On looking forward to the General Election, Phelim Mac Cafferty on behalf of the Green Party LGBT Group stated:
"Greens await the decision from Gordon Brown as to when he will call the general election with anticipation. The LGBT community in Brighton Pavilion will be given an historic opportunity to elect the first Green Member of Parliament, Caroline Lucas.
"We are looking forward to using the campaign to win the seat of Brighton Pavilion to stand for what Greens are best at: a future sustainable and equal for all. Whether Brown calls the general election this week or next month, we will be pulling out all the stops to have a strong, successful campaign in which the rights of our community will play a central part." Continued Phelim.
"Especially in the context of the High Court judgement in Northern Ireland of mid-September that ruled that a provision in the Sexual Orientation Regulations that protects LGB people from harassment when accessing goods and services parts of must be removed. Greens are seriously concerned that after much fanfare about introducing the SORs in Northern Ireland at the start of 2007, the Labour government are yet again heeding the call from the religious bigots. In the context of the welcome formation of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights only yesterday, Caroline Lucas and the Greens will use the general election campaign to push for the necessary harassment clause- now missing from the Northern Ireland Sexual Orientation Regulations- to be at the heart of the regulations around the rest of the UK.
"Caroline is a veteran campaigner for LGBT rights, using her seat in the European Parliament to argue for the end of the hated section 28, an equal age of consent, the Goods, Services and Facilities Regulations. More recently she also supported the LGBT communities in the former Soviet Bloc, stating her unequivocal support for Riga Pride and supporting Peter Tatchell's campaign for Moscow Pride earlier this year."
Caroline, in looking forward to the general election stated:
"The Green Party want specific reference made in the law to target incitement of hatred primarily on the grounds of sexuality but, just as importantly, on gender identity. We will use the general election to call again on the Government to introduce a specific amendment to be made to Criminal Justice legislation with regard to hate crimes against LGBT people. Our petition on the Prime Minster's website has nearly hit 1000 signatories."
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/LGBT-Hate-Crime/
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