Of Tories and Equality

The day before London Pride I walked up Whitehall past the Cabinet Office, to find it was flying the Pride rainbow flag. It's a good thing of course, and Oliver Letwin should be congratulated for the move, but it wasn't matched by another government department, which had been historically supportive. Under William Hague the flag was flown for last year's march and festival, but his successor Philip Hammond famously banned it from the Foreign Office and British embassies. 

The flag brought a smile to my face - it always does. Twenty years ago the idea that any British government department would be championing LGBT equality was unthinkable. Now we even have Tories doing their bit, even though some clearly aren't as convinced as others. Anti-gay hate crime is still widespread in the UK, so the promotion of equality is perhaps more important than ever.