RMT SLAMS DP WORLD CHIEF FOR PRAISING P&O SACKINGS AS AN 'AMAZING' JOB

20 R MT LGBT+ members reaffirmed their commitment to equality and solidarity with all members of the community during their annual conference in Birmingham. Delegates debated the need for a ban on conversion therapy across the LGBT+ and the importance of equality training for union members. Moving the unanimously backed motion, veteran equality campaigner and Finsbury Park delegate John Stack underlined how conversion therapy damaged those just trying to be themselves. “LGBTQ+ people have nothing to be ashamed of and there is nothing wrong or broken about who we are. “Our sexual orientations and gender identities are diverse and should be celebrated. Yet conversion practices are still legal and happening in the UK today,” he said. He pointed out that people can be targeted in a number of different settings including medical and cultural spaces for conversion therapy leading to trauma and even suicide in extreme cases. “Even though not all conversion therapy’s involve violence, even talking therapies are a damaging practice that leave lasting scars on LGBTQ+,” he said. He said that Amnesty International had defined the practice as torture and that the government was not banning the practice for transgender people. He added that a wide variety of professional and medical organisations had objected to the government’s omission of transgender people from the protections of the ban, including, the British Medical Association; the Royal College of Psychiatrists; the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists; British Psychological Society; NHS England, Scotland, and Wales; Association of Christian Counsellors; Mind; and the Royal College of GPs. Dan Lil - delegate Bletchley and Northampton Branch seconded the motion, said that it was wrong to be told “you are different” and said future generations had to take up the fight to fully ban conversion therapy practices. Conference was equally clear in its support for enhanced equality training for RMT organisers and NEC members. The motion called on the union to offer newly elected officers/regional organisers and NEC members training to encompass these areas to fully inform them of the issues that affect these members. Birmingham Rail branch delegate Steve Moule said: “There is a lack of formal training offered to full-time officers/regional organisers or new NEC members on the equality issues affecting members of the LGBT+, black and ethnic minority, disabled and women groups. "We believe that to fully understand the issues that affect these groups of members, training should be given to anyone who takes up an elected position within the union at the earliest possible opportunity after being elected or have it included on reps’ stage 1 training,” he said. Supporting the motion, Jane Okogba - Waltham Cross and District branch said: “It is very important for all of us to have a better understanding of the issues that we may face in the workplace.” Keynote speaker RMT general secretary Mick Lynch told conference that there was a need to bring the LGBTQ+ movement together even when there were disagreements over the way ahead. Highlighting recent debates over trans rights and sex- based rights, Mr Lynch said: “It is important that everyone feels safe and secure in our union. We just have to keep discussing these issues so we can find a consensus where we are all supporting each other”. EQUALITY AND SOLIDARITY The union’s LGBT+ annual conference met for the first time since the pandemic