Equalities minister Nicky Morgan appoints Stonewall education head as special advisor
Equalities minister Nicky Morgan has appointed Stonewall’s head of education as a special advisor.
Ms Morgan, who voted against same-sex marriage, was appointed as Education Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities in last week’s reshuffle.
It has now been revealed that the minister has appointed Luke Tryl – who until now was head of education at LGB rights charity Stonewall – as a special advisor, to support her in her new role.
The activist will depart the charity immediately to take up the role as advisor, it has been confirmed.
Stonewall’s acting chief executive Ruth Hunt told Gay Star News: “Luke has been a remarkable member of the team and invaluable to our work tackling homophobic bullying in Britain’s schools.
“We’re delighted that he’ll now be working to advance equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people at the heart of government.
“Everyone at Stonewall will miss Luke but we all wish him the very best in his exciting and incredibly important new role.”
Nicky Morgan’s appointment had previously attracted criticism, with Labour MEP Michael Cashman branding it “deeply worrying”.
Gay junior Conservative minister Nick Boles, who is strongly in favour of same-sex marriage, was given specific responsibilities for same-sex marriage and LGBT equality in the reshuffle.
Luke Tryl told Pink News in an interview earlier this month: “Homophobic bullying is almost endemic in our secondary schools; that children in primary schools, children as young as five are using phrases like ‘that’s so gay’. There’s still a huge amount more to do.
“We really believe that at the heart of tackling homophobic bullying is good quality teacher training.
“Too many teachers are coming out of their teacher training never having talked about issues like homophobic bullying, which, ten years on from the repeal of section 28, is pretty worrying.”
