Cllr Ben Duncan

Ben Duncan, the Green’s parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown, has challenged his Tory counterpart Simon Kirby to ‘come clean’ on eight key gay rights issues.
 
His challenge comes as the Greens claim that support for the Conservatives has diminished in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community following news that the Tories have formed an alliance with the homophobic Polish Law and Justice Party (PiS).

Mr Duncan said:
“I am not surprised that support for the Tories in the LGBT community is collapsing when the party doesn’t mind teaming up with homophobes as long as they’re sufficiently anti-European.”
 
“One of the Tories latest strange allies is on record as having warned that: ‘…homosexuality threatens nothing less than the downfall of civilisation’.
 
“But the real issue isn’t whether Tory friends in Europe are homophobic – it’s whether a Tory government here will offer more than a few supportive words for the LGBT community: whether it will introduce concrete policies to end the remaining vestiges of homophobic discrimination.
 
“As party leader, Dave Cameron hasn’t made a single policy announcement on LGBT issues – but he has found time to vote, last year, to deny lesbian couples equal access to IVF fertility treatment. In 2003, he voted to retain Section 28.
 
“I think voters have a right to know where their politicians stand: so I have today written to Simon Kirby asking him to come clean on exactly where he stands on eight crucial questions for the local LGBT community.”
 
The eight questions Mr Kirby has been asked all relate to what he would actually do if elected MP for Brighton Kemptown.

Simon Kirby

Mr Duncan’s challenge asks Simon Kirby, will you:
 
1. Urge David Cameron to withdraw from the European Parliament alliance with the homophobic Polish Law and Justice Party, Dutch Christian Union and Latvian Fatherland and Freedom Party?

Simon Kirby's response:
No.  I believe that Conservatives have answered all the allegations against these parties.  For instance: The Law and Justice Party in Poland ‘are fully committed to human rights and equality under the law, and object to all forms of discrimination, whether on grounds of race, sex or sexual orientation’ (letter to the Guardian, 7 May 2009). Michal Kaminski MEP, leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists, has said ‘I’m very proud of the fact that Poland was one of the first European countries to decriminalise homosexual relationships – that was back in 1928’ (Total Politics, 9 October 2009).  In fairness these questions should also be put to Labour and Liberal Democrats about their allies in Europe - for the Liberal Democrats why they are allied to a Latvian party that has described gays as a 'plague' (Guardian 1t June 2007) and for Labour why people from their Polish allies have also used what has been perceived as derogatory language about gays in the Polish parliament (Gazeta Wyborcza 23 October 2003).
 
2.  Amend the Equality Bill to protect LGBT people against harassment?

Simon Kirby's response: 
Conservatives support the principle of an Equality Bill that brings together the various, complex pieces of equality legislation that currently exist.  We particularly support the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender reassignment as protected characteristics in a new single equality duty to replace the existing duties on race, gender and disability.  We also supported the creation of an offence of inciting homophobic hatred in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.  It is disappointing that despite cross party support for this, the Government has yet to commence the relevant legislation.  I fully support this position.
 
3. Repeal the ban on same-sex civil marriage and on opposite-sex civil partnerships?

Simon Kirby's response: 
Conservatives support civil partnerships, which provide gay people with the same legal rights as marriage provides for heterosexual couples.  I fully support this position.  I also understand the position of blogger Iain Dale: “… many gay people do not support 'gay marriage'.  Civil partnerships yes, but not gay marriage.  I have always taken the view that marriage implies a religious element to the proceedings, whereas civil partnerships do not.  That's not to say that gay people can't be religious, but it is probably going one step too far for most religions (apart from Quakers) to endorse gay marriage as an institution.
 
4. Cancel Labour's proposal to allow faith schools to teach sex and relationship education in accordance with their own religious ethos, which usually condemns same-sex couples as sinful, immoral, unnatural and inferior?

Simon Kirby's response: 
While all schools would have more freedom over the curriculum under a Conservative government, no school will be allowed to teach a lesson or curriculum that didn't give same sex relationships equality with heterosexual relationships. I fully support this position.
 
5. End the blanket, lifetime prohibition on gay and bisexual men donating blood?

Simon Kirby's response: 
I believe this is a medical, not a political, decision.  In fact the Terrence Higgins Trust has also said that this is a medical decision and they support the ban (http://www.tht.org.uk/informationresources/policy/healthpolicy/blooddonations/).
 
6. Halt the deportation of genuine LGBT asylum seekers to violently homophobic countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Nigeria, Jamaica, Iran and Uganda?

Simon Kirby's response:
Claims for asylum must be considered on a case-by-case basis.  To be recognised as a refugee, individuals must be unable to go back to their country because of a well-founded fear of persecution.   We want a system where those who are genuine refugees are welcomed, but those who shouldn’t be here are required to leave quickly. I fully support this position.
 
7. Refuse visas and work permits to Jamaican reggae singers, like Bounty Killer and Buju Banton, who incite the murder of LGBT people?

Simon Kirby response:
Cases must be decided on a case-by-case basis. Coming to the UK is a privilege and it is right that we exclude individuals from the UK who represent a threat to public security by encouraging violence or hatred.  We have called on the Government to apply criteria governing entry into the UK consistently. I fully support this position.
 
8. Urge the police and CPS to prosecute record stores and radio stations that promote songs encouraging the killing of LGBTs?

Simon Kirby's response:
Whilst we have a profound commitment to freedom of speech, the Conservative Party has called for the music industry to show a greater sense of social responsibility on these issues. We raised concerns about the lyrics and videos of hip-hop and R&B, which can be explicitly homophobic, degrade women and popularise gangs and guns.   A Conservative Government will establish a regular process of consultation with music producers to ensure a constructive dialogue on social responsibility. I fully support this position.
 
Mr Duncan added:
“Just to be absolutely clear, if I am elected MP for Brighton Kemptown I will do all these things – because I am committed to delivering a fairer society for all of us, gay or straight. I wonder if Simon Kirby can and will make the same commitment?”

Simon Burgess

Simon Burgess, the Labour candidate for Brighton Kemptown said:
"Cameron's Conservatives have a lot of questions to answer on equalities issues and I back Ben Duncan's efforts to highlight some of their dreadful record, and lack of commitment to future positive reform.

"The only LGBT legislation that the Conservatives have ever passed was Section 28, they have never acted to tackle LGBT, race or gender discrimination.

"Cameron's big themes for the coming general election are 'broken Britain' and 'Big Government'. That rhetoric is about pushing a line that vital public services and legislation, such as equalities, are interfering with 'traditional common sense values".

"He has shown it by joining up with the homophobes in Europe and by promoting south-east Tory MEP Daniel Hannan who describes the NHS as a terrible mistake.

"He wants to turn the clock back, strip back the advances that have been made - we mustn't let him."   

Simon Kirby continued:
"I am delighted that, should David Cameron form the next Government, the Conservatives will have more openly gay and lesbian MPs than both Lib Dems and Labour combined.

"The party has moved a long way in recent years. David Cameron says that one of his proudest moments was in his first Conference speech in 2006 where he said “There's something special about marriage.  It's not about religion.  It's not about morality.  It's about commitment.  ‘When you stand up there, in front of your friends and your family, in front of the world, whether it's in a church or anywhere else, what you're doing really means something.  Pledging yourself to another means doing something brave and important.  You are making a commitment.  You are publicly saying: it's not just about "me, me, me" anymore.  It is about we: together, the two of us, through thick and thin.  That really matters.  And by the way, it means something whether you're a man and a woman, a woman and a woman or a man and another man.  That's why we were right to support civil partnerships, and I'm proud of that.”
 
For more information about the Greens view: www.brightonandhovegreenparty.org.uk

For more information about Labour in Brighton view:
www.brighton-hove-labour.org.uk

To contact Simon Kirby email:
simon@kirbyforkemptown.org