David Cameron Includes LGBT Equality in Tory Conference Speech

British Prime Minister David Cameron included the acceptance of the LGBT community as one of Britain's greatest strengths in his speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on Wednesday.

Cameron's forceful speech was partly in response to a snide remark about Britain made by Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in which the Russian figure "dismissed Britain as a 'small island' whose views can be ignored," reports Pink News. His speech featured a list of Britain's crowning achievements, including the Magna Carta, Parliament, women's suffrage and, seemingly to spite Peskov, the British production of the best-selling vodka in the world, Smirnoff.

"Whose example of tolerance...of people living together from every nation, every religion, young and old, straight and gay...whose example do they aspire to?" Cameron said.

Though his speech did not explicitly mention equal marriage as an accomplishment, his words do highlight the changing politics of Britain's political parties, even in the face of Tory opposition. In regard to the backlash against his support for marriage equality, Cameron said, "I don't regret it. Britain is a more equal and fairer country for having done it."