Mayoral candidates address a packed pink audience at 'best attended' hustings
A 400-strong audience listened to the main London mayoral candidates set out their pink policies at Stonewall's Mayoral Hustings on Saturday 19 April 2008.
The debate took place at the BFI Southbank and was the very last hustings event before London goes to the polls on 1 May. One in six of London's population is lesbian or gay or bisexual - meaning that this could be the first time gay Londoners have had the chance to influence the outcome of a knife-edge election.
Attendees quizzed the candidates on their commitment to equality in a lively question and answer session, chaired by Tony Grew, editor of PinkNews.co.uk, Stonewall's media partner for the event.
Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick congratulated Stonewall on all their achievements, adding 'I wouldn't be standing here as an openly gay candidate for Mayor of London if it wasn't for organisations like Stonewall. This is the best attended hustings of the whole campaign.'
Conservative hopeful Boris Johnson emphasised that his policies were intended to benefit all Londoners, 'irrespective of their sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or belief'. He also pledged to attend his first London Pride in July, whatever the outcome on 1 May.
Ken Livingstone, standing for re-election for a third term said that he was 'delighted to work with Stonewall on what is the single most important issue in the city - homophobic bullying in schools.' He recalled his pride at hosting the first same-sex commitment ceremonies at City Hall and said that in London 'we demonstrate that the world can live together in harmony.'
Lindsey German, the candidate for Respect - The Left List, said that while schools now recognise the importance of tackling racist bullying, 'we must now extend that to sexual orientation and to gender-based bullying.'
Green party candidate Siân Berry spoke of the importance of continuing to strive for equality for lesbian and gay people. 'There are only a few areas of the law we need to change to achieve equality. Now we must really begin to work on attitudes. As Mayor, I will work with Stonewall to keep equality at the heart of everything we do.'
Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill said, 'We are alive to the fact that there are over a million lesbian and gay Londoners in this city, and the person who wins the election on 1 May will be spending literally hundreds of millions of pounds of their money in the delivery of public services. While some of our concerns are similar to everyone else's, some of our concerns are different.
'Recent polling conducted by Stonewall showed that there are still 40% of lesbian and gay people in this city who think they would be treated differently if they were suspected of a crime, despite the huge steps taken by the Metropolitan Police as an employer.
'In a close run election the lesbian and gay electorate has the capacity to influence the outcome. We hope that none of the candidates on May 1 will take a single lesbian or gay vote for granted.'
ends
Notes
1. Stonewall is the gay equality organisation founded in 1989 www.stonewall.org.uk
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