“I find it very strange…”
“I find it very strange,” uttered MP Geraldine Smith when her challenge to provide evidence of discrimination was met and then some by Dari Taylor and Evan Harris in the House this afternoon. The issue at stake was of course whether or not lesbian parents or would be single-parents should have to provide evidence of a father figure in order to undergo IVF treatment.
Both Evan Harris and Dari Taylor gave clear unequivocal statements which backed up the claims of would-be lesbian parents and single women that Primary Care Trusts discriminate. Evan Harris was particularly devastating in the chamber, quoting very specific examples. Dari Taylor pointed out that despite her own exhortations for people to write to their MPs about such thing, they strongly did not want to convey such an intimate matter.
Even John Bercow, Conservative MP for Buckingham, spoke some good sense, denouncing Smith for thinking that lesbians would only make good parents should there be a male role-model somewhere attached to the family. Of course just how reactionary the Tories are came a moment later with Sir Patrick Cormack’s attack upon the extension of human rights to lesbian couples as unnatural.
Apparently, according to Sir Patrick, because a child is “god-given” and people do not have a right to a child, parliament has the right to dictate what sort of parents a child should have before it is born. With such sentiments being expressed, I wait with baited breath for the committee’s vote on the amendment to insert language demanding such a male role model.
Men are very important. They should be compulsory. Can I have Dermot O’Leary?
That Geraldine Smith is so bloody annoying. Now we learn she’s thick as well.
Twas a good night for LGBT and women’s rights, despite my pessimism.
I continue to believe that Evan Harris is the only one with a chance of giving the Lib Dems some kind of a backbone. He’s willing to stick his neck out and is absolutely loathed by the Daily Mail for it. Top stuff.
And that’s precisely why Evan Harris is unlikely ever to lead the Liberal Democrats. He would make for a good back bencher within Labour.
i know i’m late but have to chip in my two pence- thankfully common sense prevailed and New Labour didn’t actually fully become Tory. all those with any brains know it is a process of socialisation with all living things and the reason that everyone is so hung up on the need for the father is that the patriarchal manner in which our society thinks negates the role of women at any level. it’s easy to love your mum but if your peers and everyone around are engaging in behaviour that denigrates women how are you meant to respect them without actively contesting this line of thought? the whole bill was a test for the rest of us to see if the politicians were able to show some clarity