LBGT+ CONFERENCE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: june 2019 :: RMTnews 20 D evon MP Luke Pollard welcomed RMT’s annual LGBT+ advisory conference to Torquay, saying that he was proud both to have been backed by the union as a parliamentary candidate and to be “one of Labour’s many LGBT+ MPs”. He set the scene for the debates to come, saying in a video message to delegates: “Hate is on the rise, and there are people who want to roll back our rights”. Delegates were also welcomed by Kevin Dixon, of Torbay Trades Council who gave a presentation on the “Gay Torquay” and the centuries of LGBT history in Devon. RMT general secretary Mick Cash recalled attending his first LGBT+ conference in 2015 when RMT was celebrating 100 years of women in the union. But looking forward to the anniversary of the foundation of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants in 1871, Mr Cash said: “We’ll have had 150 years in 2021 of members of our union being in the LGBT community but it is a shame that, because of prejudice, this history was not documented”. Conference also raised the alarm over the potential erosion of LGBT+ rights. A resolution called on the union to “take urgent steps to mobilise all members of the RMT parliamentary group” to ensure protections currently included in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights “will be enshrined in British law once the UK leaves the EU”. Moving the motion, Paul Penny, Central Line East said that the EU charter of fundamental rights was “the only legally binding international human rights document” which adequately addressed LGBT+ rights. “We should never take our rights and freedoms for granted. “At a time when there is an upsurge of far-right politics across Europe and across the world, and with the prospect of people like Boris Johnson becoming more powerful at government level, we have to really fight.” John Shackleford, Bristol said that progress in combating discrimination in the law could be reversed “with the click of a finger”. Ian Hatton, Gloucester urged the union to “tell our parliamentary group to get on with it and protect our rights”. Summing up, Mr Penny said: “The quote I want to finish with is from the philosopher Voltaire: ‘the price of freedom is eternal vigilance’”. Delegates endorsed an emergency motion raising the alarm over the cancellation of Havana Pride, and the subsequent arrest of activists who took part in an unauthorised parade. The motion noted “imperialist and religious LGBT+ CONFERENCE