The Green Party in Brighton and Hove is celebrating substantial victories in the local elections from 3rd May.
Securing twice as many seats as were held at the previous elections, the Green Party now holds office throughout the centre of Brighton. From Preston Circus, to the borders of Hove and Whitehawk, 12 Green councillors hold only one seat less than Labour.
Reacting to the results, Phelim Mac Cafferty on behalf of the Green Party's LGBT group in Brighton and Hove stated: "We would like to thank everyone who voted for us: The pink vote turned out to vote green at this election as is clearly represented by our gains in queer-friendly residential areas such as Regency ward where the Greens won both council seats.
"Queens Park ward, which covers the gay village area around St James's Street, testifies to the changes in queer Brighton: the incumbent Labour leader lost his seat to the Greens, while the council will have to find a new Mayor for next year as the proposed Labour mayor also lost his seat to the Greens in this key area.
"In a city where between a quarter and a third of all citizens self-identify as LGBT, the elections testify not only to the hard work that Green councillors and supporters carry out on a day-to-day basis, but also to a tiredness with the policies of the other established 'grey' partys.
"Now the real work begins: in order to carry out the mandate given to us by the LGBT population of Brighton and Hove and in the backdrop of the International Day Against Homophobia, we will work hard to continue to:-
" Provide guidance for all education workers on their responsibilities to ensure LGBT pupils are protected from bullying and ensure LGBT issues are monitored in all teaching recruitment.
" campaign against the 30% cuts over four years to the HIV/Aids budget to ensure that the special needs and profile of Brighton and Hove are recognised by NHS budget commissioners.
" Campaign for the upgrading of civil partnerships to the full legal status of marriages.
" Put pressure on the city's record stores to remove all hate or 'murder' music.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
(I) The Green Party 15 Pledges to the lgbt community, local elections May 2007
- The Green Party's 15 pledges to the city's LGBT communities ahead of the May 2007 city council elections are:
Campaign for above inflation increases in the council's discretionary grants to community and voluntary sector groups. - Campaign for the upgrading of civil partnerships to full legal status marriages.
- Build on the Green-led campaign against the 30% cuts to the HIV/Aids budget to ensure that the special needs and profile of Brighton and Hove are recognised by NHS budget commissioners.
- Encourage the city's record stores to remove all hate or 'murder' music.
- Ensure the effective targeting of social care, housing and health services - including HIV/Aids support and mental health services - to all members of the LGBT community who need it.
- Raise the profile of the needs of older LGBT people. This would also benefit the whole LGBT community, through developing community belief in our own future.
- Greens pledge to send all education workers guidance on their responsibilities to ensure LGBT pupils are protected from bullying.
- Provide head teachers with training on how to create safe and inclusive environments for LGBT staff and students.
- Ensure LGBT issues are monitored in all teaching recruitment.
- Reinstate back to fulltime the schools antibullying officer cut by 40% in hours by the Council's
Labour-LibDem budget. - Ensure that all schools include LGBT issues in their equal opportunities and anti-bullying policies and procedures.
- Invest (with the police and other crime-prevention agencies) in specific research into hate crime
prevalence and perceptions of safety within the LGBT community so that hate crime trends reduce. - Prioritise the protection of council staff from homophobic bullying and other prejudice-fuelled
harassment through accepting the recommendations of the equalities scrutiny committee and ensuring a LGBT dedicated officer post. - Campaign for the reinstatement of the recently- deleted Corporate Head of Equalities Post.
- Campaign for increased supported housing for those in vulnerable situations - whether
homeless, poorly-housed or suffering harassment or domestic violence.
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