Current Affairs

Conservative MP Mike Weatherley calls on David Cameron to speak out against Russia’s anti-gay laws

Aug 09 2013
Written by Scott Roberts

Mike Weatherley, the Conservative MP for Hove, has written a letter to UK Prime Minister David Cameron stating “Britain, as a bastion of gay rights, has a duty not to stay silent over Russia’s appalling treatment of LGBT people.”

The plea comes as Simon Kirby, the Tory MP for Brighton Kemptown and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Sport and Tourism, in a separate letter urged Foreign Secretary William Hague to “lead in the international condemnation of the Russian Government’s treatment of LGBT people.”

On Thursday, Conservative MP Mike Freer told PinkNews.co.uk that he would like the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to consider moving the 2014 Winter Olympics from Russia.

Following Stephen Fry’s open letter to David Cameron on Wednesday, in which he urged the Prime Minister and the IOC to strip Russia of the 2014 Winter Olympics, the government responded by saying it was working closely with organisers to ensure the Games were free from discrimination.

Prime Minister David Cameron has so far not commented publicly on the matter.

US President Obama spoke out against anti-gay legislation in Russia on NBC’s Tonight Show on Tuesday.

He said he had “no patience for countries that try to treat gays and lesbians and transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.”

Speaking to PinkNews.co.uk on Thursday, Labour’s Shadow Foreign and Commonwealth Minister for Human Rights, Kerry McCarthy, said: “The UK Government should be using the opportunity of the G20 meeting in St Petersburg next month to raise this issue with President Putin and make clear the UK’s opposition to the latest examples of repression and discrimination.”

Last week, along with criticism of Russia’s LGBT stance by the UK Foreign Office, a government source told PinkNews.co.uk that they anticipated the issue of homophobic oppression in Russia would be raised at September’s G20 Heads of Government meeting.

Speaking to PinkNews.co.uk in July, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg urged Russia to “move with the times” when it came to LGBT rights.