Dear Mr Evennett, Why should I pay equal taxes...?

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This week most of the reports I have read relating to issues for our gay community have been in response to the brilliant Stonewall research reports highlighting the difficulties of gay teachers to be out in school environments.  Reading about young teachers being kept awake at night with their fears and anxieties over how to respond to simple questions that other staff would not batt an eyelid at did not shock me but did continue to fuel my resolve to campaign for equality in all aspects of our lives.  This morning however I woke to read the Pink News article detailing the response of Stefano Borella the local gay councillor for Bexley to MP David Evennett's announcement that he will not be voting in favour of equal marriage.  He has apparently written to his constituents explaining this statement, details of which the Bexley Times have not made public and a scan of his own wordpress site also fails to give further information.  In the comment to the local paper Mr Evennett hides behind this quote;

"I’m a strong supporter of traditional marriage and I won’t be voting for any changes in the structure."

“I’ll be releasing a more in-depth statement when the bill is published.”

 So Mr Evennett I have a question for you.  Why as a lesbian resident of your Borough should I pay equal taxes?  Why should I give as much as every other resident yet not be entitled to the same as them in return.  My hetrosexual neighbours can chose where within the Borough to get married and in fact secure a discount on many of the venues as a resident of the Borough.  I on the other hand cannot, yet my taxes pay an equal contribution towards the upkeep and maintenance of these municipal buildings.  Perhaps you need to be somewhat more open, honest and clear about your reasons for voting against equal marriage.  Maybe it is time you actually said what you really think about how equal you feel the gay community should be? Don't hide behind statements of how you value the tradition of marriage and dont want to change things.  Stand up and be counted for the job you took on when you became an MP to represent the views of your constituents in the best interests of all of our local community.

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You have a comprehensive website which is updated approximately every 3 days with pictures of you standing shoulder to shoulder with people who visit our Borough or have championed a cause in order to change some policy decisions.  Yet when I search that site for mention of LGBT, gay, lesbian or equal marriage it returns no results.  In fact only when I search 'equal' does it pop up a few posts dating back to 2010 and 2011 realting to smoking, cancer and voting reform.

Here's another question for you, Are you aware of the LGBT community in your Borough and have you done anything to support them at all in the last 3 years?  The answer from your blog is clearly no, but maybe you have missed a report or two that you would like to share with your gay and lesbian readers.!