Russ George and I have done a little wager on who Mark Reckless went to university with. You got us thinking earlier. I could see Hannah Blythyn shaking her head furiously when it was raised. But there we are. Can I also thank Hannah Blythyn for bringing this important issue to the Assembly today? I also concur with the thoughts of Joyce Watson as a commissioner. Suzy Davies couldn’t be here for this debate today but she wanted you to know that she fully supports this motion.

I would say that, although we are supporting this motion, I do think that often we promote diversity and equality across Wales every day rather than properly celebrating it. There is a difference: a bit like the old difference between toleration and acceptance. I think we should relish diversity and appreciate our many tribes without the bitterness of tribalism. We are more than the sum of our parts. It’s become easy for us here to promote LGBT rights. Here we are in this Assembly, a very forward-looking organisation and institution, quite rightly recognised for its work and success in promoting equality and diversity. I am an ally; I have my little card on my desk, which I know other Assembly Members have as well. This institution never stands still and shouldn’t do so. We should be proud that our legislature is leading the way.

Hannah Blythyn mentioned the exhibition in the Senedd upstairs earlier. I think that is genuinely inspiring, regardless of your sexuality or your gender. We as Assembly Members have easy access to that. We’ve got easy access to people in our community who want to tell us about their lives, their successes against prejudice, their wins against discrimination, their desire to educate against bullying and their zeal to advocate for those who live with hidden pain because of difference. It’s easy for us as politicians to believe the right thing, to say the right thing and, maybe a bit less easily, to do the right thing. Legislating on the age of consent, marriage, parenting and adoption—I welcomed Mark Reckless’ support for gay marriage when that came through Parliament—on pensions, on property, employment and even criminal offences to avoid discrimination on LGBT grounds: it’s easy because we here have the power. I think it’s right that the motion recognises the progress made on LGBT rights and acceptance. Rights and acceptance are, though, as I said before, different things. It’s still possible to have either without the other and this may always be the case where rights crash into each other in a secular or multi-religious society. Exercisable rights and acceptance can only arrive after understanding and, even now, in the LGBT-friendly bubble that we’re lucky to be in, we stumble across our own benign ignorance.

It’s 60 years since the Wolfenden report was published; 60 years since the words ‘homosexual’ and ‘prostitute’ were considered so indelicate that they had to be substituted during the inquiry with the words ‘Huntley’ and ‘Palmer’, tainting custard creams with a touch of lewdness for ever after. [Laughter.] I’m glad you got that joke. It still took 10 years to introduce the legislation to decriminalise consenting homosexual behaviour between adult men, and it’s taken 60 years to pardon Alan Turing, whose trial was one of those that prompted the inquiry. This is why the vigilance required by the motion is every bit as important as the promotion, the celebration and the progress—and not just the rights, but the depth of the acceptance.

Anyone who looked at the Marie Curie report ‘Hiding who I am’ will be brought up sharply as to quite how many holes there are in our acceptance, or at least our understanding of the experience of being LGBT, particularly in old age—that benign ignorance I mentioned earlier. The Wolfenden report was not a magic wand. Our older population still grew up in a time when being LGBT carried a heavy stigma, and could lead to exclusion, violence and even arrest. Coming out to health and social care professionals is still not an easy thing. Those with later stages of dementia can begin to re-experience feelings of shame and fear they had in their youth. They may even profess anger and revulsion for homosexuality, reflecting what was socially required when they were young.

So, in conclusion, Presiding Officer, it’s not as easy as we may think to celebrate equality and diversity. It’s not just some of the horror stories we hear about in other parts of the world. Cultural loyalties and ignorance remain the parents of discrimination, and casual prejudice in many of our own communities. Add to that the quiet re-stigmatisation of those who fought and beat stigma post Wolfenden and I can see why this motion is about promotion, not celebration. I do, however, feel that it’s an excellent motion to be brought before the Assembly, and I think it shows what this Assembly can be when it’s at its best, and when Members have the best interests of this institution and Wales at its heart.