{"id":7890,"date":"2016-02-26T12:57:20","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T12:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=7890"},"modified":"2016-02-26T12:57:42","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T12:57:42","slug":"a-very-positive-alliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=7890","title":{"rendered":"A very positive alliance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The youngest person ever to be elected to the London Assembly believes that young people today are \u00e2\u20ac\u015bway ahead of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 on LGBT education in schools.<\/p>\n

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Labour London Assembly member, Tom Copley (pictured), was just 25-years-old when he was elected in 2012.<\/p>\n

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Unite member Tom, who is gay, says that during LGBT history month people should remember the longstanding alliance between the labour movement and LGBT equality activism, in order to strengthen resistance to old and outdated Conservative policies now.<\/p>\n

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In particular, Tom says the government made a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bmassive mistake\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 when it announced on February 11 that it would not make sex and relationship education statutory across primary and secondary schools.<\/p>\n

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The announcement went against the calls of four key House of Commons committees.<\/p>\n

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Attitudes<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe call for legal recognition and equal rights is almost won. We have to turn to looking at attitudes in society where, although we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come a long way in terms of people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attitudes of LGBT people, there are still battles to be fought \u00e2\u20ac\u201c particularly for trans people.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEducation is crucial for that and I think kids and young people today are well ahead of the government on this,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDespite overwhelming support amongst experts, the public and young people themselves, the government’s rejection of compulsory sex and relationship education in schools was a huge mistake.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s incredibly important, not just in terms of discussing LGBT issues, but for giving young people the information they need to make educated and informed choices.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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For young LGBT people school can be a nightmare. Fifty-five percent of LGBT school children report being bullying at school, with many suffering physical assaults.<\/p>\n

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Tom is not alone in his view that compulsory sex and relationship education should be implemented throughout the UK \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it has long been a policy of the Labour Party as well.<\/p>\n

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In fact, most of the big steps towards LGBT equality have been taken under Labour governments, including the decriminalisation of homosexuality, civil partnerships, ending the ban on gay people serving in the military and the introduction lesbian fertility rights.<\/p>\n

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Even though gay marriage was introduced under a Conservative government, 128 Tory MPs voted against it and it would not have been carried through without the overwhelming support of Labour.<\/p>\n

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These changes have been brought about through by a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bvery positive alliance\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 between the labour movement and advocates of LGBT equality, says Tom.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Struggle<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese things didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just happen \u00e2\u20ac\u201c people fought for them and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important that we remember their struggle. The legal age of consent and gay marriage didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just occur to politicians,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always been a cross over with LGBT activism, and the labour movement has taken a particularly active role in championing LGBT equality.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taken place both through the trade unions and the also the Labour Party itself. It hasn’t always been plain sailing but broadly speaking it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a very positive alliance.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is an alliance that Unite\u00c2\u00a0is committed to strengthening.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The youngest person ever to be elected to the London Assembly believes that young people today are \u00e2\u20ac\u015bway ahead of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 on LGBT education in schools.   Labour London Assembly member, Tom Copley (pictured), was just 25-years-old when he was elected in 2012.   Unite member Tom, who is gay, says that during LGBT […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"wps_subtitle":"LGBT activism and the labour movement have a close connection, says London Assembly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tom Copley","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7890"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7890"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7896,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7890\/revisions\/7896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}