EASTBOURNE – Singer Will Young dropped in to see Nicky Morgan in Whitehall last week to call for more action on tackling homophobia in schools. In a private meeting in her office, he urged the Conservative minister to make sure more schools teach pupils not to misuse the word "gay".
According to her aides, the conversation took place the day before Morgan visited Eastbourne Academy in her twin roles as education secretary and equalities minister. It was her first visit to a member of LGBT rights charity Stonewall's "school champions" programme.
All of this was part of Morgan's rebranding since taking the job of equalities minister last summer. David Cameron's decision to hand her the role sparked criticism because, famously, she voted against same-sex marriage legislation in February 2013. She was among 161 MPs who voted against the bill, although it was easily passed with the support of 366.
Following the vote, she defended her decision, saying she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman. But her "no" vote has repeatedly come back to haunt her – and you won't hear her make comments like that today. Just two weeks after she was made equalities minister, she appointed Luke Tryl from Stonewall as her special adviser.
And last October she announced she had changed her mind on same-sex marriage because she had "certainly learned an awful lot doing this job". As Morgan prepares to take on a more high-profile role ahead of the general election, Operation Rebrand continues.
BuzzFeed News joined Morgan on her trip to Eastbourne Academy, which aims to actively celebrate differences and encourage pupils to challenge homophobic language.
Pupils of all ages waxed lyrical about their Personal Social Health Education lessons – known among students as "Peeshy" – which they credited with transforming attitudes towards gay, lesbian, and bisexual people. They said the amount of homophobic language in school had fallen dramatically in recent weeks.
One teacher told Morgan that the school was stamping out lazy homophobic insults: "Everything they didn't like used to be 'gay'. The yellow pencil was gay, the schoolwork was gay. Now Stonewall has started, it's completely changed."
He said he had put stickers on some pupils' exercise books saying: "Some people are gay. Get over it." Big posters with the same slogan are plastered throughout the school.
The entrance hall was devoted to a big display board celebrating the 10th anniversary of LGBT History Month. It showed pictures of gay celebrities including diver Tom Daley, singer Sam Smith, and politician Angela Eagle. Austrian Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst also featured.
But despite Morgan taking the time to visit the school's LGBT education programme, there's still the lingering issue of her vote against same-sex marriage. In an interview with BuzzFeed News, she said there was a "whole combination of factors" behind her decision.
She explained: "I felt there hadn't been a whole lot of discussion about it. I think there was a lot of uncertainty and a lot of people thought it was quite a challenge to marriage as understood.
"But I've got lots of friends who are gay, lots who are in civil partnerships, and absolutely I think it's all about people being happy and that's what's most important.
"Doing this role as equalities minister means you learn a lot, you speak to a lot of people, and yeah, hence very much I think if the vote was held now I would do it differently."
Morgan is a Christian who attends church in her Loughborough seat. At the time of the vote she said the letters she had received from her constituents had been running 10 to one against equal marriage.
So how do local residents react to the issue now? "It's a bit of a mixture, really," she said carefully. "I think there are some people who have very strong views about it."
But she added: "There was a survey out recently about how few people have an issue with same-sex relationships now, and I'd have thought that support for same-sex marriage continues to grow."
