christineburns OP ,
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My recall of that day — of moments that still overwhelm me — made a fitting foreword to Volume 2 of Pressing Matters, which deals with how we got there.

THE GENDER RECOGNITION Bill completed its Report Stage and Third Reading in the House of Commons at 7.11pm on Tuesday 25th May 2004. It was passed by 355 votes to 46. My colleague Claire McNab and I witnessed that historical moment from the Strangers Gallery, having sat through more than five hours of debate that afternoon, passing scribbled notes to each other. We had worked with civil servants and ministers on this legislation for nearly two years, helping them fend off determined attempts to derail it. To suddenly reach the finishing line was a confusing sensation, as we jostled with the rest of the public to exit the gallery. We stood shell-shocked in the Central Lobby for a few minutes as Members of Parliament came up to us with warm words of con- gratulation. Our opposition - organised by a small faction of Evangelical Christians - licked their wounds with their Parlia- mentary supporters a few yards away. I urged colleagues to be gracious, in a way that those men and women had never been to us. They had borne false witness on so many occasions in their efforts to prevent this legislation being passed, or to at least defeat its purpose by wrecking amendments. One had to wonder whether they consciously blanked out the most important mes- sages in the Bible about loving and accepting your neighbour. I also wondered whether the bulk of Evangelical Christians - good people - had ever realised what had been done in the name of their faith. Our keenest allies…
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