BURNLEY’S Green Party councillors will recall the borough's history of fighting for gay and lesbian rights tomorrow night.

They have tabled a motion to its full council meeting calling on it to condemn the attitude of re-elected Polish president Andrzej Duda towards the country's LGBT community.

Tabled by Cllrs Andy Fewings and Sarah Hall it says: “This council notes the Polish population of Burnley is at least 7,401 as at March 2020.

“In the 1970s, Burnley was the UK’s battleground for gay and lesbian rights, with two groundbreaking public struggles at either end of the decade.

“The first was a transformative public meeting held at Burnley Central Library in 1971 about the right to open the first ever LGBT centre in old Co-operative Society premises.

“The second was as a result of the political activism of Mary Winter, a bus driver sacked for nothing more than wearing a ‘Lesbian Liberation’ badge and unsupported by her trade union.

"She fought back against her employers in 1978 using a network of women’s groups across the UK, and staging a demo outside the Burnley Bus Station.

“This council agrees to send a letter to the Burnley MP Antony Higginbotham, the Prime Minister of the UK government and the President of the European Commission to call on them to speak out.”