Theresa May on gay issues

May's [Conservative Party] appointment as Minister for Women and Equality was initially criticised by some members of the LGBT/gay rights movement, since she had voted against lowering the age of consent (in 1998) [there was a higher age of consent for gay people] and against greater adoption rights for homosexuals (in 2002), though she had voted in favour of civil partnerships. May later stated, during an appearance on the BBC's Question Time, that she had "changed her mind" on gay adoption. Writing for PinkNews in June 2010, May clarified her proposals for improving LGBT rights including measures to tackle homophobia in sport, advocating British society's need for "cultural change".

On 2 July 2010, May stated she would be supporting the previous Labour Government's Anti-Discrimination Laws enshrined in the Equality Act 2010 despite having previously opposed it. The Equality Act came into effect in England, Wales and Scotland on 1 October 2010. She did however announce that a clause she dubbed "Harman's Law" which would have required public bodies to consider how they can reduce socio-economic inequalities when making decisions about spending and services would be scrapped on the grounds that it was "unworkable".

In May 2012, May expressed support for the introduction of same-sex marriage by recording a video for the Out4Marriage campaign. May became one of the first high-profile Conservative MPs to pledge personal support for same-sex marriage. She explained, "I believe if two people care for each other, if they love each other, if they want to commit to each other ... then they should be able to get married and marriage should be for everyone".

source: 'Theresa May'; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_May; Wikipedia; Text copied from Wiki: 11 July 2016