Delga at Liverpool Conference 2010

Liberal Democrat Federal Autumn Conference 2010 will be in Liverpool from 18 - 22 September.

As usual, we will have a stall in the exhibition area of the conference. We are keen to ensure the stall is well-staffed all week; if you can help for some of conference week please contact the Secretary on secretary@delga.org.uk

We are pleased that our motion - on removing the gender restrictions from marriage and civil partnerships - has been accepted for the conference agenda and look forward to this debate. You can read the motion text at the bottom of this page.

Annual General Meeting

Our Annual General Meeting, to elect our executive for 2011 and consider our work to date and strategy, will be held on Saturday 18th September from 8pm in suite 7 of the Jury's Inn

All members welcome, and so are new recruits filling out a membership form while you're there!

DEG Reception

Sunday 19th September - ACC, Hall 12 - 8pm - 9.15pm

A reception for the party's diversity organisations - Delga, LDDA, EMLD, WLD, CGB. Guest speaker: Vince Cable MP. All Delga members welcome.

Delga / Stonewall Joint Fringe Meeting

Monday 20th September - Auditorium, Liverpool Tate - 8.15pm

This is now a regular feature of Party Conference. This year's panel will include:

• Lynne Featherstone MP (Hornsey & Wood Green) - government minister for LGBT issues
• Stephen Gilbert MP (St Austell & Newquay)
• Evan Harris, President of Delga
• Ben Summerskill, head of Stonewall
• all chaired by Ed Fordham, parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn

More events to be added here soon!

The motion reads:

F35 Equal Marriage in United Kingdom

Conference notes that:

i) At present no two individuals of the same sex may enter into a marriage in the United Kingdom,and that no two individuals of mixed sex may enter into a civil partnership.

ii) Under the terms of the Gender Recognition Act (2004) any individual seeking gender recognition or to change their gender as legally recognised cannot remain in a marriage or civil partnership.

Conference recognises that:

a) The Deputy Prime Minister, and Leader of the Liberal Democrats, the Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, said in Pink News on 1 7th February 2010: 'I support gay marriage. Love is the same, straight or gay, so the civil institution should be the same too. All couples should be able to make that commitment to one another'.

b) The moves by the new coalition government to allow ceremonies for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender couples to be performed in religious buildings are very much welcomed.

c) Whether someone believes in marriage, civil partnership or commitment, any religious organisation or building whether a church, mosque or temple which chooses to have civil partnerships celebrated at their religious places of worship will be in the future able to do so.

d) To grant rights to one group of individuals which are denied to others based on sexual orientation and gender is unconscionable.

e) The current arrangements with regards to marriage are discriminatory in nature.

f) Non-UK same-sex marriages are currently equated to civil partnership in the UK, not marriage.

Conference believes that as stated in the preamble to the party's constitution, we 'exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community' and 'reject all prejudice and discrimination' including those issues which relate to gender and sexual orientation.

Conference therefore calls on the British government to:

1. Open both marriage and civil partnerships to both same-sex and mixed-sex couples.

2. To allow approved religious and humanist celebrants to legally solemnise and celebrate same-sex marriage and civil partnerships in places of religious worship.

3. To allow those individuals who wish to seek gender recognition or change their legally recognised gender to remain in their current marriage or civil partnership without changing any legal requirements.

4. To establish a simplistic process by which any existing civil partnership may be converted into a marriage or vice-versa without the need to dissolve the civil partnership or proceed with a divorce.

5. To automatically recognise all non-UK same-sex marriages as marriage in the UK, and to subsequently remove non-UK same-sex marriages from the current schedule which equates them to civil partnerships in the UK.

6. To continue to maintain the schedule equating non-UK same-sex civil unions or registered partnerships as civil partnerships in the UK.

7. To add non-UK opposite-sex civil unions or registered partnerships to the schedule equating them to Civil Partnerships in the UK.

8. To openly promote and encourage recognition of same-sex marriage and civil partnerships across the European Union, especially in countries where currently no laws exist.

Applicability: Federal.