DELGA had a great week in Bournemouth for Lib Dem Conference. Our colourful stall in the exhibition - with a display of photos from what has been our biggest ever Pride campaign - was bustling each day, and our fringe meetings and social each drew excellent crowds.
There are a host of fringe events at this week's Lib Dem conference. One of this evening's meetings focused on HIV and sexual health. Lembit Öpik, Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire, recalled visiting a Terrence Higgins Trust testing clinic earlier this year to promote sexual health in the run-up to Valentine's Day.
Many DELGA supporters will have seen reports that an experimental HIV vaccine has for the first time cut the risk of infection. DELGA Chair Jen Yockney says, "the reports offer a brighter hope for tackling HIV in the future but remind us of the need for work on sexual health now. As budgets are being cut in so many sectors, cutting sexual health spending today is a false economy that stores up far bigger problems for the future."
Lynne Featherstone MP, Lib Dem spokesperson on Equality, gave a keynote speech to the main conference hall today at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth. She said:
Under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, civil partnership ceremonies are forbidden from taking place in any building designed for or used solely for religious purposes. Lib Dem parliamentary spokesperson for Brighton Pavilion, Andrew Falconer, has launched a petition to amend the legislation.
The Autumn Conference edition of the DELGA Newsletter is out and available to pick up from our stall in the Conference Exhibition area - and it will be online after the conference as well as sent to DELGA members.