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Philip Davies has previously spoken out against gay marriage and political correctness.

The Member of Parliament for Shipley, was elected unopposed to fill a vacated Tory seat on the Women and Equalities Committee. It is responsible for examining the government’s strategies relating to women, sexuality and transgender equality.

But Mr Davies is a strong opponent of LGBT rights, voting against the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations in 2007 and the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act in 2013. He later claimed that giving lesbian and gay people the right to marry discriminates against straight people.

He has campaigned for the recognition of International Men’s Day in Parliament, arguing just last month that men have “lost their voice in the national discourse in recent years”.

The surprise move seemed to shock many with Labour’s Gavin Shuker saying he would have to “just let that sink in for a minute”.

Philip Davies Equalities Committee

While Sophie Walker, leader of the Women’s Equality Party, recalled a speech to the International Conference on Men’s Issues in which Mr Davies claimed that “feminist zealots really do want women to have their cake and eat it”.

She added it “a fitting end to this year of post-truth politics.”

Philip Davies Equalities Committee

Despite the criticism the Shipley MP told the Press Association he could not see anything untoward in his selection.

“Are you only allowed on select committees if you all share the same opinion now?’ he asked. ‘That would be a novel innovation and an affront to free speech.”

He said: “I believe in equality. What I want to ensure is that people are treated equally, whether they are men or women, black or white, gay or straight, whatever their religion.

“People shouldn’t have their opportunities determined by these things, all of these things should be irrelevant.
‘That’s the agenda I want to pursue on the committee – a true equality that is colour-blind, gender-blind, sexuality-blind and religion-blind.”

The Women and Equalities Committee said it had not yet been informed of the nominee to fill the empty space on the cross-party panel.

 

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