Michael Cashman born 17 December 1950Michael Cashman was a British actor and is now a Labour politician. He has been a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands constituency since 1999.
As an actor, he is possibly best known for his role as Colin Russell in BBC TV's EastEnders – a character famous for being the first man to kiss another man in a soap opera in the UK. He also played Mike Wallace in The Sandbaggers. He was also in the Doctor Who story entitled Time-Flight.
He appeared on stage opposite fellow activist Sir Ian McKellen in Martin Sherman's Bent in 1990
He has long been open about his homosexuality and regularly comments on government policy decisions relating to sexual orientation. He registered a civil partnership with Paul Cottingham, his partner of over twenty years, on 11 March 2006. He is also an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.
In the European Parliament he is Labour spokesperson on human rights and has also been rapporteur on an important initiative on funerals of those who die in third countries - an issue he was motivated to act on after the death of his own father.He is a trenchant critic of discrimination against minorities within the European Union. A recent campaign has been to support the gay pride march in Warsaw, which he attended. He is also the President of the European Parliament's Intergroup on gay and lesbian issues.
He is the treasurer of Equity and lead the campaign to obtain pension rights for members.
No comments:
Post a Comment