Tories silent in face of homophobia

2.02.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 27th Apr 2007

London's Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford has revealed that in yesterday's (26 April) crucial vote on a European Parliament resolution condemning rising homophobia in Europe, only one British Conservative MEP voted for the resolution, the rest present voting against or abstaining. This is in sharp contrast to Liberal Democrat MEPs, all of whom voted for the resolution.

Sarah commented:

"With their failure to support a resolution condemning discriminatory remarks by political and religious leaders targeting homosexuals, the Tories have shown their true colours."

"Their apathy in the face of rising homophobia should come as no surprise. The Conservative camp is today rife with contradiction. Cameron attempts to paint a glossy image of a gay-friendly party in the UK while desperately trying to get into bed at European level with Poland's homophobic 'Law and Justice' party."

The Polish prime minister and leader of the ruling Law and Justice party was yesterday quoted by the International Herald Tribune as saying "It's not in the interest of any society to increase the number of homosexuals - that's obvious."

Notes

The full text of the European Parliament's resolution is available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+TA+20070426+SIT+DOC+WORD+V0//EN&language=EN (pp.117-120).