Equality Day: Doing Things A Bit Differently

The Equality Day session passed off with a bang with some excellent debates, some live music, and brilliant guest speakers. In fact there were three standing ovations for Billy Bragg, Matthew Collins and Andrew Voyce respectively.

The afternoon got off to a rousing speech by Head of Equality, Education & Development Kate Hudson, who packed several key themes into her address to conference, ranging from the need for unity over hate, solidarity with the Trans community and so much more. She said the union movement has a big role to play in making sure the politics of hate are stopped in its track and this can only happen through education and speaking with our members.

Billy Bragg then sang The Power in the Union, which was so fitting. This was a big surprise for delegates with many rushing to get selfies before and after his song. Guest speaker Matthew Collins then took Conference on a powerful journey which was incredibly eye-opening, essentially going over his time as a leading member of the National Front to now being a leading anti-racist and anti-fascism campaigner. After his session his books sold out in 20 minutes!

After some more debates, including some really emotional contributions on dementia and endometriosis, Andrew Voyce took to the stage to speak about his journey and how he coped with Schizophrenia.

Our thanks to the delegates and Branch Reps as ever – we hope you enjoyed Equality Day – we always like to do things a bit differently and hope you took a lot out of the session.