KENILWORTH, 13 MAY 2006 — The appointment of Ruth Kelly as Secretary of State for Communities, a department that deals with the Government’s equality agenda has set alarm bells ringing at the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).
Interviewed on BBC Radio Five Live, Ms Kelly a well-known member of Opus Dei, the ultra-conservative Catholic organisation, twice declined to say whether she thought homosexuality was a sin. She said: “I’m sort of getting used to these questions as I go from one department to another. Is it possible to be a practising Catholic and hold a portfolio in government? The answer is ‘yes’. Why? Because I’m collectively responsible for Cabinet decisions and I firmly believe in equality and I believe everyone should be protected from discrimination.”
Pressed again, she replied: “I don’t think it is right for politicians to start making moral judgements about people. What I think the question is, is what are my political views? As a politician, those are the ones that I’m accountable for to the public.”
In a second interview with Sky News, Ms Kelly repeatedly declined to say whether she agreed that same-sex couples should be permitted to adopt children. But she insisted she would promote the rights of all.
Ms Kelly has missed a total of 12 votes on homosexuality and equal rights since 1997. They include a vote in June 1998 on the Crime and Disorder Bill to lower the age of homosexual consent, and two votes in 1999 and 2000 on the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill also lowering the age of consent.
In 2002, she also missed three votes on the Adoption and Children Bill, which permitted gay adoption, but did vote in May 2002 for an amendment to the Bill that would have allowed unmarried heterosexual couples to adopt but excluded same-sex couples.
George Broadhead of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association commented: “Ms Kelly’s equivocal answers to these questions bring into question her appointment to this sensitive post. She says that she will make her own mind up about the issues and follow the Government’s policy, but how can we be sure that she will be able to put her deep attachment to this extremist Catholic group to one side when making decisions?”
Mr Broadhead added: “The Vatican’s reaction to civil partnerships and gay marriage has been nothing short of hysterical. When gay marriage was legalised in Spain, the Catholic bishops organised large-scale street protests. During the US elections, Catholic bishops repeatedly tried to pressure Catholic politicians into supporting Catholic dogma in legislation and they did this at the behest of the Vatican.
“The Pope has issued a continuous stream of defamatory and insulting statements about legalised gay partnership arrangements. And yet Ruth Kelly claims that she will be able to be even-handed in her treatment of homosexual equality in her role in government. We doubt it very much. She was not open about her attachment to Opus Dei when she entered the cabinet, and the truth had to be dragged from her by persistent journalists. No wonder gay people are now worried.“