I find myself questioning the appointment of Ruth Kelly to the posts of Minister for Women and Equality and Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government as potentially foolhardy, and so it seems does eveyone else including the more right wing media...

Can a person of faith be the Minister for Equality - unequivocally yes is the answer in my opinion, as long as they work for the benefit of all the communities they are meant to support, but sadly it would seem that either by design or coincidence Ruth hasn't been available in her long career as an MP to support our community - infact she has only managed it once in 8 yrs and that was only a minor vote.

Ruth also has made it clear that she is a member of Opus Dei ( a catholic religious order), whom according to their faith have a duty to extend the “holiness” of their beliefs into their everyday work life.

Opus Dei regards practising homosexuals as sinners.

So there seems to me three explanations as to why this could be: 1. Ruth was absent for legitimate reasons for 8 out of the 9 important debates in the last 8 years on LGBT equality, which for me raises questions as to her priorities and whether she cares about the equality agenda for the LGBT community

or,

2. Ruth has specifically absenteed herself because she doesnt want her true beliefs on LGBT rights to be expressed.

or,

3. Some other reason that escapes me.

I think we need to find out from Ruth exactly where she stands on LGB and T equality as In February 2004 she missed a vote to give transsexual people the rights of their new gender.

let us not forget its a crucial time with several equality reviews currently going on within government and for which she is responsible for delivering on - she is our (very shared) voice and we need to make sure that she is treating our community equally and fairly.

Over the last 36hrs the media has been trying to find out what she has been up to and here are her responses:

What are NUS doing?

A: Well I am writing to Ms Kelly to find out exactly where she stands on LGBT equality and how she intends to vote and steers the current Equality Agenda.

We will also work with other key sector partners to monitor the situation and take further action if necessary.

So what can I do?

A:Well you can ask her exactly where she stands, if you are contacting make sure you are polite and courteous - otherwise your correspondence will be ignored:

Write to her at the Houses of Parliment

Telephone: 020 7219 3000 (parliament switchboard)

eMail by visiting this link: www.locata.co.uk/commons/mail.asp?cons_id=53

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