Ruth Kelly Must Resign, Says GALHA

KENILWORTH, 23 JANUARY 2007 — Reacting to reports that Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly is trying to water down the sexual orientation regulations in order to please the Vatican and Opus Dei, of which she is a member, George Broadhead, secretary of the UK Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA), said: “Ms Kelly is clearly the wrong person for this job. We warned at the time of her appointment that there would eventually be a conflict of interest between the rights of those she is supposed to be defending and the demands of her religion.”

Mr Broadhead said that the only honourable course for Ms Kelly was to resign. “She has to choose. It is obvious that she cannot adequately represent the interests of the LGBT community while she is also trying to serve an organisation that is telling her to discriminate against us. The Catholic Church has shown itself to be increasingly hostile to the progress of LGBT rights and she is clearly struggling between her loyalty to the job and her loyalty to the Church. She has now made it abundantly clear where her prime interest lies. There should be no more excuses – she must go.”