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Gay rights made Blair skip for joy |
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Tony Blair addressed campaign group Stonewall and said civil
partnerships had had a "civilising effect" that reached beyond the gay
community.
He admitted that watching the first civil partnerships had made him
very proud. The PM's understandably keen to focus on his ground
breaking achievements, rather than the spectre of Iraq which continues
to haunt his final term.
His celebration of civil partnerships follows the recent House of Lords debate and ultimate support for the Equality Act.
The prime minister said people could now take for granted things like
civil partnerships, which they could not a decade ago when Labour came
to power.
In reference to the first civil partnerships, Mr Blair said: "It's a
thing that doesn't just give me a lot of pride, but it has actually
brought a lot of joy."
He admitted doing "a little skip" when he saw the first partnership ceremonies on television.
"What has happened is that the culture of the country has changed in a
definable way as a result of it. This is what I think is really
interesting," he said.
"The change in culture and the civilising effect of it has gone far greater than the gay and lesbian community."
He added that allowing discrimination "to fester" was against everything a modernising nation stood for.
Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill praised Mr Blair and said: "I
do remember thinking at the time this is a guy who takes equality
seriously and I think there has been plenty of evidence of that in the
intervening years."
Source: gay.com
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Local Gay News 
