Hundreds of people from the LGBT community attended the Prime Minister's annual reception at 10 Downing Street, yesterday.
PinkPaper.com was there, alongside Lord Chris Smith, tennis ace Billie Jean King, current GT cover star Ben Cohen, Gareth Thomas, news presenter Jane Hill and author Stella Duffy.
Following a performance by the London's Gay Men's Chorus, the Prime Minister opened his speech with a well-received joke about Sir Ian McKellen being "a queen".
“It’s great to have this reception here today," he said. "Sir Ian McKellen is here tonight, I think, and we had the
Queen and Prince Phillip here for lunch yesterday. Who can say they’ve had two of Britain’s most prominent queens
over in 48 hours?”
He then went on to add that, although Britain was recently named the best places in Europe to be gay, there is no room for complacency.
"I think it's a huge testament to the work of the last government and what this government has done as well. It's also great to see politicians from all parties here tonight.
"I want to say one thing that made me very proud in the House of Commons today. It was a Conservative member of parliament who stood up and congratulated the government and previous governments on the reception tonight – that wouldn't have happened years ago. Ian Stewart asked that question and I'm proud he did. I was proud to answer that question. It shows that organisations can change and welcome this agenda.
"It was a moment which made me proud."
The PM then went on to say that the large survey the government has commissioned on transgender issues is also something they are proud of.
Members of Stonewall, the Albert Kennedy Trust and Pride sports were also in attendance, as were leading sports teams and agents.
Honouring this, the PM said the government should be doing "far more" to encourage gay and lesbian sports players to come out. He also added that bullying in schools is another priority – something which he considers a "societal problem, not just a governmental problem."
The Prime Minister also said he was proud that the government was maintaining its promise in offering economic aid to poor countries.
“I think this is right morally because as a rich country, we should be helping the poorest people in the world. But it also has a spin-off benefit of giving us some moral authority
in the world to talk to other leaders and governments about our
relationship with them and what we expect from them.
“I’m very proud of the fact we [put] huge pressure on the leader of
Malawi about an issue in that country but I’m convinced we can do more.
We have got the ability to speak to African leaders, African
governments, about this issue that I know concerns everyone here
tonight. And it concerns me.”
