Sarah Owen

It is always an honour to take part in this annual debate commemorating, celebrating and protesting for LGBT+ History Month. I will start by saying that I am incredibly disappointed that there are not more Members of the House present to hear what I know will be a really informative, heartfelt, genuine debate. The theme for LGBT+ History Month this year is activism and social change, but given what the LGBTQIA+ community is facing at the moment in the media and in political rhetoric, perhaps a more appropriate theme would be survival and existence. We see powerful people—rich people—at home and abroad punching down, referring to the LGBT community as woke, snowflake, weak and fragile. Any of us know that the LGBTQIA+ community is far from all those things, because fighting for who you are and to love who you want to love in the face of hatred, humiliation and persecution is one of the bravest things any of us could ever do. The trans community have to live every day in a body that does not reflect who they truly are—that is courage, and all against a backdrop of conversations about them, without them, particularly for trans men. Some of the strongest, least snowflake people I could ever have in my life are from the LGBT community. I am so proud to call them my friends. They are basically my extended family; they are the family I chose. They fight to be who they are, and they fight to exist now. I am going to give some personal examples from when I was perhaps at my weakest. As a straight woman, I relied on that community and my friends to hold me up, because they had the strength when I did not. When I was in my 20s, I used to go out out—as Miley Cyrus says, I used to be young. On one night, I was out out with one of my gay best friends and my non-binary friend. We had gone to a gay club because, unsurprisingly, and for a reason that I cannot possibly put my finger on, I felt safer and able to have more fun in gay nightclubs than I did in straight clubs as a 20-year-old single woman of that time. I cannot think why that might be. We were on our way home, and we wanted chips and a kebab—standard, right? In the queue was a group of lads. They start giving me abuse, with sexual connotations, and me being myself, I did not shut up; I did not take that lying down. I gave as good as I was getting. They went ahead, and all of a sudden, when we came out with our chips and kebabs, I could feel things hitting my head. They were throwing chips at us. Those chips suddenly became punches to my face, and they pushed me to the ground. Who stood up and fought for me? My gay best friends and my non-binary friend took on five blokes for me—I did not stop fighting either, but they were there when I needed them. I have worked across different communities on various campaigns, particularly human rights campaigns, and when I have lost those campaigns, my dearest friend Paul has been there to pick me up when I was crying and broken and thought I could not carry on. He showed me the importance of that, because of his experiences of fighting for equality throughout the ’80s and the ’90s and, unfortunately, in 2025. My dearest friend Helgi was one of the first out LGBT council members of the Royal College of Anaesthetists. I have spoken quite often in this place about the multiple miscarriages I have experienced. I could not have found myself at a darker time than I did then. He was there in the surgery to hold my hand and help me through one of the most difficult procedures, to remove two of the babies that did not make it out. He was my friend and was there when I woke up. That is the strength of the community. That is the strength of allyship. Right now, they are the ones being attacked. They are the ones feeling isolated. They are the ones feeling without hope. So I make a plea to every ally and to everybody to use their voice to stand up for the many who have used their voices to stand up for our rights, our dignity and our future. We had an election last year, and I am so proud that my first official engagement was Pride in Luton. Every year it gets bigger and better, and there are more supporters, more attendees and more fun. I took my family with me, and my then four-year-old asked me, “What’s Pride, mummy?” I said, “Pride is a celebration, but it’s also a protest. She said, “Okay.” I said, “Pride is a protest and a celebration of people loving who they want to love and being who they are.” Her reaction was, “Okay,” and she shrugged. We had the best time ever, and I hope that Pride long continues. But we did not get here without a fight. Over a decade ago, the previous Labour Government introduced some fantastic measures: they removed the terrible section 28 from the statute book; passed a law allowing trans people to legally change their gender; and introduced the Equality Act to protect LGBT+ people from discrimination. Labour also lifted the ban on lesbians, gay men and bi people serving in the armed forces; introduced civil partnerships, which—I give credit to the previous Conservative Government—paved the way for same-sex marriage; and brought in laws to allow unmarried couples, including same-sex couples, to apply for joint adoption. I am pleased that we have that legacy and foundation to build on, but build on it we must. The plan proposed in the Labour manifesto was to deliver a trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices. I am pleased that the Minister confirmed at the Women and Equalities Committee yesterday that the ban will be trans inclusive. She gave her commitment on that. We need to ensure that LGBT+ hate crime constitutes an aggravated offence in the same way as other hate crime offences. We need to bring forward a new HIV action plan, and I am glad that many hon. Members have spoken about that already. We need to right the wrongs endured by LGBT+ veterans, which I know this Government are taking aim at; modernise the law on gender recognition; fix the NHS; and recruit 8,500 more mental health workers. All those are brave and laudable aims, but one thing that has been missing is a timeframe—a schedule for when all these fantastic plans will be put into place. When will the LGBTQI+ community be able to feel the benefits of these laudable and beneficial aims? We have seen many members of that community feeling scared. It is not just about looking across the pond and seeing that their existence has been completely wiped out by President Trump and the richest man in the world; there is also a feeling that there is a rowing back in the UK. I want us to address some of the issues, and I hope the Minister will be able to explain, perhaps in writing, where we are on some of these points. The indefinite ban on puberty blockers for young trans people has been mentioned. The Women and Equalities Committee held an inquiry, and I am proud to say that although there were diverse opinions among Committee members—I am pleased to see some of them here—and the witnesses themselves, the debate was conducted with dignity and respect, with evidence and with a willingness to try to understand, which has all too long been missing. I cannot yet say what recommendations will come out, because I will get into trouble, but we need to be part of a solution. It is not just about pointing out what the problems are. Although the Minister said that the use of puberty blockers poses unclear risks of harm, we need to look at the unclear risks of harm from not being able to provide healthcare for trans people when they need it. What can be done to mitigate some of those harms? We have talked about vitamin D, calcium, healthy diets and all the things that would address some of the concerns about puberty blockers. Why is it that the ban is explicitly only for their use in treating people with gender dysphoria? Why is it safe for people with endometriosis, prostate cancer or precocious prepubescence to take puberty blockers, but not for those experiencing gender dysphoria? The Women and Equalities Committee heard evidence from endocrinologists with brains the size of small planets, which was incredibly informative. There is much work to be done, but we need to ensure that it is done fairly, inclusively and with the community, not against it. There is also a plan to reform the Gender Recognition Act, to make it easier for trans people to change their legal gender. I know that the Minister for Women and Equalities, my right hon. Friend the Member for Oxford East (Anneliese Dodds) called the process “intrusive, outdated and humiliating” in 2022. That is just as true today as it was then, and I would welcome an update from the Minister on when the GRA will be reviewed. While we all debate this issue, LGBTQ+ people are being isolated further. They are being targeted and talked about, which is coming through clear in the statistics. The number of hate crimes against LGBT+ people increased from 4,345 in 2011-12 to 22,339 in 2023-24. That increase is huge, and it affects real people’s lives. There is also a huge amount of under-reporting, because we know that only one in eight victims report homophobic or transphobic hate crimes to the police. We need to build up society’s trust in the Government to protect the most vulnerable from such crimes. We have a lot of work to do. Banning conversion therapy has received cross-party support, and I look forward to finding out when we will see a timeline for the ban to come into force. As we heard in the Women and Equalities Committee yesterday, we need to commit to making it trans inclusive, and I would be grateful if that commitment could be reiterated from the Dispatch Box today. When will Ministers commit to a timeline for bringing forward the plan to make anti-LGBT hate crime an aggravated offence? We have spoken about the new HIV action plan and building on the work of the previous Government, and I am really pleased that we have that. It was wonderful to see the Prime Minister casually taking an HIV test, which is not something that we would have seen in the past. The Minister and the shadow Minister spoke eloquently about the stigma around HIV, as did my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince). Tackling that stigma is so important, but it is really difficult to break it down when those in power continue to punch down. We have seen that with President Trump’s devastating cuts to USAID, which have left millions across the world without access to lifesaving antiretrovirals. What will the UK do to fill the gap? As we have seen in the US, progress is never inevitable. I hope this Government can address the concerns of the LGBTQI community, and of those who want to live in a society free from persecution and barriers to healthcare services and safety. We must stay united in the fight, because an attack on one of us is an attack on all, and hatred never stays in one lane for long.