The election is upon us and the politicians are asking for our votes. Rather than list the parties and an endless list of candidates I would just like to make the following observation.

Since Labour came to power in 1997 there has been substantial changes to legislation that has enhanced the lives of LGBT people up and down the country and made us more secure in our jobs and everyday lives. I personally doubt these changes would ever have happened under a Tory administration.

Even though some of the changes were forced on the UK government by the Europe Parliament, there has been an underlying commitment by the Labour Government to make the lives of LGBT people better,  resulting last month in the Equality Bill surviving the ‘wash’ after the general election was called.

Despite all the protestations by the Tories that they have changed and reformed, I think we all need to think very carefully before deciding they can be trusted with forwarding an equality agenda in the near future.

While the legislative gains have been spectacular we still need to win the ‘hearts and minds’ argument with the country at large. This can only be done by politicians who understand what equality means to us all.

The election is clearly too close to call and it is very difficult to know what the outcome is going to be. At Gscene we are endorsing candidates who have a proven track record of helping the LGBT community in Brighton and Hove on issues surrounding equality. They are all from different parties.

Paul Elgood

Paul Elgood, the Lib Dem candidate for Hove, is a long standing champion of LGBT rights in Brighton and Hove. An ‘out’ city councillor since 1999, Paul chaired the last Equalities Review at the Council and brought the Aids Memorial Project to fruition. Paul has been a tireless campaigner within Brighton & Hove Council to protect the rights of the council's LGBT workers and he has been a great supporter of all our local LGBT organisations. He can be trusted to pursue an equalities agenda at Westminster if elected.

View Paul’s blog at: brunswickblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/manifesto-about-trust-local-lib-dems.html

View the Lib Dems manifesto: www.libdems.org.uk/our_manifesto.aspx

Simon Burgess

Simon Burgess, the Labour candidate for Kemptown and Peacehaven, is a former leader of the council. During his time as leader he sat on the Equalites Review panel and chaired the Aids Memorial working group for the community. He is community focused and a strong champion for LGBT equality. He can be trusted to pursue an equalities agenda at Westminster if elected.

View Simon’s blog at: http://iwc2.labouronline.org/ 165220/simon_burgess_blog

View the Labour manifesto: www2.labour.org.uk

Caroline Lucas

Caroline Lucas, is a Green MEP, the leader of the Green Party nationally and the Green candidate for Pavilion. While Caroline hasn’t got a long track record of community involvement locally, the Green party have produced an LGBT manifesto, which you should take the time to read and the Greens LGBT group is very active locally.

View Caroline’s blog at: www.carolinelucas.com/cl/blog.html

View the Greens manifesto: www.onlygreen.org.uk

To maintain the gains we have achieved and make sure that these advances don’t get rolled back, I am sure these three candidates will keep the interests of the LGBT community in Brighton and Hove paramount and fight on our behalf at Westminster if elected.