Agenda item

Notice of Motion given by Councillor Neale Gibson

That this Council:-

 

(a)       fully supports the commencing in February of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) History Month and welcomes the promotion of this throughout the city by the City Council and local LGBT groups;

 

(b)       acknowledges the importance of raising awareness and advancing education on matters affecting the LGBT community; to work to make educational and other institutions safe spaces for all LGBT communities and to promote the welfare of LGBT people, by ensuring that the education system recognises and enables LGBT people to achieve their full potential, so they contribute fully to society and lead fulfilled lives, which in turn benefits society as a whole;

 

(c)        believes LGBT History Month is a time when we can explore and share some hidden aspects of our country’s past, both recent and remote and that this hidden history belongs to all of us and is part of our inheritance;

 

(d)       recognises that throughout history we can find many examples of people who refused to conform to the outward signs of the sex to which they were born, and we also find many stories of people who loved their own sex; some of them experienced serious persecution and some are remembered for the contributions they made to our culture and society, in particular in Sheffield, the Socialist, Edward Carpenter;

 

(e)       acknowledges that their personal lives have often been suppressed or censored; to understand our present and imagine our future, we must first gain insight into our past; this is true of us as individuals, it is also true of societies; and believes that the Council has a moral obligation to ensure that this is well understood and as such:-

 

(i)         supports the Rt. Hon. Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party, in his stance that a Labour government would add LGBT History Month to the national curriculum and that radical policy changes in the school curriculum would be implemented to better reflect gay issues;

 

(ii)        supports the issuing of a formal apology to all gay men who were convicted under now abolished restrictive sex laws – and deplores the actions of the Conservative government in “talking out” a Private Member's Bill – the so-called Turing Bill - which would have pardoned all men living with UK convictions for same-sex offences committed before the law was changed; and

 

(iii)       will fight against inequality and injustice wherever it is seen, and recognises that a key part of this battle is in raising awareness and levels of education on these issues and this is why initiatives such as LGBT History Month are so important and should be encouraged throughout Sheffield.

 

Minutes:

 

LGBT History Month

 

 

12.1

RESOLVED: On the Motion of Councillor Neale Gibson, seconded by Councillor Ben Miskell, that this Council:-

 

 

 

(a)       fully supports the commencing in February of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) History Month and welcomes the promotion of this throughout the city by the City Council and local LGBT groups;

 

 

 

(b)       acknowledges the importance of raising awareness and advancing education on matters affecting the LGBT community; to work to make educational and other institutions safe spaces for all LGBT communities and to promote the welfare of LGBT people, by ensuring that the education system recognises and enables LGBT people to achieve their full potential, so they contribute fully to society and lead fulfilled lives, which in turn benefits society as a whole;

 

 

 

(c)        believes LGBT History Month is a time when we can explore and share some hidden aspects of our country’s past, both recent and remote and that this hidden history belongs to all of us and is part of our inheritance;

 

 

 

(d)       recognises that throughout history we can find many examples of people who refused to conform to the outward signs of the sex to which they were born, and we also find many stories of people who loved their own sex; some of them experienced serious persecution and some are remembered for the contributions they made to our culture and society, in particular in Sheffield, the Socialist, Edward Carpenter; and

 

 

 

(e)       acknowledges that their personal lives have often been suppressed or censored; to understand our present and imagine our future, we must first gain insight into our past; this is true of us as individuals, it is also true of societies; and believes that the Council has a moral obligation to ensure that this is well understood and as such:-

 

 

 

(i)         supports the Rt. Hon. Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party, in his stance that a Labour government would add LGBT History Month to the national curriculum and that radical policy changes in the school curriculum would be implemented to better reflect gay issues;

 

 

 

(ii)        supports the issuing of a formal apology to all gay men who were convicted under now abolished restrictive sex laws – and deplores the actions of the Conservative government in “talking out” a Private Member's Bill – the so-called Turing Bill - which would have pardoned all men living with UK convictions for same-sex offences committed before the law was changed; and

 

 

 

(iii)       will fight against inequality and injustice wherever it is seen, and recognises that a key part of this battle is in raising awareness and levels of education on these issues and this is why initiatives such as LGBT History Month are so important and should be encouraged throughout Sheffield.

 

 

12.1.1

(NOTE: Councillors Pauline Andrews, Jack Clarkson, Keith Davis and John Booker voted for paragraphs (a) to (d) and (e)(ii) and (iii) and voted against paragraph (e)(i) of the Motion, and asked for this to be recorded.)