Pride Month

Debate between Mims Davies and Tom Gordon

Monday 23rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mims Davies (East Grinstead and Uckfield) (Con)]

I thank the many hon. Members in the Chamber for their swift and heartfelt contributions; everybody contributed brilliantly. I also wish everyone a very happy Pride Month, including my constituents in East Grinstead, Uckfield and the villages.

The ethos of the Conservatives is exactly about meaningful change and putting the individual at the centre of policymaking. It is the Conservative party that is about freedom to be who you are. We are here to campaign for you and to support you, for a better future for you and everyone. As we have heard this evening, it is about respect, love and care for all that matters.

I have quoted before—this has stuck with me—the words of my friend and former colleague Elliot Colburn. In a previous debate, he said:

“LGBT+ people have always existed; we did not just pop out of the ground in the 1960s and 1970s and start marching through the streets of London and other cities.”—[Official Report, 7 March 2024; Vol. 746, c. 393WH.]

His and Jed’s wedding is back in my diary. They have much to do to top what was a great engagement night.

The changes that we have heard about across the globe, including in Thailand and India, are absolutely welcome. It is just as vital that we have righted the wrongs done to our service personnel. On Saturday, I will be in East Grinstead for an Armed Forces Day event with constituents and thinking of those who have told and shared with me their terrible, abhorrent experiences in the forces, like some of those bravely retold this evening. I agree with the hon. Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) about the fantastic contribution made by Fighting with Pride.

We have heard about families coming in all shapes and sizes and how important that is. In 2022, the Conservative Government rightly and vitally removed the barriers to IVF for lesbian couples, as highlighted by my hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Dr Spencer). He also talked about the importance of family life for all couples. It is vital to recognise that parents and families come in different shapes and forms, including single parents. I have always loved to highlight that single parents can do this job.

The hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tristan Osborne) talked about the importance of local Pride campaigns. That point was echoed across the Chamber—I could not keep up—about campaigns in York, Basildon and Southend, and a winter Pride event where it sounds like there would be far too many clothes! I very much enjoyed the geography lesson on where to go.

It was also important to reflect on politicians, what we do and how we have made a difference. The Minister of State reminded us that there is always more to do and that we should take nothing for granted.

[Tom Gordon]

We have had a lovely, light-hearted debate for the most part. Does the hon. Lady agree that leaders of political parties have power through their words? Would she push for her party in particular to ensure that, when it comes to LGBT rights, we consider the humanity that we are talking about and do not whip up hate?

[Mims Davies]

I think that hon. Members heard from the Conservative Front Bench a young man from Anglesey—my right hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Stuart Andrew)—speaking very much about what the challenges were for him living in an isolated, rural area, just as we heard from the hon. Member for Ynys Môn (Llinos Medi). It is right that we should put safety, dignity and the freedom to live your life at the heart of everything we do. My right hon. Friend was right that we are all leaders in our own ways. That is why I am so proud that we Conservatives set the ambitious and absolutely right goal of ending all new HIV cases by 2030. My right hon. Friend the Member for Daventry put that challenge to the Front-Bench team for this Parliament. Perhaps if the Minister’s party had not been quite so successful at the election, we would have even more of my gay and lesbian colleagues left on my Benches to keep championing that cause.