Contact Spencer Fitz-Gibbon at North West Green Party
Tel 0161 225 4863, fax 0161 225 1365, email media@greenparty.org.uk
With thanks to Freya Barnes
It was
here in the North West, in October 1964 in Manchester, that Britain’s first
grassroots gay rights organization was launched – the North West Homosexual Law
Reform Committee.
The
Green Party intends to keep the region at the forefront of the battle for queer
equality with their manifesto for a gay-friendly North West.
The
North West Greens want the region’s towns and cities to be world-class
gay-friendly places: ensuring equal opportunities and
non-discrimination on the grounds of sexuality, gender identity and HIV status.
The
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population deserves political
allies who will work with us to benefit our community – and all communities.
That is what the Greens are promising: a serious commitment in all the region’s
local authorities to tackle homophobic discrimination and hate crimes, to
support LGBT welfare organizations, and to affirm and celebrate queer lives and
culture.
The
party’s theme for this year’s elections is Real Progress - and real progress
means, not least, developing a proudly diverse region, where all citizens, no
matter what their sexual orientation, have the freedom to live their lives free
from prejudice, discrimination, harassment and violence.
I have
joined the Green Party and will be voting Green in the forthcoming elections
because I believe they are the radical, progressive party of the future – for
gay people and for everyone.
·
The Green Party believes
in enhanced local authority support for organisations serving the lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities.
·
The Greens want full LGBT equality,
including full partnership, insurance, pensions, employment, and housing
rights.
·
Greens will push for safe and secure accommodation
for local lesbian and gay migrant and asylum population, securing adequate
homes outside of hate crime areas.
·
Greens will back local LGBT organisations in
proposals like that of the Manchester Lesbian and Gay Foundation to set up an
effective “Diversity Training Package”, encouraging small businesses to take on
more LGBT employees and to provide a homo-friendly working environment.
·
Greens will work with the police in
furthering their relationship with the LGBT community, including LGBT organisations:
improving the rapport between police forces and the LGBT community;
highlighting queer-bashing hotspots to bring the culprits to justice; and
addressing the under-reporting of hate crimes.
·
Greens will strive for LGBT representation
on Police Authorities to ensure a real say over policing priorities and the
appointment of senior officers.
·
Greens will continue to work towards
non-prosecution of consenting, victimless gay offences, such as cruising.
Police resources should be concentrated on violent, corporate and hate crimes
and active measures to create safer cities, towns and villages.
·
Greens want all police forces to ensure that
homophobic remarks and behaviour by police officers are made an explicit
offence under the police disciplinary code.
·
Greens will support HIV Action Plan to
improve safer sex education, remedy any local inadequacies in the provision of
HIV services, and upgrade the standard of treatment and care. This will include
pressing the government to resolve the under-funding and under-staffing of
sexually-transmitted infection (STI) clinics.
·
Inadequacies in mental health provisions for
the LGBT community will be addressed. The Green Party will promote awareness of
the largely ignored and under-resourced mental health needs of LGBT people –
especially the needs of young LGBTs and those who have suffered homophobic
violence and harassment.
·
Greens want all companies doing business
with local authorities to be required to have equal opportunities policies that
prohibit discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and
HIV-positive people; thereby enabling local authorities to take a proactive
role in encouraging businesses to end homophobic discrimination.
·
Greens propose to celebrate queer culture and history,
for example by proposing the establishment of a local Lesbian & Gay Museum.
·
Greens will work to ensure all local
authorities and schools promote LGBT equality, acceptance and respect in their
education policies, and will press the government to introduce a statutory
obligation on local authorities and schools to combat homophobic prejudice,
discrimination and bullying - modelled on the provisions of the Race Relations
(Amendment) Act 2000.
A
Green vote means a vote for Real Progress. That means truly progressive policies for the economy,
for democracy, for health and for environmental protection, and in all spheres
of social justice, equality and inclusiveness. We not only want to make the
North West a homophobia-free zone, but to positively and proudly celebrate gay
culture.
The North West Green Party has
the country’s strongest local authority Green group in Lancaster, made its
electoral breakthrough onto Manchester city council last year, and is steadily building
support in Liverpool and other parts of the region. To make Real
Progress, we need more Greens elected in the North West this year. When our vote goes up, the other parties notice and often
modify their own policies accordingly. So every Green vote tells the other
parties that these are the policies you want, and puts even more pressure on
them to follow our lead.
The Green Party will keep on campaigning in the
North West and throughout the UK for a society that we can be proud of, where
the LGBT community is treated as an essential and valued part of the country’s
rich and diverse culture.
ENDS