Labour LGBT welcome Brown and Harman
The Labour Campaign for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (LGBT Labour) has welcomed the confirmation of the Gordon Brown as the new leader of the Labour Party and the election of Harriet Harman as deputy leader.
In a statement released to PinkNews.co.uk, the camapign group said that both Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman have a strong commitment to supporting equality. They said that Gordon Brown highlighted the work on gay rights over the last ten years in his acceptance speech at Labour’s special conference in Manchester.
Although, both Brown’s actual speech made only a passing reference to gay rights, he and Harman concentrated heavily on families.
Alon Or-Bach, co-chair of LGBT Labour said: “Over the last ten years the Government has made significant changes that have improved the lives of LGBT people. We welcome the new leader and deputy leader and look forward to working with them to continue the fight for equality. We especially welcome the fact that, in his speech, Gordon Brown included work on gay rights as one of Labour’s achievements. The support Harriet Harman has already outlined to LGBT Labour for new laws to tackle homophobia and for a full equality act is very positive for LGBT people.”
However, a PinkNews.co.uk poll of gay Labour party members found that Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain was the first choice of 25% of gay party members. Party chair Hazel Blears took 19% of first preferences, followed by 16% for backbench candidate Jon Cruddas. Harriet Harman polled 15%, Alan Johnson 14% and Hilary Benn 11%.
