as a human rights defender I absolutely defend the right of religious belief but
I do not accept the right to impose that belief on another when by imposition you
diminish the rights of the other in comparison to the imposer Keith you
talked about lives and perhaps llamas that are violated by organized religion
well as a gay man and an ex-catholic I think I've stand here as one who
experienced it and growing up being told that I was intrinsically evil does an
enormous amount of damage to others who perhaps aren't as gutsy and pushy as me
it's very fashionable to attack the European Union it's very fashionable to
attack the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg a separate
institution though reading the newspapers in the United Kingdom you
wouldn't necessarily come to that conclusion and it is a very worrying and
a very dangerous trend let me just remind you that with its problems and
with its mistakes the European Union was born out of the ashes of the Second
World War literally the ashes from crematoria that were dotted across
Europe the ashes of people's hopes people's dreams and out of that
determination came together a union of peoples where we would never fight one
another for power cold steel or economic supremacy ever again where we would
never turn away we're a group or an individual or a country was attacked or
scapegoated and that is why Europe the European Union is based
on fundamental values fundamental human rights many of the rights that we now
enjoy in this country which this government and I'm not making a party
political statement it is a matter of fact many of the rights that people
enjoy here non discrimination on the grounds of race ethnicity religion
belief age disability sexual orientation gender those rights are currently under
threat and it's this government's intention to repatriate such rights away
from the European Union and why do I say this there is now we are as close to the
1930s than we have ever been we look for the scapegoat look at Greece look at
Cypress we've got Portugal Italy Ireland Spain where people of a different
ethnicity who have been there for generations are suddenly seen as the
problem the stranger that is why the defense of human rights and I have to
say the defense of the European Union and everything that it stands for that
collectively we can achieve much much more together than we could ever achieve
by acting alone and that together we can defend the weakest is a principle that I
believes goes to the root of the national secular society and goes to the
root of what makes this country and its defence and its promotion of the Council
of Europe all those years ago so worthy and so defendable thank
you