- Conference
- 2004 National Lesbian & Gay Conference
- Date
- 30 July 2004
- Decision
- Carried
Conference welcomes how many branch and regional lesbian and gay groups devoted resources in the run-up to the June 10th elections to campaigning against the British National Party (BNP) and other fascist candidates.
Conference notes the invaluable role of Searchlight providing research, training and publicity for this campaign and the role of Trades Union Congress Regional Councils in co-ordination among unions.
But conference particularly wishes to note the role in many areas of Trades Union Councils providing a lead to anti-fascist activity and developing and sustaining a local focus. Trades Union Councils also offer the opportunity to reach local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities with the campaign and for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender trades unionists to take part.
In the West Midlands, where the BNP only fielded half the number of council candidates it boasted and saw four of its five sitting councillors defeated, examples of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender involvement included:
1.Wolverhampton, Bliston & District Trades Union Council organised the city’s first Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration where the principal speaker was a UNISON member speaking as a Jew, a lesbian and a trades unionist;
2.Birmingham Pride where the TUC stall was shared by Birmingham Trades Union Council and members of UNISON, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and the Transport and General Workers’ Union (T&GWU) handled Searchlight and Unite! Materials as well as TUC and union information, and;
3.Wolverhampton, again, where the trades union council produced a template leaflet to which community representatives could add a photograph and comments. Versions of this were produced for Church of England congregations, NHS workers and the local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
But such initiatives were only patchy and only succeeded in including a minority of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender trades unionists and reaching a tiny part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. They came about as a result of individual initiative rather than a planned approach.
Conference therefore instructs the National Lesbian and Gay Committee to seek examples of good practice with a view to raising with the TUC the need for a more consistent approach to including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in local anti-fascist work.