United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair recently delivered the keynote address at a dinner for Stonewall, the UK's biggest gay rights organization - making Blair what is believed to be the first time a national leader has addressed an LGBT civil rights group while still in office.
Blair told the guests at London's ritzy Dorchester Hotel that one of his proudest accomplishments has been in enacting a national LGBT civil rights law and the passage of Britain's partnership unions law that gives gay couples all of the rights of marriage, although not the name.
"[By] taking a stand on this issue and by removing a piece of prejudice and discrimination, and by enabling people to stand proud as what they are, it has had an impact that I think is far more profound on the way the country thinks about itself."
Although joined at the hip with U. S. President Bush concerning the efforts in the Iraq war, Blair has taken a divergent path from Bush on gay rights since Bush has pushed for a Constitutional amendment making same-sex marriage illegal and is opposing a hate crime bill currently under consideration in Congress.
Kudos to Prime Minister Blair for bringing some civility back to Western civilization.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Too bad PM Blair hasn't been able to get Pres. Bush to agree with him on this issue. Oh well. I have a trans friend in the U. K. that is very blessed indeed to be in a country that is so much more glbt friendly than ours.
ReplyDelete