauma and depression. Millions of people could benefit from that treatment. We are on the verge of a great step forward in mental health treatments if only we get our laws right in this House. I hope the Government will attend to this with due dispatch and open up their stated position to lead in this field, be a bioscience leader and have evidence-based policy.
This debate is obviously about Pride, and I hope that with the development of the parliamentary liaison scheme over the rest of this Parliament, we will be able to have pride in the achievement that we will make in contributing to the advancement around the world of people having the right to, and being able to, be themselves in their own societies.
This idea is based on an experience I had in 2014, courtesy of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, which sponsored a visit for me to Kenya. Other colleagues at the time had dropped out of that visit so I was on my own and able to focus on my priorities, terrifically supported by the British high commission. The Kaleidoscope Trust helped me visit activist groups in Nairobi. They were in pretty interesting parts of Nairobi, it has to be said, because they are not very public in the community there, then or now.
The trip enabled me to meet newly elected Kenyan parliamentarians, who privately were much more sympathetic to advancing LGBT rights than they dared to be publicly because of the control of the public sphere, particularly by the Churches. I was also able to meet the Kenya Human Rights Commission, courtesy of a great conference put on by our high commission, which was trying to advance the position of LGBT people, particularly through campaigns around the treatment of HIV/AIDS.
Bringing all those links together, I was able to quietly enable the activists to be put in touch with those Members of Parliament who were likely to be sympathetic—if not publicly, at least privately—and have those conversations. I also had a conversation with the Speaker of the Kenyan Parliament through the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association visit, partly to request and receive the assurance that the “stone the gays” Bill, which was in the hands of three radical MPs who had been recently elected, was never going to see the light of day and besmirch the reputation of Kenya in quite the same way as had gone on with their neighbours, Uganda, with similar legislation. In those ways, I believe I was able to make a positive contribution, and that was the kernel of the idea that I put to colleagues with the parliamentary liaison scheme.
For however long colleagues serve and the APPG continues to exist and support the parliamentary liaison scheme, one colleague, either in this House or the other place, will take on the responsibility of being a point of liaison for the activist groups in countries overseas and for individual jurisdictions where being LGBT is either criminalised or people are under active oppression. That person can then enable those links between those activist groups who are bravely, heroically, promoting the case for change in those countries, along with the British mission in the country concerned—whether it is a high commission or an embassy—and the parliamentarians. Through that, we can have that conversation directly with our colleagues, and many of us can use our experiences to say that they ought to be on the right side of history and understand that sexuality is not a choice.
As soon as we have achieved that part of the argument, the duties of everyone as a parliamentarian to their constituents are clear, wherever they are in the world—people who have a minority sexuality are just as deserving of their time and of attention to their rights as anyone else.
That simple point, made by one parliamentarian to another, can help open up the conversation with the local representatives in the country about how to face down the press and the Churches, if they are taking the wrong position, and how to use the law or constitution of those nations, which will often guarantee the freedom of individuals and their rights under international treaties or anything else, to enable the position to be advanced. All that will need a degree of time and resources, but I am so delighted that about 90 colleagues in both Houses have so far volunteered to take part.
I am delighted that my hon. Friend the Member for Finchley and Golders Green (Mike Freer) will be replying to this debate—indeed, it may be the first time he has spoken from the Front Bench—and I hope that through the overseas development assistance budget, the Government will enable us to bring that sense of freedom to so many hundreds of millions of people, by getting serious and making a reality of Britain’s leadership in the promotion of LGBT+ rights around the world.
One is well aware of the cuts to the ODA budget, and I am delighted that we are going to return to 0.7% at some stage. I am thrilled that last November, the Prime Minister confirmed from the Dispatch Box that in this place we are going to make a reality of being a global leader. Even with a cut budget, that would mean spending in the order of £40 million a year on global LGBT+ rights, and the benefit in terms of the richness of the soul and of the spirit in being able to be oneself is, as many Members present will testify, incalculable.