Equalities Office to look into Boris Johnson’s @Out4Marriage video pledge
After months of failing to produce a video in support of the Out4Marriage campaign, London Mayor Boris Johnson’s inaction is now being looked into by the UK Government’s Equalities Office.
On 27 June at the Talk London debate Mr Johnson promised to join the likes of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Home Secretary Theresa May in recording an Out4Marriage video after being quizzed by a member of the audience.
Campaigner Tom Kirkpatrick was initially pleased by the Mayor’s response to his request and felt it would further boost the campaign for equal marriage and also enhance Mr Johnson’s LGBT credentials – which have taken a knock in recent months following the World Pride debacle.
However, when several weeks passed, and no new video emerged, Mr Kirkpatrick decided to visit City Hall for a response.
On arrival he said that he was told that the Mayor was unavailable and that the only option was to resubmit his Talk London request to the London assembly – but they were not obliged to ask the question at the next Mayoral Question Time session.
Mr Kirkpatrick then decided to seek the intervention of the Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg: “I could not understand how the Mayor could agree to something at a live public debate and then do nothing”, Mr Kirkpatrick said.
He has since received a reply confirming Nick Clegg’s office has forwarded Mr Kirkpatrick’s letter to the Equalities Office – who will respond directly to Mr Kirkpatrick’s request in due course.
“This goes to show that if you believe in something and don’t back down, you can get results. It also shows that members of the government cannot say whatever they like without having to answer for their actions, or in this case, inactions”, a pleased Mr Kirkpatrick told pinknews.co.uk.
