London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Advisers quit government over 'hostile' LGBT+ stance

Advisers quit government over 'hostile' LGBT+ stance

Two members of the government's LGBT advisory panel have quit after accusing ministers of not being serious about reform.

Jayne Ozanne said ministers had created a "hostile environment" for LGBT people.

The government says it is "committed to building a country" where people are "free to live their lives as they choose".

In a second resignation, James Morton questioned the commitment to equality.

Mr Morton told the BBC the government's "failure" to mention gender identity or transgender people in the statement responding to Jayne Ozanne's resignation was the "final straw".

In an interview with ITV News , Ms Ozanne said there had been "a lack of engagement" with the group, and ministers acted against their advice.

She said one of the reasons for her resignation was to "appeal" to Boris Johnson to take action over LGBT conversion therapy - which she has been through herself.

The issue was debated in Parliament on Monday, after repeated pledges from the government - and Mr Johnson - to ban the practice.

But MPs reacted angrily when Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch would not give a timeline for legislation, instead saying the government was "committed" to "ending" it.

Labour's shadow equality minister, Marsha de Cordova, accused the government of "a pattern of behaviour which seeks to dismiss the real impact of the discrimination experienced by so many".

The government said it would bring forward its plans "shortly".

In the interview, the campaigner, who describes herself as a gay evangelical Christian, said both Ms Badenoch and Minister for Women and Equalities Liz Truss were known amongst the LGBT+ community as "the ministers for inequality".

She told ITV: "I don't believe that they understand LGBT people, particularly transgender people.

"I've sat in meetings and I've been astonished about how ignorant they are on issues that affect the real lives, particularly of younger people."

Ms Ozanne said she believed Mr Johnson was "a friend of the LGBT community".

But she appealed for him to take action on the gay conversion ban, saying the current proposals "do not have the confidence of the LGBT community [or] the confidence of many senior religious leaders who've also called for a ban".

'We are hurting'


Ms Ozanne also told ITV she did not believe the Conservative government had "the best wishes of the LGBT community at heart".

She added: "The language that I hear from them is of us being woke, or of being loud lobby groups, and what they don't seem to understand is the reason we have to shout is because we are hurting, because there are people who are vulnerable who are going unheard and unnoticed."

After her resignation, a government spokesman said: "The government is committed to building a country in which everyone, no matter their sexuality, race or religion, is free to live their lives as they choose.

"We have repeatedly made clear that we will take action to end conversion therapy and we are working to bring forward plans to do so shortly."

James Morton, one of the trans people on the panel, said he has been "very concerned for several months that Liz Truss and her junior ministers are not committed to LGBT equality".

"It doesn't appear that they're doing anything useful or helpful for trans people, in terms of government policy" he said.

The LGBT Advisory Council was set up in 2019 with the term of current panel members set to end on March 31st.


Jayne Ozanne spoke to the BBC in 2018 about her own experience of gay conversion therapy


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×