The House Article | Trade unions always have, and always will, lead the fight for equality

4 min read11 min

Trade unions are at the heart of the fight for equality. It is trade unions that push employers for policies on discrimination at work, and who decades ago brought forward trans inclusive policies.

I have been campaigning for a ban on conversion practices for many years. I brought an amendment to the King’s Speech during the last government, and have for the last two years been working on legislation at the Council of Europe (CoE).

Because conversion practices don’t happen in theory. They happen in real life, to real people. To the teenager who is told their feelings are “wrong” and that love is something they must earn by becoming someone else. To the adult, pressured into silence and shame, sometimes by the very people and institutions meant to offer care. They happen in living rooms and places of worship, behind closed doors, under the guise of “therapy”, “guidance”, “deliverance”, or “counselling”.

And the message is always the same: you are broken. You are wrong. You need to be fixed.

I do not want to be part of a society that does that, or that makes parents feel they must encourage their children to change themselves just because they won’t be accepted.

The CoE is the home of human rights, which the UK helped set up before the European Union, made up of 46 different countries. The reports it passes provide frameworks for legislation for each country’s own parliament.

I am pleased to report that this month, the COE passed my report with wide support from across Europe, and across political party groupings, with backing from European conservatives, liberals, greens, and, of course, socialists like me.

This matters because it sets standards. When Europe’s leading human rights institution speaks, governments listen. Courts listen. Public bodies listen. Now is the time for the UK government to listen and to publish its own draft legislation.

I also want to recognise something that too often gets overlooked: the sheer hard work, persistence, and moral clarity of the trade union movement on this issue.

Trade unions have long campaigned against conversion practices and for the dignity, safety, and equality of LGBTQ+ workers — often when it wasn’t easy, and when it wasn’t popular. They have kept survivors’ voices in the public eye, pushed institutions to take responsibility, and reminded governments that “freedom” can never mean freedom to abuse. I am a proud trade unionist because of work like this.

Trade unions are often the ones who will bravely stand up when no one else will. I am deeply grateful to the movement for their leadership and solidarity over many years—and for standing firm on the side of people who simply want to live as themselves.

One of the cruellest realities is where conversion practices can happen. So often they are delivered in settings that should be supportive — at home, in a church, in a community space. The betrayal cuts deep when the place you seek shelter and support becomes the place you are harmed.

That’s why this is a human rights issue. History tells us of the damage that it does to people; we must not forget that harm and repackage and re-inflict it. We have an opportunity to end that cycle of abuse, now.

It’s also why equalities cannot be treated as optional extras in our workplaces or public services — they are part of the protection people need to live safely and openly.

That is why the wider context in which the Employment Rights Act matters: rights at work should go hand-in-hand with equality at work, so that people are protected not only from exploitation, but from discrimination and hostility too.

I was proud to vote for an Act that focuses on equality at work, by bringing in measures like requiring employers to produce Equality Action Plans.

When we strengthen workers’ rights with a clear commitment to equality, we are saying something simple but powerful: nobody should have to choose between having a job and being themselves; nobody should be punished, sidelined, or silenced because of who they are.

Kate Osborne is Labour MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East