Doreen Massey, Baroness Massey of Darwen

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The Baroness Massey of Darwen
Official portrait
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
26 July 1999
Life peerage
Personal details
Born
Doreen Elizabeth Massey

(1938-09-05) 5 September 1938 (age 85)
NationalityBritish
Political partyLabour
Alma mater

Doreen Elizabeth Massey, Baroness Massey of Darwen (born 5 September 1938), is a Labour member of the House of Lords.

Early life[edit]

She was educated at the University of Birmingham (BA, DipEd, vice-pres Student Union, Hockey and Cricket blues), and the University of London (MA).[1]

Career[edit]

A former teacher and education advisor, she was the director of the Family Planning Association from 1989 to 1994. She was made a life peer as Baroness Massey of Darwen, of Darwen in the County of Lancashire, on 26 July 1999.[2] She was introduced on 1 November 1999 to the House of Lords[3] where she served as a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Integrated and Complementary Healthcare.

She is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society,[4] and secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group.[5]

On 15 September 2010, Massey, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK.[6]

On 28 January 2019 Massey was the only person to remove her name from an open letter published in The Guardian opposing the "US attempt at regime change" in Venezuela. The letter was signed by Shadow Ministers, MPs, union leaders, Labour Party NEC members, cultural figures, academics, anti-war campaigners and others.[7]

LGBT rights[edit]

In January 2022, Massey and four other Labour delegates to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe tabled ten amendments[8] to Resolution 2417, "Combating rising hate against LGBTI people in Europe".[9] The amendments sought to include the word "sex" alongside gender identity, de-conflate the situation in the UK from Hungary, Poland, Russia and Turkey, and remove references to alleged anti-LGBTI movements in the UK. The delegates received both praise[10] and criticism.[11]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Baroness Massey of Darwen Authorised Biography | Debrett's People of Today". www.debretts.com. Archived from the original on 25 September 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  2. ^ "No. 55566". The London Gazette. 29 July 1999. p. 8179.
  3. ^ "Announcement of Baroness Massey's introduction at the House of Lords". House of Lords minutes of proceedings. UK Parliament. 1 November 1999.
  4. ^ "Honorary Associates". www.secularism.org.uk. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  5. ^ "All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group". British Humanist Association. Archived from the original on 30 June 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  6. ^ Letters (15 September 2010). "Harsh judgments on the pope and religion". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
  7. ^ Letters (27 January 2019). "Putting Venezuela's crisis and US intervention in historical context". The Guardian.
  8. ^ "Doc. 15425: collection of written amendments". Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. 25 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Resolution 2417 (2022): Combating rising hate against LGBTI people in Europe". Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. 25 January 2022.
  10. ^ Hayton, Debbie (27 January 2022). "Stop saying the UK is transphobic". UnHerd. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  11. ^ Kelleher, Patrick (25 January 2022). "Labour politicians slammed for 'trying to erase' UK transphobia from anti-LGBT+ hate resolution". PinkNews. Retrieved 30 January 2022.