A LIBERAL VOICE FOR A LIBERAL CITY
HAVING PRIDE IN OUR CITY
Our city may have problems but it's still a great city, home to every race, gender and creed. Our citizens are politically engaged with community groups for everything from beach cleaning to housing reform. We are surrounded by beautiful countryside and sea, we enjoy the urban lifestyle of a large city with the convenience of a small one and enjoy cultural, culinary and entertainment scenes that are the envy of the country.
One of the great things about our city is its nightlife: from world-class restaurants to seaside nightclubs, we are a destination. However:
- We are concerned with the national trend of pub closures and the local trend of music venue closures, with the city recently losing Sticky Mike's Frog Bar only a few years after losing the Blind Tiger Club. As such we will oppose the closure of live music venues in the city and seek to support free houses and community-run pubs however possible.
Part of what makes Brighton and Hove vibrant is the LGBT scene, and with subsidies for LGBT organisations being cut across the city, and rumours of Pride being charged for use of Preston Park, we would like to reiterate:
- We support Brighton Pride as a key event in the city's calendar.
- As the party that introduced gay marriage and repealed section 28, we believe there is still work to be done on gay rights, such as banning conversion therapies and providing universal PrEP access.
- Trans people have been key in LGBT history but do not yet have equality under the law. We are proud our city hosts the UK's largest Trans Pride event as it heads into its seventh year and we will continue to fight for trans rights. Our national Lib Dem policies include ending the spousal veto and providing more support during the process of transition.
Our city is also made better by our fantastic libraries, museums and tourism venues. As such, we:
- Support the Save Hove Library campaign, aimed at keeping the Carnegie Library in Hove in use as a library.
- Oppose the closure of any other library sites.
- Would extend the opening hours of council-run libraries and tourist venues so they are consistently open on Bank Holidays.
