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14/03/10 :After gaffes from Cameron and Grayling, Anneliese and Naz challenge all Reading Tories on gay rights
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Anneliese Dodds and Naz Sarkar, Labour's parliamentary candidates for Reading East and West respectively, today issued a stern challenge to their Conservative opponents on gay rights.
The move follows an interview with David Cameron in Gay Times in which he refused to condemn his political allies in Latvia for bringing in a local version of Section 28, and the leaking of a tape in which the Tory shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said he disagreed with the legislation that prevents people providing services from discriminating on grounds of people's sexuality.
Anneliese Dodds says: "This legislation is something I argued for at Labour Party conference, and I was delighted when the Government brought it forward. Discrimination on the grounds of sexuality is no more acceptable than discrimination on grounds of gender, race or disability. Mr Grayling's Victorian attitude should have no place in our 21st century society.
"But this is clearly not Chris Grayling's view, the man the Tories brought to Reading to launch their general election campaign! I have been waiting in vain for local Tories to condemn Mr Grayling's remarks. Not that I am surprised that the Conservative MP for Reading East has not, for he also has a very poor record on gay rights, scoring 0.0% on equality according to Public Whip (http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpid=1773&dmp=826 )
And Naz added: "I am proud of the record of this Labour Government, which over the past dozen years has stripped the statute book of discriminatory legislation, and brought in civil partnerships which are a full recognition of the rights of gay people. I am appalled that a senior Conservative like Chris Grayling has so little understanding of and empathy for these changes.
"But local people, particularly from the LGBT community, have a right to know where their candidates stand on gay rights. The Conservative MP for Reading East has a poor record on gay equality. I want to know whether the Conservative candidate for Reading West shares his counterpart's outdated views!".
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