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London: Gay couple threatened with death in violent late night homophobic assault
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Government considers watered down same-sex marriage bill to minimise Tory rebellion
133
Tory MP Gerald Howarth: 'There are plenty in the aggressive homosexual community who want more than just same-sex marriage'
94
France: Far right activist commits suicide in Notre Dame following legalisation of equal marriage
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Philip Hammond: 'No great demand for gay marriage and it's upsetting vast numbers of people'
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Government to consider abolishing civil partnerships or opening up to straight couples
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Norman Tebbit: David Cameron has 'f**** things up' with his equal marriage bill
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Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather tells Catholic newspaper 'I never went into politics to tackle equal marriage'
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Lib Dem Deputy Leader Simon Hughes: 'Marriage should be between one man and one woman'
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Tory MP David Burrowes: 'I'm not anti-gay; I'm just pro-marriage'
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Robert in S. Kensington 646
GulliverUK 309
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Rehan 285
Mark Y 255
rapture 245
That There Other David 241
Wingby 239
It may not be obligatory, but in this instance i see no logical reason for those questions.
Especially since a road survey is unlikely to have any differing effect on straights or gays
If this was an NHS survey or something then fair enough
It is important to know how many gay people use public services but the answer is very simple – if you don’t want to divulge such information then don’t! Problem solved, what a ridiculous storm in a thimble
Why is it important to know how many gay people use public services?
Even if it were, a survey like this will never give an accurate indication of the sexual orientation of its respondents. They always underestimate.
And by refusing to fill it in or answer certain questions then you imply an answer because you fear discrimination. Do you not think it is rather disingenious to that equality legislation either forces disclosure expressly/implied or force people to lie because they fear discrimination.
The Mail and Telegraph in particular seem to be on the warpath about the fact that there is a questionnaire which takes ‘transgender’ into account and quote a retired investment banker who is much disgruntled about this indeed. Yeah, well I guess times must be sooo tough for him…don’t these guys have so much to worry about, eh?
There is no need to ask these questions, but the previous labour government made it mandatory that all official documents ask.
They called it ensuring non-discrimination. I call it discrimination by assuming my opinion is shaped by my age, gender or orientation or that the decision they undertake rather then seeing me as a citizen first they are seeing me as “a gay” then a citizen second.
It goes against the grain of the equality legislation.
I have recently successfully completed a course in Equality & Diversity. Although the use of these questions is actively encouraged to ensure compliance with the Act of 2010, the completion of such forms is entirely voluntary. just ignore them.
Only where its not relevant to the context then there is no need to ask it!
What’s the big deal? Answer the questions. There would be a fuss too if sexual orientation was not included.
Well considering the EU in its usual farcical way has now banned sex/gender as a criteria for insurance premiums because of its apparently ‘sexist’ nature, these questions serve no purpose.
Sheila’s Wheels RIP.
If you saw the way young “girl racers” hurtle about our estate, and had been involved in as many near misses and accidents caused by females as I have, you would not believe the myth that females are safer drivers!
So how about a modern system where everyone is charged the same UNTIL they have an accident?
The current system discriminates and rewards a terrible woman driver with better rates than a good male driver.
That’s discrimination clearly
And Sheila’s wheels had very annoying adverts
There was no way a company offering insurance for just men would have survived without a lawsuit
I told the ‘foreign Asian’ when I lived in my old city that my sexuality is and I quote ‘None of your business’, Race: ‘Human Race’ and Gender which was written as ‘sex’ – so I put ‘Yes please’. Needless to say she was not very impressed and thought I was being sarcastic (Which I was in a way but still…..) but I stood my ground and I got one over on her because I won! LMAO!
Well done! These questions are useful only for internal assessment of how well the E & D policies and practises of the organisation works.
I have no problem with them, but they are voluntary, no-one has to right to pry, or associate names with replies.
Only you should see what employers DO do with this information, they may be told they are not allowed to but they do use it. In this instance someone’s sexuality has no effect on their opinion of a road.
Did the fact that she’s ‘foreign’ and Asian affect your reaction, and if not, why did you feel it necessary to indicate her racial origin?
Because she made a point of telling me that. That she had to right her race down when she filled out the same form. I told her I failed to see how my ‘race’ had any relevance to me driving a car.
And the I received the form in the post and sent it back in the post. My answers were my own and nothing to do with the lady. It wasn’t until I was a sent out a letter saying that i had filled the form out ‘incorrectly’ because of those answer that i had to go down and to speak to this lady.
Are these questions relevant, well maybe they are… we might get our own LGBT lane on this new by-pass in which case we know whose lane will be the most tastefully decorated!!
What utter nonsense and totally intrusive, and as previously said I am a British citizen nothing more nothing less
What on earth does gender, race, disability have to do with a relief road for Manchester Airport? This EIA stuff is absolute crap.
I don’t have a problem with it. Why is it any big a deal than confirming your town of birth? Okay it’s not important to know that if you get on a bus, but I don’t get why the information of sexuality is sensitive. I think it should be a question on the census. I don’t get why age, height, weight, religion, income, job, location, partner, children and choice of internet provider are questions that we all answer often without hesitation – but sexuality? Why pretend it’s a big taboo. I think this is part of a bigger problem with people, even those within the LGBT community, who treat sexuality as something that’s so private it’s an outrage for it ever to be revealed or asked for. I think this creates a situation where LGBT people are somehow encouraged to be less open about their sexuality than others.
Because it is always assumed that the main answer will be “heterosexual” those that are flagged with anything else get extra consideration. If you was a homophobic or racist employer and you had to pick a candidate and this information was available to you then it would be used regardless of if they are allowed to or not and how would you ever prove it? They are also likely to ignore or treat the the “refuse to answer” ones differently because they will assume its anything other then the majority.
What does a new road (nice new motorway road on the plans by the way) got to do with LGBT rights?
Has the United Kingdom gone mad?
I support big massive 16 lanes of freeways!
We need a freeway like that on the Pacific Highway (the hwy that’s runs between Sydney and Brisbane), because half of the road is currently just a two lane 1920s goat track!
who ever wrote this article needs to go back to journo school. it doesn’t say who has criticised the forms – only who is defending it. A news story has to have both sides otherwise the journo writing it takes one view therefore manufacture the news – which is not news.