Today is IDAHoBiT – the international day against homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. Liberal Democrats have a proud tradition of fighting for LGBT+ rights. The 2017 manifesto, published today, aims to go further than any other party is furthering LGBT+ rights. However, because we Lib Dems believe that LGBT+ rights are human rights, a lot of the LGBT+ content in the manifesto is spread out in the various policy topic areas the manifesto covers. While I like this, because it means that LGBT+ rights are integral to our policies, not tacked on as an afterthought, it can make things easy to miss. In lieu of a manifesto index, therefore, I am going to draw it all together in one place, starting at the beginning:

1. Our young people are bright, creative and want a world that is clean and green and that the rest of us haven’t wrecked. They want jobs, good health and the chance to choose who they love and how they live– Introduction by Tim Farron, p7, emphasis mine.
2. Defending social rights and equalities: Many important protections such as the right to 52 weeks’ maternity leave and rights to annual leave are currently based on EU law, and many of these rights have been upheld at the European Court of Justice. Liberal Democrats will fight to ensure that these entitlements are not undermined. – Europe section, top of p12 – while this doesn’t mention LGBT+ rights specifically, there are a lot of LGBT+ rights that spring from European law or case law.
3. Ensure that LGBT+ inclusive mental health services receive funding and support – NHS section, p20
4. Make Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention available on the NHS. – NHS section, p22
5. Introduce a curriculum entitlement – a slimmed down core national curriculum, which will be taught in all state-funded schools. This will include Personal, Social and Health Education: a ‘curriculum for life’ including financial literacy, first aid and emergency lifesaving skills, mental health education, citizenship and age-appropriate Sex and Relationship Education (SRE). – Education section, pp29-30
6. Include in SRE teaching about sexual consent, LGBT+ relationships, and issues surrounding explicit images and content. – Education section, pp29-30
7. Challenge gender stereotyping and early sexualisation, working with schools to promote positive body image and break down outdated perceptions of gender appropriateness of particular academic subjects – Education section, p30
8. Tackle bullying in schools, including bullying on the basis of gender, sexuality, gender identity or gender expression. – Education section, p31
9. Extend the Equality Act to all large companies with more than 250 employees, requiring them to monitor and publish data on gender, BAME, and LGBT+ employment levels and pay gaps. – Justice and Equalities section, p71
10. Campaign to reduce intolerance, including anti-Semitism, and hate crimes alongside organisations such as Show Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust UK, and Kick It Out – Justice and Equalities section, p71
11. Ask the Advisory Committee on Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs periodically to review rules around men who have sex with men and other related groups donating blood to consider what restrictions remain necessary – Justice and Equalities section, pp71-72
12. Introduce an ‘X’ option on passports, identity documents, and official forms for those who do not wish to identify as either male or female, and campaign for their introduction in the provision of other services, for example utilities. – Justice and Equalities section, p72
13. Strengthen legal rights and obligations for couples by introducing mixed-sex civil partnerships and extending rights to cohabiting couples – Justice and Equalities section, p72
14. Extend protection of gender reassignment in equality law to explicitly cover gender identity and expression, and streamline and simplify the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to allow individuals to change their legal gender without unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, for example the intrusive medical tests currently required. – Justice and Equalities section, p72
15. Remove the spousal veto, and abolish remaining marriage inequalities in areas such as pensions, hospital visitation rights and custody of children in the event of bereavement. – Justice and Equalities section, p72
16. Ensure that trans prisoners are placed in prisons that reflect their gender identity, rather than their birth gender – Justice and Equalities section, p76
17. Offer asylum to people fleeing countries where their sexual orientation or gender identification means that they risk imprisonment, torture or execution, and stop deporting people at risk to such countries. – Immigration and Asylum section, p79
18. Develop a comprehensive strategy for promoting the decriminalisation of homosexuality around the world and advancing the cause of LGBT+ rights – International policy section, p87
19. Introduce legislation to allow for all-BAME and all-LGBT+ parliamentary shortlists – Democracy and Devolution section, p91

I’m hoping that someone can do this for other subject areas. It’s obvious that there are some things that fall into two categories, and are therefore going to be hard to find for those interested in them – for example, EurAtom is science AND Europe – Les Holloway has already covered BAME issues on this site; any volunteers to do this for other topics?

* Jennie Rigg is an award winning Liberal Democrat blogger who blogs at With a Melon? She was a member of the Liberal Democrats until September 2019.