During her speech at the State Opening of Parliament, Queen Elizabeth vowed to “tackle” discrimination, especially against the LGBT community.
The Queen’s speech at yesterday’s State Opening of Parliament genuinely focused heavily on the logistics of the Brexit. It also included a line of powerful support for the UK’s LGBT citizens.
She said,
“Our government will surely make further progress to tackle the gender pay gap and discrimination. People are usually discriminated on the basis of their race, faith, gender, disability, or sexual orientation,”
This was for the very first time, LGBT rights were mentioned by Queen during a speech, since 2003. Earlier, she vowed to increase “equality and social justice. All by bringing forward legislation on the registration of civil partnerships between same-sex couples.”
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LGBT Rights in the United Kingdom
LGBT rights have come a long way in Britain over the course of the Queen Elizabeth‘s 65-year reign. Private homosexual acts between men over the age of 21 were not decriminalized in England and Wales until 1967.
More than a year ago, Queen Elizabeth’s cousin Ivor Mountbatten came out as the first openly gay member of the British royal family. Post that, Prince William made history by appearing on the cover of a gay publication. Queen has not yet expressed her views on this matter, and we can understand why?
Despite a rumour that following the Royal Assent for marriage equality in 2015, she was quoted saying, “Who’d have thought 6 decades ago when I took the throne, I’d be signing something like this? Isn’t it mesmerizing?”
While LGBT group was “pleased” to hear gay and lesbian rights addressed during the Queen’s speech, they feel the Queen could have highlighted the issue more.
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“We were very pleased to hear a clear acknowledgement from the Queen. But, more must be done to tackle discrimination in the next two years, alongside other forms of discrimination,”.
