Thank you, Deputy Minister, for this statement on the action plan today. Last week, we celebrated, as you said, what would have been the birthday of Welshman, Terrence Higgins, and remembered his passing 40 years ago from an AIDS-related illness. Terry was named as the first person in the UK to die from AIDS, but the crisis caused gay and bisexual men to face horrific homophobia and stigma. This undoubtedly contributed to many more lives being lost. 

And, whilst we have come a long way in acknowledging this homophobia associated with the HIV and AIDS crisis of the 1980s, it was alarming to see the tropes in the media and public discourse with the reporting of the monkey pox virus recently. The othering, the framing of queer people as a threat, the stereotypes, the negative connotations were reproduced in our mainstream media, as if the lessons from the last 40 years had never happened. And that's why we need governments to be active in tackling homophobia in all its forms, and that is why I welcome this update on the Welsh Government's LGBT action plan today. As you've said, it is about having a place of inclusion and solidarity, as opposed to division and alienation. Whether it is the systemic prejudice in our establishments, those holding public positions or online hate, we still have a long way to go to stamp this out, as we've seen.

So, Minister, will you agree with me, in endorsing the statement, to say to all people who may be struggling, facing discrimination or prejudice, 'There is nothing wrong with you; there is a lot wrong with the world in which we live'? Also, it's about emphasising and really coming out and saying to those people who are making those comments about the monkey pox virus that it's ignorant, it's absurd, it's dangerous, it's insulting, and to put the blame for that on the LGBTQ+ community is absolutely unacceptable.