Gay & Lesbian Humanists

Even God Hates Christmas

2007-12-11T16:02:00.001Z

"Put Christ back into Christmas," urges Trevor Phillips.

Sir Trevor says the public should ignore "political correctness" which apparently have seen nativity plays banned from schools and xmas lights bannished and that these 'silly season' stories, he suspects (quite rightly, I'm sure) point to "an underlying agenda to use this great holiday to fuel community tension".

Generally speaking, he's right. But there is one major flaw to his underlying logic. Christmas never belonged to Christians in the first place. It is simply the Christianisation of a festival celebrated in many cultures for millennia.

In fact, one of the most "traditional" of Christmas rituals is actually a blasphemy. Yes, the humble Chrismas Tree is an eclesisatical no-no. The Bible says:

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

That's from Jeremiah 10. Similar sentiments are expressed in the book of Issiah, which also seems to suggest that God hates chestnuts roasting on an open fire too.

Anyhow, don't take my word for it. For an informative talk on the subject, why not come along to a talk by Dr Robert Stovold, author of "Did Christians Steal Christmas" on Friday 14th December, 7.30pm, at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London.

Mulled wine and mince pies will be available to take the chill off the winter night. The talk and refreshments cost £5.

Protest Saudi Brutality Today!

2007-10-19T10:39:00.001+01:00

If you are free and in central London over lunch today, why not join us at a protest outside the Saudi Arabian embassy?

The protest is organised by the NUS LGBT group with support from OutRage! and others.

Here's the press release:

Gay men sentenced to 7,000 lashes

Protest against potential death sentences

Friday 19 October, 1:30pm - 2.30pm
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
30 Charles Street, London W1J 5DZ

On the 2 October 2007 two young men in the Saudi Arabian city of Al-Bahah were reportedly convicted of 'sodomy' and sentenced to 7,000 lashes. In Saudi Arabia same-sex relations are illegal and the maximum penalty is death.

7,000 lashes can be fatal, depending on how many lashes are delivered at any one time.

To protest against the persecution of queers in Saudi Arabia , the National Union of Students LGBT campaign is organising a protest outside the Saudi Embassy in London this Friday. The protest is supported by LGBT human rights group OutRage! Peter Tatchell is a guest speaker.

The protest comes ahead of the State Visit to the UK of the bloodthirsty Saudi tyrant, King Abdullah bin Abdul Azaz al Saud, on 30 October 2007

Mr Tatchell said: "The British and US governments support the despotic, corrupt Saudi regime. As well as flogging and executing gay people, the Saudi leaders are guilty of detention without trial, torture and the public beheading women who have sex outside of marriage. Migrant workers are de facto slaves. The media is heavily censored. Trade unions, political parties and non-Muslim religions are banned. The country is a theocratic police state," he said.

"We call on individuals and groups, LGBT or otherwise, to protest against the continued criminalisation, imprisonment, torture and murder of LGBT people in Saudi Arabia," said Scott Cuthbertson, NUS LGBT Officer.

"We will be handing a letter of protest to the Saudi Ambassador, HRH Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf, calling on his Government to respect the human rights of its own LGBT citizens. Please join us in the struggle for Love without Borders - LGBT rights around the world - and make your views known to the Saudi Ambassador on Friday."

"This year NUS LGBT Campaign is campaigning for 'Love without Borders'", added Claire Anderson, another NUS LGBT Officer.

"Around the world, LGBT people are persecuted, imprisoned and even murdered in state-sponsored homophobia. We live in a global community and no longer can we stand by while LGBT people are persecuted. Now is the time to use our freedom to fight for the rights of others across the globe. When abuses of human rights take place we must not be silent."

URGENT ACTION - Stop UK deporting Iranian to her death!

2007-08-23T09:34:00.001+01:00

The media has been full of debate and discussion about the deportation of a convicted killer to Italy. I don't want to get into that debate, except to note that the consequences for Learco Chindamo of deportation to Italy would be relatively inconsequential when compared to the probable fate of Pegah Emambakhsh, an Iranian lesbian, about whom there hasn't been a single column inch in the mainstream media.

Pegah Emambakhsh is an Iranian national who sought asylum in the UK in 2005. Her claim was rejected and she was arrested in Sheffield on Monday 13th August 2007. She is scheduled for deportation to Iran on 27 August 2007.

If returned to Iran, she faces certain imprisonment, likely severe lashings and possibly even stoning to death. Her crime in Iran is her sexual orientation - she was in a same-sex relationship.

Ms Emambakhsh escaped from Iran, claiming asylum, after her lover was arrested, tortured and subsequently sentenced to death by stoning. Her father was also arrested and interrogated about her whereabouts. He was eventually released but not before he had been tortured himself.

Ms Emambakhsh has a more than well founded fear of persecution if she is returned to Iran. She belongs to a group of people - gays and lesbians - who, it is well known, are severely persecuted in Iran.

According to Iranian human rights campaigners, many lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs came to power in 1979.

In 2006 a German court ruled that an Iranian lesbian could not be deported as she risked death because of her sexuality.

The UK Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) have chosen not to believe that she is in danger if returned to Iran, even though the UK government are well aware of the dangerous situation that gay people face there.

The BIA will be committing a serious miscarriage of justice and a gross human rights violation if they insist on Ms Emambakhsh's deportation.

The Asylum Seeker Support Initiative in Sheffield are now getting Pegah new solicitors in order to make a fresh claim for asylum based on new evidence and expert testimonies. A stay of deportation is needed to give Pegah time to prepare and submit this fresh claim.

Pegah's MP, Richard Caborn, has already won one stay of deportation and is working secure another postponement of deportation on 27 August.

You can help. Please write or email asap the British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and to Pegah's British constituency MP, Richard Caborn (see details below).

Pegah Emambakhsh's Home Office reference number is: B1191057. This number must be quoted in any letter, so the Home Office can identify
and access her case.

Letters need to be sent TODAY by first class post to arrive tomorrow, Friday 24 August, at the latest. If you can't send a letter, a fax is a good alternative, and an email is certainly better than nothing. Mark all correspondence "For the persona attention of..."

Please write to:

Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP, Home Secretary,
2, Marsham St,
London SW1P 4DF

Fax no: + 44 (0) 207 035 3262 or +44 (0) 207 035 2362
Email: smithjj@parliament.uk

Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP,
Sheffield Constituency Office
2nd Floor, Barkers Pool House
Burgess Street
Sheffield S1 2HF

Fax: + 44 (0) 114 275 3944
Email link for Richard Caborn

Please don't let Pegah be quietly deported to face torture or death. Our letters can make all the difference.

In related news, the Daily Mail has a story, with photos, of the public flogging of 25-year-old Saeed Ghanbari, convicted under Iran's 'morality laws' of drinking alcohol and having sex outside of marriage.

Bishop of Hereford should hang his head in shame

2007-07-18T12:15:00.001+01:00

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) has welcomed news that the gay man who was refused employment as a youth worker by the Bishop of Hereford has won his case.

Cliff James, secretary of GALHA said: "This important case will tell churches that their prejudice and homophobia will not be tolerated in employment – not even for bogus religious reasons. The bishop of Hereford's actions were a disgraceful display of crude intolerance and we hope that he is thoroughly ashamed of himself. The Church is rapidly having to learn that it is no longer a law unto itself and that injustice is no longer acceptable, even if it is committed in the name of religion."

Tube Chiefs Ban Gay Times Advert

2007-07-17T13:42:00.001+01:00

From the publishers of Gay Times...

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the legalisation of homosexuality, and the Gay Times team intended on celebrating such a landmark with a loving, expressive London Underground advertising campaign seen opposite. However, the image was rejected.

In response to this, GT have partnered with The London Paper to run a poll on behalf of GT in the paper and online asking readers if they feel this image is inappropriate for the tube. The results of this poll will be published in The London Paper, and will then be put forward to the London Underground to allow for comment.

The Freedom campaign will still be running on the London Underground, but with different imagery to that shown, at a number of stations including Kings Cross, Leicester Square, Charing Cross and Tottenham Court Road.

Millivres Prowler Group (the publisher of GT) feels very strongly about this, and would like to ask for your support. The LGBT community enrich all aspects of society and we feel they deserve recognition for their contributions.

Feel free to use this image as it will be the cover of the August issue of GT magazine, and please mention the poll that will be running all week in The London Paper and on the website – the more opinions we get the better. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you in advance for your support of this issue.

The global resurgence of religious intolerance

2007-07-09T10:39:00.001+01:00

From Washington to Baghdad and beyond, religious intolerance is making a comeback; threatening democracy and human rights.

Peter Tatchell interviews feminist commentator, writer and secularist, Joan Smith on his Talking with Tatchell interview on online TV station 18 Doughty Street.

Two centuries after the Enlightenment, religious ignorance, superstition, sectarianism and prejudice are on the rise again. Reason, science, liberalism, democracy, secularism and humanitarian values are under attack from fundamentalists within many faiths: Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism. They want to reassert religious dogma, authority and control. More and more of these zealots are prepared to use violence; as evidenced by the growth of religious-inspired terrorism.

Liberal and progressive people of faith are on defensive in large parts of the world; often being eclipsed by the shrill voices of religious fanaticism.

Even in a wealthy, well-educated democratic nation like the US, the Christian Right has succeeded in hijacking the Republican Party and the Presidency, propagandising creationism and sexual abstinence, and securing a prohibition on the federal funding of stem cell research and condom use as a method to prevent HIV.

In Britain, the Church of England bans women bishops, faith schools tolerate the bullying of lesbian and gay pupils, and religious extremists have succeeded in closing down the play Behzti and cancelling regional performances of Jerry Springer: The Opera.

Central to the global resurgence of religious intolerance are attempts to police gender and sexuality; including restrictions on women's reproductive rights and their access to economic and political power, and escalating state-sponsored assaults on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in countries like Catholic Poland, Muslim Iran and Anglican Nigeria.

We also see rising religious sectarianism in countries such as Iraq, where rival Shia and Sunni Muslims are car bombing and assassinating each other in a bitter battle for clerical supremacy and state power; and in Palestine where fundamentalist Islamists have displaced secular nationalists from the leadership of the national liberation struggle and are seeking to impose their particular interpretation of Islam on everyone else.

To view the programme, click on this link.

A disorderly establishment

2007-07-06T12:56:00.000+01:00

"Given that less than 2% of the population now regularly attends a Church of England service each week, it is difficult to know what purpose it serves 'in the national life'," says Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society in his Comment is Free piece today.

Nevertheless, a government green paper says:

"The government reaffirms its commitment to the position of the Church of England by law established, with the sovereign as its supreme governor, and the relationship between the church and state. The government greatly values the role played by the church in national life in a range of spheres."

Rather than witnessing the slow fade-out of superstition and the ultimate end of religious privilege, we may now see the opposite as other religious sects, cults and outfits jockey for position and begin to demand the same privileges and exemptions that the Church of England enjoys.

"Britain is the only country left in the democratic world that allows clerics to sit in its legislature as of right and Mr Brown and his cronies seem quite happy with that," says Sanderson.

Read his full article here.

George Melly's death mourned by Gay Humanists

2007-07-05T19:34:00.001+01:00

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) has expressed its sorrow at the death of one of its vice-presidents, George Melly.

George was an early hero of the gay rights movement with his openness about his own ambiguous sexuality, told with such humour and affection in his autobiography " Rum, Bum and Concertina."

He was also a long-time supporter of secularist causes, not only as a vice president of GALHA but also an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.

GALHA's chairman, Jim Herrick, commented: "We are very sorry to lose George Melly, he was always a colourful character and he took part in our reading of the supposedly 'blasphemous' poem which took place on the steps of St Martins in the Field in Trafalgar Square in 2002. We defied the law in order to mark the 25th anniversary of the prosecution of Gay News - a publication that George contributed to on more than one occasion."

George Broadhead, another of GALHA's vice-presidents and until recently its long-standing secretary, said: "George Melly first joined
our panel of supporting vice-presidents at my invitation in 1983. In his letter of acceptance, he wrote: "I would be delighted to be one of
your vice-presidents as although I am an ex gay, I remain a Humanist."

The following year he agreed to give an interview to myself and the TV columnist of our magazine in his dresssing room before performing at one of his jazz concerts. I still treasure the signed copy of his autobiographical "Scouse Mouse" which had just been published."

GALHA has sent its condolences to George Melly's widow, Diana.

Bishop belongs in the Bronze Age

2007-07-02T18:01:00.001+01:00

The Anglican Bishop of Carlisle was mocked today as a "bronze age primitive" by the UK Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).

GALHA's comments follow Bishop Graham Dow's pronouncement that the recent floods in Britain are a result of the introduction of pro-gay laws. He said that going against biblical standards had resulted in God's judgment in the form of floods.

GALHA's chairman Jim Herrick said: "The Bishop's comments reveal a primitive, superstitious mind that belongs in the Bronze Age. If he thinks these floods are the result of pro-gay laws rather than global warming, then how come far more catastrophic floods afflict homophobic nations such as Bangladesh? And how come ultra-pious nations such as Pakistan suffer catastrophic earthquakes? And the self-proclaimed religiosity of the United States doesn't protect it from lethal hurricanes either."

Mr Herrick said: "People like Graham Dow bring religion into even more disrepute with such fatuous comments. No wonder people are abandoning the Church of England in such huge numbers when it is led by silly people like him."

Commenting on GALHA's press release, a gay Christian blogger asks a key question: "Why aren't Christians protesting Dow's hateful remarks? Why are the protests against hate, bigotry, and inflammatory rhetoric of the Dows and others pretty much consigned to the secular forces within society?"

Why indeed! Could the answer be that the majority of his co-religionists either silently agree with the Bishop? If that is not the case, the only alternative is that the majority of Christians have so little regard for their LGBT brethren that they don't think it is worth the effort to stand up to their homophobic leaders.

Government fails gay children in 'faith schools'

2007-07-02T17:55:00.001+01:00

Gay children in "faith schools" have been badly let down by the government, says the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association.

Schools with a religious ethos were given permission in recent guidance on equality legislation to continue condemning gay people and expressing disapproval of homosexuality. Now, the new survey from Stonewall, 'The experiences of young gay people in Britain's Schools', shows that pupils in "faith schools" are taking the brunt of the widespread homophobic bullying that is happening in all our schools.

Jim Herrick, chairman of GALHA, said: "This new survey from Stonewall paints a horrific picture of nasty victimisation of gay children in our schools, and it seems to be even worse in so-called faith schools. This makes it all the more unfortunate that the Government recently told these schools that they did not have to tone down their condemnation of homosexuality. In effect, they have abandoned gay kids in these schools – particularly Catholic schools – to the mercies of any homophobe who decides he doesn't like gay people. This survey indicates that the Government has made a very grave error by permitting faith schools to continue their nasty, homophobic teachings. We recognise that homophobic bullying cannot be stopped overnight, but bringing faith schools into line would give out a clear signal that such bullying is unacceptable and won't be tolerated."

Governments betrays gay schoolkids to placate the churches

2007-06-01T11:50:00.001+01:00

The Government has stabbed gay schoolkids in the back by making clear that "faith schools" can continue to tell pupils that homosexuality is evil, says the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).

GALHA chair, Jim Herrick, says: "The guidance that has been issued to go with the new Sexual Orientation Regulations effectively gives an opt-out to faith schools which will allow them to continue slandering and insulting gay people. This is extremely bad news for any gay child in those schools – who will be unsupported and isolated – who may now have to cope with hearing their sexuality being branded as unacceptable, undesirable and evil by homophobic teachers."

The new guidelines read: "If a faith school (or indeed any school) teaches that the Christian and Muslim faiths decree that same-sex sexual activity is a sin, then the school will not be acting
unlawfully. Similarly, if a pupil asks a teacher his views on homosexuality and the teacher gives his view, then again, that teacher will not be acting unlawfully."

Mr Herrick said: "Gay children may already be very insecure and worried about their burgeoning sexuality. To have to then go into class and possibly hear the teacher spouting fundamentalist insults to that sexuality is cruel and unacceptable. The Government is leaving exposed the very children this legislation was put in place to protect. It is a shocking reflection on the Government's half-hearted commitment to these Regulations that they are prepared to potentially sacrifice the emotional well-being of a significant number of children in order to placate unreasonable religious demands. Those responsible for these guidelines should be ashamed of themselves, and so should the churches who want these kinds of inhumane let outs."

Religious Privileges

2007-05-30T18:15:00.001+01:00

I agree with Giles Fraser, the vicar of Putney and a lecturer in philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford, when he says, "Oxford University should end its support for the homophobic, misogynist evangelicals at Wycliffe", but all religious privileges should be removed from our universities.

This may be an attempt to preserve these privileges by removing an obvious abuse.

Terry Sanderson on "Moderate" Religion

2007-03-21T10:56:00.000Z

GALHA committee member and President of the NSS, Terry Sanderson has written a thought provoking article for The Guardian's Comment Is Free blog, entitled "Going to extremes" in which he argues:

"Engaging with religious liberals will not help to undermine extremists; it will only enable and protect them."

Read the full article.

Crude Christian anti-gay propaganda

2007-03-19T19:14:00.000Z

A crude, insulting and factually false propoganda video has been produced to promote a Christian protest in Parliament Square at noon on Wednesday 21 March to protest the introduction of the Sexual Orientation Regulations.

The video claims that "the government is determined to pass a law that will, among other things, force shools to teach homosexual sex and relationships to children of all ages in schools".

In spite of having been exposed as liars, these Christian fundamentalists continue to push the idea that the Sexual Orientation Regulations apply to the content of school lessons. It is false! The SORs have nothing to do with school curricula. They are concerned only with the provision of goods and services. This means that a gay student cannot be denied admission or expelled because of their sexual orientation. That's all.

Bizarrely, since the video features a 'teacher' reading about 'homosexuality' to a group of primary schoolers, it comes with a warning that no one under 18 should view it. What did they do? Send the kids they'd used in the making of the video to re-education camps?

New death threat against Taslima Nasreen

2007-03-19T12:08:00.000Z

Taslima Nasreen, the Bangladeshi feminist writer who spoke in London at an International Women's Day event co-sponsored by GALHA a fornight ago has had a Rs 500,000 (£6000) bounty put on her head by an Indian Mulsim group, the All India Ibtehad Council.

According to the Daily Times in India, Taqi Raza Khan, the president of the council affered the reward to anyone carrying out the "extermination of this notorious woman", saying "Taslima has put Muslims to shame in her writing. She should be killed and beheaded and anyone who does this will get a reward from the council."

Taslima Nasreen fled Bangladesh in 1994 after Muslim fundamentalists declared her writings blasphemous and demanded her execution.

A website billed as "Islam Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims" offers more background information on the death-fatwa againts Nasreen and others.

Keillor Savaged

2007-03-15T13:29:00.001Z

And if I seem angry, you fucking motherfucker, it’s because I am. Angered and shocked. I’m used to being attacked by right-wingers obsessed with gay sex and fixated on anti-gay stereotypes. It’s a new and different sensation to be attacked so crudely by a man of the left—particularly when that man’s fat ass squats in a large glass house.

So says a very angry Dan Savage as he, as my friend Brian said, "basically rips the large intestine out of Garrison Keillor and strangles him with it".

What has made columnist and author Savage so angry?

Well, radio personality Garrison Keillor wrote in his regular Salon column thus:

"Under the old monogamous system, we didn’t have the problem of apportioning Thanksgiving and Christmas among your mother and stepdad, your dad and his third wife, your mother-in-law and her boyfriend Hal, and your father-in-law and his boyfriend Chuck. Today, serial monogamy has stretched the extended family to the breaking point. A child can now grow up with eight or nine or 10 grandparents—Gampa, Gammy, Goopa, Gumby, Papa, Poopsy, Goofy, Gaga and Chuck—and need a program to keep track of the actors...

... And now gay marriage will produce a whole new string of hyphenated relatives. In addition to the ex-stepson and ex-in-laws and your wife’s first husband’s second wife, there now will be Bruce and Kevin’s in-laws and Bruce’s ex, Mark, and Mark’s current partner, and I suppose we’ll get used to it. "

Trouble is, as Savage explains:

Keillor has been married THREE TIMES. He has children from two of his marriages, children who presumably need a computer program to keep track of their step-siblings, half-siblings, and sprawling extended families, children that have to be “apportioned out on Thanksgiving and Christmas.” Okay, fine, whatever. Keillor can recognize marriage, life-long commitment, and less complicated family structures as the ideal, even if he himself has failed—failed spectacularly—to live up to that ideal himself. It might have been nice, however, if the withered old hypocrite had admitted to Salon readers that he has failed to live up to the ideals he’s espousing. How about a little full disclosure, Garrison?

But not only has he married three times, he's also had long-term affairs. In fact, his second marriage failed because of his adultary.

Garrison Keilor is the author of books like Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts From the Heart of America. The book opens:

"I AM A Democrat, which was nothing I decided for myself but simply the way I was brought up, starting with the idea of Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, which is the basis of the simple social compact by which we live."

Hypocrite!

But there is nothing I can really add to the majesty of Dan Savage's full reply. Read it here.

And many gay Americans still think the party that gave America DOMA and DADT is a friend to the gay community. In broad strokes, the difference between the Left and the Right on gay issues is that the Right will tell you they hate fags to your face. That's about it. Vote Democrat to get rid of that idiot Bush by all means, but don't fool yourself that the Dems will do jackshit for gay folk.

And just to underscore this point. When Hillary Clinton was asked today by ABC News whether, in light of General Peter Pace's outburst, she though gay people were immoral, she managed to muster this:

"Well I'm going to leave that to others to conclude."

Keillor himself has advised the Democratic Party to "jettison" issues that the Republicans use to "divide" them. He said in a radio interview in Kansas recently:

“I think that gay marriage is also an issue that does no good for us and I want to see us divest ourselves of this,” Keillor says. “The symbolism of gay people marrying is terribly potent, terrible powerful, and we ignore this at our peril in our party."

With friends like these, as Brian - a former supporter of Howard Dean - says, as he looks elsewhere.

Still, as Savage says, it always is "a different sensation" when crude attacks come from the Left. Sadly, he'd better get used to it.

Women's Rights, the Veil and Islamic and religious laws

2007-03-13T17:43:00.000Z

GHQ-Multimedia Presents: The speeches from the seminar "Women's Right, the Veil and Islamic and Religious Laws" held at the University of London Union in London on 8 March 2007 to mark International Women's Day.

Listen online or download the speeches in MP3 format by Sohaila Sharifi, Taslima Nasreen, Maryam Namazie, Mina Ahadi, Sonja Eggerickx and Ann Harrison.

"This was a superb and exhilarating evening. I cannot say how much admiration I have for these courageous women. They sense that they are at the head of a growing movement and that the women of Iran are aching to be freed from the confines of the 'medieval rag' and all it represents," said Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society and the media spokesperson for the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association (which publishes GHQ).

The seminar was co-sponsored by the International Campaign in Defence of Women's Right in Iran - UK, the National Secular Society and the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association.

About the speakers:

Sohaila Sharifi is a member of the Campaign in Defence of Women's Right in Iran - UK, and chaired the meeting. She also translated for Mina Ahadi.

Taslima Nasreen is a physician, writer, radical feminist, human rights activist and a secular humanist. Her first book of poetry was published in 1986. Her second became a huge success in 1989. Next she started writing about women's oppression. In 1992 she received the prestigious literary award Ananda from West Bengal in India for her Selected Columns, the first writer from Bangladesh to earn that award. Islamic fundamentalists launched a campaign against her in 1990, staging street demonstrations and processions. In 1993, Soldiers of Islam issued a fatwa against her, a price was set on her head because of her criticism of Islam, and she was confined to her house. Taslima has been living in exile. She has written twenty eight books of poetry, essays, novels, and short stories in her native language of Bengali. Many have been translated into twenty different languages.

Maryam Namazie is a rights activist, commentator and broadcaster on Iran, the Middle East, women's rights, cultural relativism, secularism, Humanism, religion, Islam and political Islam. She is the National Secular Society's 2005 Secularist of the Year award winner and an NSS Honorary Associate; producer of TV International English; Director of the Worker-communist Party of Iran's International Relations Committee; co-editor of WPI Briefing and Vice President of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association. She is also involved in the Third Camp against US militarism and Islamic terrorism. She has been threatened by Islamists as a result of her defence of rights and freedoms.

Mina Ahadi was born in Iran in 1956. She started her political activities by setting up discussion clubs and performances when she was only 14. She was actively involved as a university student in the 1979 Iranian revolution. When the Islamic government gained power and Khomeini issued a fatwa for compulsory Islamic veiling, she organised meetings and demonstrations against the government. Mina is the founder and coordinator of the International Committees against Execution and Stoning. Mina Ahadi has lived in Europe since 1990. Recently she has founded the Central Council of Ex-Muslims to expose Islamic laws and its affects on people. She is currently under police protection for her activities.

Sonja Eggerickx was born in 1947 in Brussels. She studied Moral Sciences at the State University in Ghent (Belgium) and was active with the humanist youth, the feminist group and later the humanist union. She has been a teacher of what is called "non-confessional ethics" for 23 years, as well as a school inspector for the same subject. She is President of the Flemish Union of freethinkers/Humanists, co-president of the Belgian umbrella organisation Central Laïque committee and is currently the president of the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

Ann Harrison, currently a Researcher on Iran, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, has worked for Amnesty International in the Middle East and North Africa Programme for a total of about 10 years, first in the 1990s and most recently since June 2005. She has worked on a number of countries in the region, beginning with Israel and the Occupied Territories and Jordan, and later Lebanon and Syria. She has worked on human rights issues in Iran for almost four years.

Listen to the speeches.

Separation of Mosque & State

2007-03-08T10:10:00.000Z

This week, St Petersburg, Florida, hosted the Secular Islam Summit, an "international forum for secularists of Islamic societies: Keynote speakers included atheists like Ibn Warraq (a former Muslim) and the religious but reform-minded like Irshad Manji.

According to the SIS website, "the next Islamic Enlightenment starts now". They say:

In the last decade we have increasingly heard calls for a "reformation," a new Enlightenment, or a secularization and liberalization of Islamic thought and practice. And yet there is to this day no organized international response. At the same time, a growing number of secular Muslims and secularists from majority Muslim countries have been undertaking these intellectual and strategic challenges independently (here “secularists” includes both those who embrace a thoroughly non-religious worldview, as well as those committed to separation of religion from overnment and robust freedom of conscience).

The purpose of the Secular Islam Summit is to bring together these thinkers and activists in an ongoing cross-cultural forum and clearinghouse to generate and share new practical strategies and disseminate these to the public and opinion-makers worldwide.

Professor Walid Phares provides a summary of the conference here and there are some video interviews with some of the participants here.

SciFi GHQ now out!

2007-03-07T10:31:00.000Z

The new print edition of GHQ is in the post to subscribers, but it is also available as a free PDF download from the GHQ website.

The cover story looks at how Science Fiction on television (like Star Trek, Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica) deals with themes of Humanism vs religion.

There are also stories about 'The Festival of Blight' (where religious fundamentalists protested outside the House of Lords in opposition to the inclusion of gay people in anti-discrimination legislation) and a report back from the recent Faith, Homophobia & Human Rights conference, including the text of a speech by Ali Hilli who details the latest atrocities against LGBTs in Iraq by Islamist militias.

Keith Porteous-Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society explains why secularism is good for everyone - even the religious. There is also an op-ed from Humanist author Barbara Smoker on free-speech, respect and religion.

There are also details about the GALHA Film Festival starting this weekend.

Download the new issue, enjoy, fume, etc...

GALHA Film Festival - 10 -18 March 2007

2007-03-05T14:58:00.000Z

Bookings now open for the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association's film festival - 10th-18th March in London

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) is hosting a film festival in the exclusive private screening room at the One Aldwych Hotel, Covent Garden, London.

Keith Angus - festival organiser - says "GALHA is proud to be arranging this film festival, and offering a great selection of films including a UK premiere that's only just previewed at the Berlin LGBT film festival"

The carefully selected programme has been chosen to appeal to a lesbian and gay audience, with a mix of the intriguing, fantastic, disturbing, thought-provoking, and downright funny.

Online booking is open. The private screening room only seats 30 people so book now. Tickets are £8 per show, which not only gives you a reserved seat in the private screening room, but also includes free popcorn!

The programme kicks off on Saturday 10th March with the Magdalene Sisters, a harrowing true story about the infamous Catholic laundries for fallen women. The second film - also on the 10th - is Twenty Centimetres, an Almodovarean fantasy comedy film which was showcased at New York's 2006 LGBT film festival, and went down a storm.

Next in the programme is The God Who Wasn't There; a film documentary that holds modern Christianity up to a bright spotlight and picks it apart with help from luminaries such as Richard Dawkins. This is preceded by the UK premiere of Moscow Pride '06 Uncut, a fascinating depiction of the festival banned by city officials. It's just been showcased at Berlin's LGBT film festival and GALHA is very fortunate to have secured its UK premiere. This double bill is showing on Saturday 17th March.

The fourth and final showcase is another double bill: 'Boys Beware!' is a selection of short public information films from the 1950's warning young people of the evils of homosexuality. These films have only just been released into the public domain and really are a must-see. These are followed by a Sunday matinee treat showing of Brief Encounter. An affair de coeur superbly acted by Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard, Brief Encounter is often described as one of the ultimate gay films - for whom the subject of forbidden love in ordinary lives - has special resonance. This final double-bill is showing on Sunday 18th March.

Keith adds: "all these films are well worth seeing in their own right, and to watch them in the comfort of a private screening room makes them unmissable. And free popcorn? The icing on the big gay humanist cake!"

Book now, at http://www.gayhumanist.com/filmfestival/

Women’s Rights, the Veil and Islamic and religious laws

2007-03-05T10:49:00.000Z

To mark International Women's Day, a seminar entitled Women's Rights, the Veil and Islamic and religious laws will be held at the University of London Union from 6 - 10pm.

The seminar is co-sponsored by the International Campaign in Defence of Women’s Right in Iran-UK and the National Secular Society and the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association.

The speakers are:

Sonja Eggerickx: President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union
Ann Harrison: Researcher, Middle East and North Africa Department of Amnesty International’s International Secretariat
Maryam Namazie: Director of the Worker-communist Party of Iran’s International Relations Committee, 2005 National Secular Society’s Secularist of the Year Award, Winner and producer of International TV.
Taslima Nasrin: Physician, writer, radical feminist, human rights activist and secular humanist

In Iran yesterday, over 30 women were arrested and charged with endangering national security, propaganda against the state and taking part in an illegal gathering after protesting outside the court where 5 women were being tried for organising a protest last June against laws discriminating against women.

There will also be a showing - for the first time - of a short film “In the name of honor” by Reza Moradi.

Reza Moradi famously errupted in anger during Tony Benn's speech at the The War Coalition's "Time To Go" rally when some of the "peace demonstrators" in the crowd started waving Iranian flags. "We will not allow it! We will not alow the Islamic Regime to be represented here!" Moradi exclaimed, while attempting to explain what the Islamic Republic of Iran's flag meant to socialists, trade unionists, human rights activits and others who had been on the receiving end of torture, imprisonment and execution. His protestations, of course, fell on deaf ears, as the StWC stewards pushed him around and allowed the triumphant fascists to wave the flags in his face.

Admission is free

University of London Union
Room 3D, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY
(Nearest underground stations: Russell Square, Goodge Street)

For more info, call 07719111738 or 07950924434

Banish the Bishops

2007-02-28T19:57:00.000Z

If ever there was a slap in the face to the idea of a separation of Church and State, it is the privileged position of the phalanx of Bishops in the House of Lords - a deeply undemocratic institution to begin with.

Next week the House of Commons will be debating House of Lords reform and the British Humanist Association is calling on people to let their MPs know their views on the place of Bishops in a 'reformed' House of Lords.

The BHA says:

"The Government proposes to retain the right of Bishops to sit in parliament and even to give the Church new powers to decide precisely which Bishops will represent them. The BHA and our supporters in Parliament will be arguing that the right of Bishops to sit in the Lords must be removed."

The BHA has also produced a briefing paper on the issue, which is worth reading. It sets out all the arguments for giving the bishops the boot.

They are urging people to write to their MPs urging them to support initiatives to remove the bishops from the Lords, especially by adding their name to EDM 998.

For those with limited time, the BHA has produced a pro forma letter which can be automatically sent to your MP with two or three mouse clicks. It literally takes 30 seconds to do.

Also encourage your friends to write in. We can be fairly certain that the organised religious groups will be engaged in heavy lobbying. This is a rare opportunity to get this unelected and unrepresentative group out of parliament.

Brett on Little Atoms

2007-02-20T11:45:00.000Z

A few Friday's ago I was invited onto the Little Atoms radio show to discuss various humanist and secularist issues: the new SORs, communalist politics, the rise of the religious right, the pitfalls of standing up for secularism when some cynically conflate race and religion, etc... you know, my usual hobby-horses.

The show, which airs on Resonance 104.4 FM is hosted by Padraig Reidy and Richard Sanderson.

You can listen to the show here. (The talking starts after about 1:30 of really spacy/trippy new-age theme music.)

Past shows can be downloaded from their audio archive. Guests have included Harry from Harry's Place, as well as Johann Hari, Nick Cohen, David Aaronovitch, Jon Ronson (twice) and A.C. Grayling.

Jews and Gay Adoption Law

2007-02-13T11:34:00.000Z

In my capacity as editor of Gay Humanist Quarterly, I was invited to write a comment piece for Totally Jewish on the issue of exemptions for religious groups from having to provide services to gay adoptive parents, following a feature they ran in the previous edition.

I argued that the Jewish community, particularly, should support anti-discrimination issues and should be very wary of so-called "conscientious" opt-outs:

"It’s hard to accept, but antisemites also have consciences. Should anti-Jewish discrimination be overlooked if the perpetrators claim it is a conscientious objection to Jews, not blind prejudice? If so, all manner of far-right bigots would suddenly become very pious indeed."

The full article is here.

Gay-bashing Bishops in Self-serving call

2007-01-24T12:37:00.000Z

News that the Church of England has joined the Catholic Church in calling for exemptions from the Sexual Orientation Regulations were labelled"predictable, self-serving prejudice" by the UK Gay and Lesbian HumanistAssociation (GALHA).

GALHA's secretary, George Broadhead, said: "It is no surprise that the Anglicans have joined in the call for religious exemptions from the equality legislation - they did exactly the same thing with the Employment Equality Regulations - and the government gave in on that occasion. They are driving a coach and horses through the very concept of equality. This is not just about adoption, it is about a whole raft of other petty discriminations that the Churches want to practice against gay people.

"The Archbishop of Canterbury argues that the opt-outs are necessary to protect the religious from acting against their 'conscience'. What kind of conscience is it that feels it is necessary to, in effect, put up a sign outside its premises saying 'No Gays'?

"The bishops may be presenting themselves as some sort of victims, but the truth is that they are hiding their crude loathing of gay people under a cloak of 'conscience'. This is nothing less than ecclesiastical gay-bashing."

GALHA calls on the Prime Minister to stand firm against this religious bullying and leave the regulations intact.

Call on PM to be Ruthless

2007-01-24T12:19:00.001Z

When Ruth Kelly - who abstained from or voted against key gay equality issues - was given the 'Equalities' portfolio in May last year, George Broadhead of the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association warned:

“Ms Kelly’s equivocal answers to these questions [about homosexuality] bring into question her appointment to this sensitive post. She says that she will make her own mind up about the issues and follow the Government’s policy, but how can we be sure that she will be able to put her deep attachment to this extremist Catholic group to one side when making decisions?”

Peter Tatchell of OutRage! commented:

"Tony Blair would never appoint someone to a race-equality post who had a lukewarm record of opposing racism."

Despite the warnings that it made no sense to appoint someone in charge of equalities who had already thrown in her lot with the chief group seeking exemptions from compliance with equality legislation, the government plowed ahead and gave Kelly, a member of the ultra-conservative Catholic organisation, Opus Dei, the job.

Now Kelly finds it impossible to put aside her personal views and is helping to drive 'a horse and coaches' through equality legislation.

"It's not acceptable to exempt gay couples before considering whether they are suitable... You can't have an equal rights law with exemptions like that - you either have equal rights law or you don't," said Eagle.

The Number 10 website allows one to directly petition the Prime Minister. Now it is hosting a petition to remove Ruth Kelly. I've signed it.

By signing it, I am not suggesting that anyone with strong religious beliefs is unfit to hold office. They are - but not this one. It is an obscenity that the person put in charge of the now-combined equalities portfolio shills for the one lobby that seeks exemptions.

As I said in an earlier post on a similar issue: either everyone is protected or no-one. It is absurd that it is illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of their religious faith but they are exempt from having to return the courtesy.

Labour MEP, Michael Cashman, is backing calls for Ruth Kelly to resign.

President of "Catholic Citizenship" attacks gay marriage advocate

2006-12-20T01:23:00.000Z

Open Letter to: Catholic Citizenship

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am horrified and disgusted to read the reports [below] of the vicious physical assault by your cowardly and bullying president, Larry Cirignano, on a young woman exercising her legitimate right to peaceful protest.

Gay communities around the world have sadly become all too accustomed to the manifest manifold evils of religion in general, and, in particular, to the irrational, vitriolic splutterings of a succession of catholic popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, and other obsessive-compulsives,
[when not engaged in committing, condoning, or covering up crimes such as child abuse, slavery, the oppression of other vulnerable minorities, warmongering, or making obscene profits from these or similar activities].

Must we fear that such loutish behaviour by your brutish leaders, desperately seeking to promote your pernicious faith, will seek to progress from unprovoked physical assaults an isolated young women to the terror tactics employed by psychotic Israeli soldiers, African evangelical savages, and muslim mass-murderers?

I trust that this shameful incident will cause the scales to fall from the eyes of at least some of your trusting flock, leading them to ditch your hateful doctrines and to begin to use their brains, stultified by a lifetime of ritual abuse, to learn to think for themselves.

We read that the anglican federation is already fragmenting. I hope soon to read also of the collapse of the catholic empire.

Yours faithlessly,

John Hunt.

From
A gay marriage supporter was viciously attacked near Boston when she demonstrated against Catholic Citizenshop's anti-gay rally.

Sarah Loy, 27, a straight female gay marriage supporter, went to a rally organised by conservative groups VoteOnMarriage and Catholic Citizenship in Worchester, Massachusetts, the only state where gay marriage is legal.

Loy, who attended with her husband, and a few other gay supporters, went to the rally and staged a counter-protest. Loy held a sign saying "No discrimination in the Constitution" in reference to Conservative efforts to abolish gay marriage on a federal level.

The rally marked one of many which aim to pressure the Massachusetts legislature to vote on the proposed amendment.

Leader of Catholic Citizenship Larry Cirignano led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then apparently saw Loy and lunged at her, tackling her to the ground.

"You need to get out. You need to get out of here right now," he theatened as he pushed her to the ground, her head slamming against the concrete sidewalk, according to the Worchester Telegram & Gazette.

The rally continued without any protest from the Catholic group, as a teary Loy yelled, "That's what hate does, that what hate does", before leaving the scene.

Loy has spoken to the police and charges may be brought against Cirignano.

Tom Lang, gay marriage supporter in Loy's group, commented on the aggressiveness of the Catholic leader.

"What was so unusual and calculated about Larry Cirignano's assault on Sarah Loy was that he left the podium area right after he gave his speech and pushed Sarah to the ground, then he returned back to the podium to stand next to Evelyn Reilly and Kris Mineau as they waited for Ambassador Flynn."

"This was not your average 'heated moment.' This was a premeditated, aggressive and uncalled-for assault by the President of the Catholic Citizenship on a young lady who was exercising her right to assemble, protest and voice her free speech."

Anti-gay complaint is filed

Assault is alleged at Worcester rally
By Scott J. Croteau / TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
scroteau@telegram.com

WORCESTER Police have filed a criminal complaint against the executive director of Boston-based Catholic Citizenship on allegations he pushed a female counter-demonstrator to the ground during an anti-gay marriage rally Saturday outside City Hall.

Detective Capt. Edward J. McGinn Jr. said police yesterday filed an assault and battery complaint in Central District Court against Larry Cirignano, 50, of 15 County Lane, Canton, who heads the Catholic Citizenship group, which opposes gay marriage.

Mr. Cirignano will be summoned to court to attend a clerk magistrate hearing on the misdemeanor charge. The magistrate will determine if there is probable cause to continue the charge in court, the captain said.

In general, police can arrest someone on a misdemeanor charge only if it occurs in their presence and it amounts to a breach in the peace, Capt. McGinn said. Officers did not see what happened Saturday.

Sarah Loy, 27, of Worcester, was holding a sign in defense of same-sex marriage near anti-gay marriage protesters. Mr. Cirignano allegedly ran into the crowd, grabbed Ms. Loy by both shoulders and told her, “You need to get out. You need to get out of here right now.”

Mr. Cirignano allegedly pushed her to the ground.

“I want him to be held accountable for his action, and I hope he will be,” Ms. Loy said in an interview yesterday.

Police are still investigating whether a hate crime occurred, but say at this point it doesn’t appear to be such a crime, Capt. McGinn said.

“We want to see if there was something more than simple assault and battery,” the captain said. Witnesses will be interviewed, he said.

In the moments before the confrontation, Ms. Loy said, she moved a little closer to the group of anti-gay marriage protesters at the rally. She was the only gay marriage supporter in the group of people she moved into, she said. That’s when the assault allegedly occurred.

“I didn’t see him. I don’t know where he came from,” she said.

At the rally, Mr. Cirignano explained after the incident that he felt Ms. Loy was getting too close to the lectern. Police eventually moved Ms. Loy and the other counter-demonstrators behind the larger anti-gay marriage crowd.

Ms. Loy argued that it was her right to stand wherever she wanted.

Ronal C. Madnick, director of the Worcester County Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said Mr. Cirignano should have asked police to move Ms. Loy back before approaching Ms. Loy. Mr. Madnick was at the rally.

“He (Mr. Cirignano) should have gone over to a police officer and asked a police officer to get involved,” Mr. Madnick said. “I am sure whatever the police officer said would have been obeyed.

“I don’t think there is a disagreement he put his hand on her and pushed her to the ground.”

Mr. Cirignano did not return calls yesterday seeking comment on the criminal complaint. In the moments after the confrontation, police interviewed Mr. Cirignano but did not arrest him. In an interview with The Boston Globe Sunday, he acknowledged guiding the woman away from the event with his arm on her back, but said he had a portfolio in his left hand and did not knock her down.

“I promise you, I did not throw her to the ground,” he said.

New GHQ Out Now!

2006-12-05T12:54:00.000Z

It's shameless plug time again. The Autumn edition of GHQ is now available for free download from the Gay Humanist Quarterly website. It is a PDF a smidgen over 2mb.

In this edition, there is an interview with long-standing GALHA secretary, George Broadhead on the occasion of his National Secular Society Lifetime Achievement Award, and an article about a project that demonstrated that 'traditional marriage' isn't necessary the in the 'tradition' that some think it is - by reconstructing the medieval Church's same-sex blessing ceremonies.

There is a primer on Hizb ut Tahrir's unsavoury constitution and Peter Tatchell writes about why he whiffs hypocrisy in those who do not want their religious beliefs ‘offended’.

In an op-ed, I explain why I think that some gay Muslims are misguided in their assumptions about other faiths, particularly when attempting to draw parallels with their experience of religious homophobia.

Terry Sanderson reviews the life and art of Marlene Dietrich and Tony Challis reports back from the Edinburgh Festival.

Warren Allen Smith provides gossip from across the pond, while Brian Miller dissects the recent US elections while noting that both the Republicans & the Democrats use cynical homophobia as an election ploy.

And of course, the usual round-up of news, views and reviews, blasphemy, sacrilege and godlessness in this "certified 100% faith free" quarterly.

PS: If you ever wondered what evangelical preacher George Hargreaves produced in his former life as a writer of disco anthems, or you're curious about what newbie Scientologists are told in their 'orientation' programme - or you just want to see the miracle of Jesus appearing in a dog's bottom... then you'll find details enclosed

Religious Rights vs Gay Rights

2006-10-04T12:47:00.000+01:00

Debate/Panel Discussion:
Religious Rights vs Gay Rights:
Should the Gay Police Association be prosecuted for inciting religious hatred?

Date: Friday, 13 October 2006
Time: 7:30 PMVenue: The Library, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RLMap: http://www.conwayhall.org.uk/where.htm
Nearest Tube: Holborn

ALL WELCOME – Free Admission

The Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association is hosting a panel discussion around thethreats to prosecute the Gay Police Association (GPA) following their advert linking religious belief to homophobic incidents.

The panellists will consider the issues the advert raises and discuss the rise ofreligiously-motivated homophobia in general and the increasing clash between religion and gay rights.

Evangelical Christian, Rev George Hargreaves – who is planning to bring a private prosecution of the GPA – will join the panel. This will ensure a lively debate around one of the most important issues facing the LGBT community today.

The panellists will include a representative from the Gay Police Association, Ted Brown of Black Gays & Lesbians Against Media Homophobia and Savi Hensman of the Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement.

The Gay Police Association advert pictured a Bible next to a pool of blood with the text:

“In the last twelve months, The Gay Police Association has recorded a 75% increase in homophobic incidents, where the sole or primary motivating factor was the religious beliefs of the perpetrator.”

Was the advert justified? What is the extent of religiously-motivated attacks on gay people? Does the advert incite religious hatred? Is there a basis for the prosecution? Are too many people – both religious and gay – being investigated for simply speaking their minds?

Come along to Conway Hall on Friday 13 October and find out!

There will be a period for the panellists to be challenged by the audience, so join the debate.

Evangelical Politician Seeks Private Prosecution of GPA

2006-09-28T14:46:00.000+01:00

The Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association has learned that an evangelical Christian politician will be seeking a private prosecution of members of the Gay Police Association following the Crown Prosecution Service's determination last week that the group would not be prosecuted.

Rev George Hargreaves, the leader of Operation Christian Vote, a fundamentalist Christian political party that unsuccessfully contested seats in the 2004 election, informed Ken Macdonald QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, that he was seeking "request for leave to enter into a private prosecution in the matter of the GPA's advertisement".

Hargreaves is known to have links with the religious right in the US. Ahead of his 2004 election bid, he flew to the Unites States to consult with Christian political strategists. He has also worked with Stephen Green of Christian Voice in an effort to censor "blasphemy" in the media [1].

Despite the GPA maintaining in a statement that the advert was never an attack on all faith groups, noting that "The intention of the advertisement was to cause public debate about an issue that has remained taboo for centuries. An issue that is now having a serious and detrimental effect on the lives of hundreds of law-abiding gay men and women each year and which, on the basis of our records, is growing at such an alarming rate that it could soon become a serious social problem," Hargreaves is adamant that he will pursue a private prosecution:

"I was therefore dismayed to learn that the Crown Prosecution Service has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to pursue a prosecution against the officer(s) who facilitated the publication of the advertisement," he wrote to Ken McDonald QC.

"I believe there is a case to answer in this matter, and that there is sufficient evidence to prove the necessary legal test set out in the Public Order Act (not least the evidence of the 40,000 people who lodged official complaints with the police). I also believe that it is not in the public interest for this case to be dropped - to do so would give the impression that Police officers are above the law," he continued.

Hargreaves will be seeking to prosecute several officers in the GPA in their personal capacities.

George Broadhead, secretary of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association said: "Some evangelical religious groups have realised that there may still be mileage in this issue and are seeking to spin it out further.. It no longer has anything to do with spontaneous outrage or offence, this is now a carefully organised campaign aimed at silencing critics. I hope that it will be recognised as such and that the CPS will not be drawn into the manipulative politics of right-wing religion. This kind of campaign is a danger to free expression and I hope the authorities will not collude in it. The CPS should send Hargreaves away with a flea in his ear, and tell him to stop wasting the valuable time and resources of public officials with his senseless rabble-rousing.”

It is expected that the Christian Lawyers Association – which also condemned the GPA advert – will be supporting Hargreaves in his effort to pursue a private prosecution.

It should be noted that the conviction of Gay News editor Denis Lemon for "blasphemous libel" in 1977 was the result of a private prosecution [2] brought by the secretary of the National Viewers and Listeners Association, Mary Whitehouse.

Kids on Fire: The American Madrassas

2006-09-28T11:58:00.000+01:00

"Where should we be putting our efforts? I'll tell you where our enemies are putting theirs. They're putting it on the kids. They're going into the schools. You go to Palestine... they're taking their kids to camps like we take ours to Bible camps and they're putting grenades into their hands, they're teaching them to put on bomb belts, teaching them how to use rifles and machine guns... It is no wonder with that kind of intense training and discipling that those young people are ready to kill themselves for the cause of Islam."

So, given the shocking picture the speaker has presented, where does she think her community should be putting their efforts? Promoting secualar rationalism? Perhaps calling on people of faith to chill out? Not bloody likely. She wants to get in on the act.

"I want to see young people who are committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam. I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the cause of the Gospel as they are in Pakistan, in Israel and Palestine and all those different places."

That is, as they say, some scary shit!

A new documentary "Jesus Camp" shines a light on the Evangelical Christian version of the Islamic madrassas we keep hearing about. Clearly, fundamentalists of all stripes are preparing for Armageddon.

According to ABC News, the camp teaches children - as young as five - how to be "true Christian soldiers" and to "take back America for Christ". One has to wonder how long the 'take back America' will take to mutate into 'take back the world'! "God's Boot Camp?" asks the LA Times.

Here is the trailer:

There's a lot more shocking coverage made available by the miracle of YouTube. Watch the ABC special report here, and there are more clips from the documentary here, here and here.

See also the film's official website.

[HAT TIP: Brian M.]

One Last Nail To The Coffin Of Independent Media in Iran

2006-09-15T15:59:00.000+01:00

The National Secular Society's Newsline has just popped into my inbox and it contains a story that passed me - and I suspect a lot of others - by this week.

Iran's most prominent reformist newspaper has been closed down for failing to remove an executive accused of publishing "blasphemous" articles and insulting officials. The country's press supervisory board, run by the culture ministry, ordered the closure of the Persian daily paper Sharq on Monday after it failed to replace managing director Muhammad Rahmanian. The board said the paper had been given one month to replace him, but after the deadline ran out on Sunday he remained at the helm. "Because of 70 cases of violations, including insulting officials, religious and national figures, publishing blasphemous articles and also articles creating discord ... the board demanded the replacement," the board said in a statement.

Their competitor (I imagine) The Tehran Times ran the announcement with practically no background or reaction, but the online Iran Press Service (which publishes in English from abroad) gave a lot of background in their article One Last Nail To The Coffin Of Independent Media in Iran.

Describing Sharq as "the country’s most influential and popular newspaper", they noted:

“We are in a vicious circle, for, as a result of these pressures, closures and crackdowns, more Iranian intellectuals, journalists, scholars and others take refuge with outside-based media to express themselves and are immediately accused of collaboration with foreign media and arrested.”

Sharq is just the latest victim of a concerted attack on the media. The Guardian report on the issue notes that "another Iranian newspaper has also been closed down - political monthly Nameh has also been shut for blasphemy and insulting religious figures. The paper's editor, Majid Tavallaei, said it was closed for publishing a poem by dissident female poet Simin Behbahani, according to an Associated Press report."

The Guardian story also noted that "Iranian courts have closed more than 100 publications since 2000, most of which were reformist."

In their report, South African online news portal News24.com says that another paper, the State-owned Iran was closed in May for publishing a cartoon that offended the Azeris and led to several days of unrest in northwestern Azerbaijan province. The cartoonist and the editor-in-chief of the daily remain in jail.

Scotish Catholics threaten to 'out' gay priests

2006-09-12T12:23:00.000+01:00

A threat to out gay Catholic priests and bishops in Scotland has been condemned as a 21st century witch-hunt by the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).

The threat comes from a group of Catholics called Catholic Truth, which is based in Edinburgh. Catholic Truth says it will "name and shame" homosexual clergy as part of its "heavenly witness protection programme".

In its widely-read newsletter, the group says it is currently investigating the extent of homosexuality among priests and bishops in the Church north of the Border, claiming that exposing homosexuality within the upper ranks ofthe Church would be a "great work of charity".

Catholic Truth also makes a connection between homosexuality and paedophilia. The newsletter, which is online, calls on its readers to out senior churchmen who they suspect may be gay. It also says:

"We do not want you to contact us merely to give us information ... but then insist that we keep it to ourselves if you give us information that we find iscredible and trustworthy, then we will make it public."

Patricia McKeever, who edits the newsletter told the Glasgow-based paper The Sunday Herald:

"The key objective behind naming homosexual priests andbishops is to raise awareness of the problem within the Scottish Church, ultimately to ensure the safety of others in the Church. Not just the physical safety of children, important though that is, but also the spiritual safety of people and congregations entrusted to the care of a homosexual priest or bishop."

She said she had received information on gay priests in at least two diocese[s] and one other Church institution.

Catholic Truth, based in Edinburgh's Princes Street, seeks to restore"traditional" Catholicism in Scotland. It has previously criticised safe sex messages in schools and condemned liberal Catholics. When Cardinal Keith O'Brien declined to support Bishop Devine's view that homosexuals should not be allowed to teach in Catholic schools, Catholic Truth accused him of being "unfit" for office and demanded his resignation.

George Broadhead, secretary of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association, said:

"This is a 21st century witch-hunt. People who are innocent of any kind of misdeed could find themselves on the website of this obnoxious organisation being condemned by association as paedophiles. This malevolent woman must be stopped before she causes immense harm to innocent people. We call on the Catholic hierarchy in Scotland to distance itself from this truly revolting campaign. However, given its own rampant homophobia, we don't hold out much hope."

Friday chuckle

2006-09-08T14:53:00.000+01:00

Since it’s Friday, here’s something to giggle about at the end of the week. Two jokes from the latest National Secular Society news-line:

“A priest got stopped by the traffic cops after swerving all over the road. After spotting an empty bottle on the passenger seat, the policeman says: “Have you been drinking?”
“Only water,” the priest replies.
“Are you sure?” he says. “I can smell wine off your breath.”
The priest looks down at the bottle and says: “Good Lord! He’s done it again!”

On a similar note, what about the wee Irish fella desperately trying to find a parking space just before a meeting? Looking towards Heaven, he says: “Lord, take pity on me. If you find me a parking place, I’ll go to mass every Sunday for the rest of my life and I’ll give up the Guinness, the gambling and chasing loose women.” Miraculously, a space appears.
The wee guy looks up again and says: “Never mind, I found one.”

Of course, there’s lot’s more to read in the latest bulletin, not all of it so light. Why not subscribe by emailing the subject line "subscribe" (in a black email) to: enquiries [AT] secularism [DOT] org [DOT] uk.

What I shall say to Stephen Green

2006-09-07T20:07:00.000+01:00

Copy of my post on Harry's Place earlier today...

I’m looking forward to ‘meeting’ Stephen Green on Saturday. I shall be in Canterbury to attend the AGM of the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association, whose magazine – GHQ – as you know, I edit.

We have been tipped off by an evangelical Christian in Canterbury - whose loathing of Mr Green marginally outweighs his loathing of gays and “pagans” (as he calls Humanists) - that Green is intending to hijack their ‘peaceful demonstration’ against our AGM.

The group, which calls itself “Christian Family & Youth Concern Fellowship” had been planning to register their protest against our supposed aim of “promoting sexual deviancy and paganism” in a “holy city” and their leader, a Rev Darryl Griffiths, wrote to the hotel hosting the event in an attempt to get them to either cancel the event or allow their mob to wave banners in the car park. Fortunately they were told to get knotted and that no molestation of the hotel’s guests would be tolerated.

So they decided to hold a “pray-in” instead. Enter Stephen Green.

Re G&LHA Conference, Canterbury.
Sorry not to be in touch before. I should be interested in the hymn-singing vigil you mention, and could advertise this and support it with people. I'll be pleased to send you the latest Christian Voice newsletter if you would be kind enough to email me a note of your land address and church attended ...
May God bless you.
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Green, M.A
National Director, Christian Voice

But, says Rev Griffiths in his correspondence with GALHA:

“Unfortunately, I learned yesterday afternoon that one of our members, a bit of a ‘loose cannon’, has taken it upon himself to alert Stephen Green of Christian Voice to the G&LHA conference (sic). This was done without consulting me, or other fellowship members. Stephen Green is well-known within the Christian Community for his outspoken views and for a somewhat strident approach to those with whom he disagrees. Our concern is that he may well organise his own protest, which is certainly against our wishes.”

As an aside, I’d take Stephen Green’s approach any day. It is far less insidious than Rev Griffith’s alternative. Griffith says:

“Our fear, is that Stephen Green may turn up anyway, undoing all the valuable outreach work we have done in helping gays who seek salvation through prayer and Christian fellowship. If he does, we wish to make it clear that he does so without the approval or encouragement of the FYC fellowship. We oppose stridency from any quarter, as it's always counter-productive in bringing the wayward back to the fold.”

What is his vehicle for this? Why, the Alpha Course, of course!

“[W]e will be contacting local newspapers in order to advertise the Alpha Course and encourage homosexuals to turn away from the dark path they have chosen,” says Griffiths.

The Alpha Course targets people who want to “explore the meaning of life” – in other words, people who feel lost, alienated, depressed and directionless. People who are emotionally vulnerable: like many lesbian and gay people whose minds have already been brutalised by The Church. Alpha is to religion what McDonald’s is to cuisine – and they have just as stringent branding rules. So successful is the commodifying of evangelicalism that they now advertise on London busses. (This is no surprise, since half of London’s busses are run by Stagecoach – owned by another homophobic religious nut. But I digress…

Stephen Green is in all sorts of trouble at the moment. He’s facing a prosecution for “using threatening words and behaviour” at a Cardiff gay pride event. From what I can ascertain, this didn’t amount to much more than doling out ‘turn or burn’ type leaflets.

An unrepentant Green claims that his “rights to free speech have been challenged”.

And, he’s absolutely right. I’ll go on record as saying that I support his right to express his views in a peaceful manner. The police and the courts have no moral right to pursue people for simply expressing their thoughts and opinions, as long as they do not incite violence or make violent threats.

But, since Stephen Green only speaks the language of fundamentalists, I would have to refer him to what Jesus says (as reported in Matthew 7:5):

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Stephen Green is no supporter of freedom of speech. I shan’t rehash the disgraceful tactics he used to try to shut down Jerry Springer: The Opera, since I covered it on the GALHA blog at the time.

Of course, Green and his ilk don’t balk orchestrating prosecutions of “religious hatred” when some sad facts are pointed out at their expense. The Gay Police Association is facing a possible prosecution after they revealed in an advert that the majority of homophobic incidents reported to them had a religious component.

As Peter Tatchell pointed out yesterday in his Comment Is Free piece:

“The GPA advert has reportedly prompted thousands of complaints to the Metropolitan Police by supporters of religious pressure groups, as well as by die-hard fundamentalists. They have expressed no concern about the death threats, but they want the ad banned and are demanding the prosecution of the GPA. The Met is now investigating whether the GPA advertisement constitutes an anti-religious hate crime. It has referred the complaints to the Crown Prosecution Service.”

Isn’t this all getting a bit too much? I have no illusions that the bulk of homophobia is generated by men in frocks. I want the right to confront them without the fear of prosecution. I do not fear their ludicrous tracts – bring ‘em on I say – because they can be defeated with persistent reason and clear-headed logic. I don’t need the long arm of the law to protect me from Stephen Green. But, if he has the courage of his convictions, he needs to explain why he needs the law to protect his beliefs from me.

So I shall tell Mr Green that, in this instance at least, I’m prepared to act on Jesus’s advice (also in Matthew 7), even as he so flagrantly defies it. I shall do unto others as I would have them do unto me. If he arrives on Saturday with his slogans and leaflets, I shall intercede if the Canterbury police emulate their colleagues in Cardiff. I shall say:

“For f…reedom’s sake, officer, let the man speak his mind!" – and, if necessary, I shall offer to be arrested along side him.

This madness has to be challenged.

Wear a blue hat on September 17

2006-09-06T12:57:00.000+01:00

September 17 2006 is the Global Day for Darfur.

Individuals and organisations around the world will join peaceful demonstrations, rallies, marches, and other events to draw attention to the criminally under-reported plight of the people of Darfur. September 17 marks the first anniversary of the signing of the UN World Summit Outcome Document, which enshrined the international doctrine of the "Responsibility To Protect"

Despite the pledge: “to take collective action …if national authorities manifestly fail to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity”, the violence in western Sudan has not stopped; in fact, in some parts of Darfur, the violence has grown worse.

"People are still being killed and raped and displaced - every single day," say the Day For Darfur organisers.

On September 17 people around the world will take part in the Global Day for Darfur to show world-wide support for the Darfuri people and to put pressure on our Governments to protect the civilians.

We hope that you will be able to join us on the Global Day for Darfur.

Wear a blue hat on September 17th, and joining in protests and events to help the people of Darfur.

To view with Quicktime click here

"Godless" Gay Gathering attacked by Christians

2006-09-05T14:51:00.000+01:00

Members of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA), which has chosen Canterbury for its annual residential gathering to be held from 8 - 11 September 2006, are bracing themselves for a protest from a Christian group calling itself Christian Family & Youth Concern Fellowship.In a letter to the hotel where the event is being held, the Christian group said that they had been tipped of that it was "hosting a rather unsavoury conference" and described GALHA as "promoting sexual deviancy and paganism" They added that the event was "highly inappropriate in a Cathedral City" and that they intended to organise a protest outside the hotel in which they would offer prayers for "those lost souls...with hymn singing and Bible readings". The letter concluded: "May the Lord restore them unto righteousness".Terry Sanderson, a spokesman for GALHA, said: These people have a real bee in their bonnet about gays - especially those who don't believe in God. Far from promoting sexual deviancy our aim is to promote the rational gay-friendly Humanist approach to gay relationships, which is in sharp contrast to the bible-based one which the Christian Churches adopt. We also promote gay rights as human rights and we certainly do not subscribe to the pagan outlook which is totally incompatible with Humanism."Founded in 1979, GALHA is one of the longest-established national membership gay organisations in the country and this will be its 26th residential gathering which is held in a different town each year.The organisation's secretary George Broadhead said: "Our annual weekend gathering is always popular, and we are particularly pleased to be in the fascinating historic city of Canterbury. Among the events planned for the gathering is a guided walking tour of the city, an excursion to Dover Castle and a presentation at the hotel about Marlene Dietrich - the ultimate gay icon who was an atheist and had lesbian affairs. GALHA recently criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury for his "spineless"abandonment of gay people in the Anglican Church after he came under pressure from right-wing evangelicals. Terry Sanderson said: "We likened Rowan Williams to the Vicar of Bray as he seems to change his opinions to fit the mood of the day. We had hoped that the Archbishop - who we know to be personally friendly towards gays - would have the courage of his convictions and stand in defence of gay people. Instead he has yielded to the homophobes in his church and now says that if gays want to be part of it they must 'change their ways'. We think this is spineless", and because of the Church of England's established status, it has implications for people outside the Church, too."

Government ghaners church’s support

2006-09-04T16:29:00.000+01:00

The clergy in Ghana are backing their government’s decision to ban a conference for gay men and lesbians. The government has pledged to take “disciplinary action” on anyone “breaking the law”, reports GayWired.

Because homosexuality is illegal in Ghana, this has been widely interpreted as referring to anyone attending the conference.

Information Minister Kwamena Bartels, said in a statement that “Government would like to make it absolutely clear that it shall not permit the proposed conference anywhere in Ghana… Unnatural carnal knowledge is illegal under our criminal code. Homosexuality, lesbianism and bestiality are therefore offences under the laws of Ghana.”

While he has the backing of the clergy (surprise, surprise) apparently some members of the public have used radio phone-in programmes to (anonymously) criticise the government’s lack of respect for freedom of speech. But of course, others support the Church’s stance.

Once again, when draconian measures are taken to deny LGBT people their legal rights, religious leaders can be counted on to cheerlead the persecution.

The South African edition of The Independent, reports that the Ghanaian government claims that allowing the conference will undermine the country’s “culture and morality”.

In a statement that quite clearly contradicts his own stance, Mr Bartels told The Independent: “It's not illegal for them to meet and talk, but we in Ghana don't want to encourage it. They can go and do it elsewhere.”

Another report stated that the conference centre had denied that any such conference was planned. One might speculate that the government and the church made it all up in an effort simply to create a moral panic and stir up homophobia.

Paul Simon's Surprise

2006-09-04T12:18:00.000+01:00

Paul Simon’s new album ‘Surprise’ (which can be previewed here) has some interesting observations about the direction religion is going. In one song, ‘Wartime Prayers’, he notes:

Prayers offered in times of peace are silent conversations, Appeals for love or love's release In private invocations But all that is changed now, Gone like a memory from the day before the fires. People hungry for the voice of God Hear lunatics and liars Wartime prayers, wartime prayers In every language spoken, For every family scattered and broken.

In another song ‘I don’t believe’, he sings:

I don't believe we were born to be sheep in a flockTo pantomime prayers with the hands of a clock

The albums title track opens provocatively with the song “How can you live in the Northeast?”

How can you live in the Northeast?How can you live in the South?How can you build on the banks of a riverWhen the flood water pours from the mouth?How can you be a Christian?How can you be a Jew?How can you be a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu?How can you?Weak as the winter sun, we enter life on earth.Names and religion comes just after date of birth.Then everybody gets a tongue to speak,And everyone hears an inner voice,A day at the end of the week to wonder and rejoice.If the answer is infinite lightWhy do we sleep in the dark?

Of course, it being Paul Simon, you’re not going to get any unequivocal statements and his meaning is often obscure.

As a long-time fan, I must say, I don’t rate this album as anything approaching his best work. It’s competent, but, from what I heard on the preview, is rather pedestrian. But “People hungry for the voice of God, Hear lunatics and liars” – what a line!

Homophobic terror: The Talibanisation of Iraq

2006-09-04T11:00:00.000+01:00

Peter Tatchell reveals the targeted execution of gay Iraqis by Islamist death squads

(as published in) Tribune - London, UK - 1 September 2006

Parts of Iraq, including some Baghdad neighbourhoods, are now under the de facto control of Taliban-style fundamentalist militias. They enforce a savage interpretation of Sharia law, summarily executing people for ‘crimes’ like listening to western pop music, wearing shorts or jeans, drinking alcohol, selling videos, working in a barber’s shop, homosexuality, dancing, having a Sunni name, adultery and, in the case of women, not being veiled or walking in the street unaccompanied by a male relative.

Iraq is sliding fast towards theocracy and is likely to end up similar to Iran. The power and influence of fundamentalist militias is growing rapidly. Two militias are doing most of the killing. They are the armed wings of major parties in the Blair-backed Iraqi government. Madhi is the militia of Muqtada al-Sadr, and Badr is the militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), which is the leading political force in Baghdad’s ruling coalition. Both militias want to establish an Iranian-style religious dictatorship.

Despite this goal of clerical fascism, the Socialist Workers Party and the Stop The War Coalition support Muqtada al-Sadr. They invited his representative to speak at the anti-war rally in London on 18 March. Not to be outdone, the July issue of the left-wing monthly Red Pepper gave over a whole page to white-washing al-Sadr’s crimes against humanity.

The terrorisation of gay Iraqis by these Islamist death squads is symptomatic of the fate that will befall all Iraqis if the fundamentalists continue to gain influence.

Under Saddam Hussein discrete homosexuality was usually tolerated. Since his overthrow, the violent persecution of gay people is commonplace. It is actively encouraged by Iraq’s leading cleric, the British and US-backed Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. He issued a fatwa ordering the execution of gay Iraqis. His followers in the Islamist militias are now systematically targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, as indicated by the following reports received from my clandestine gay activist contacts inside Iraq:

Wissam Auda was a member of Iraq’s Olympic tennis team. His dream was to play at Wimbledon this year. He had been receiving death threats from religious fanatics on account of his homosexuality. On 25 May, his vehicle was ambushed by fundamentalist militias in the al-Saidiya district of Baghdad. Wissam, together with his coach Hussein Ahmed Rashid and team mate Nasser Ali Hatem, were all summarily executed in the street. Their crime? Wearing shorts. An Iraqi National Guard checkpoint was about 100m from the site of the ambush, but the soldiers did nothing, according to eye-witnesses.

The father of 23 year old Baghdad arts student, Karzan, has been told by militias that his son has been sentenced to death for being gay. If his father refuses to hand over Karzan for execution, the militia has threatened to kill the family one by one. This has already happened to Bashar, 34, an actor. Because his parents refuse to reveal his hiding place, the Badr militia murdered two of his family members in retribution.

Nyaz is a 28-year old dentist who lives in Baghdad. She is terrified that her lesbian relationship will be discovered, and that both she and her partner will be killed. They have stopped seeing each other. It is too dangerous. To make matters worse, Nyaz is being forced by the fundamentalist Mahdi militia to marry an older, senior Mullah with close ties the Mahdi leader, Muqtada al-Sadr. If she does not agree to the marriage, or tries to run away, Nyaz and her family will be targeted for ‘honour killing’ by Sadr’s men.

Gay Iraqis cannot seek the protection of the police. Iraq’s security forces have been infiltrated by fundamentalists, especially the Badr militia. They have huge influence in the Interior Ministry and the police, and can kill at will and with impunity.

Fourteen year old Ahmed Khalil was accused of corrupting the community because he had sex with men. According to his Baghdad neighbour, in April four men in police uniforms arrived at Ahmed’s house in a four-wheel-drive police pick-up truck. They wore the distinctive face masks of the Badr militia. The neighbour saw the police drag Ahmed out of the house and shoot him at point-blank range, pumping two bullets into his head and several more bullets into the rest of his body.

In the chaos and lawlessness of post-war Iraq, hundreds of young boys are being blackmailed into the sex industry. The sex ring operators lure the boys into having gay sex, photograph them and then threaten to publish their photos unless they work as male prostitutes. If their gayness was publicly revealed, the boys would be executed by the Islamist militias. They are trapped.

Wathiq, aged 29, a gay architect, was kidnapped in Baghdad in March. Soon afterwards, the Badr militia sent his parents death threats, accusing them of allowing their son to lead a gay life and demanding a £11,000 ransom. The parents paid the money, thinking it would save Wathiq’s life. But he was found dead a few days later, with his body mutilated and his head cut off.

The UK gay rights group OutRage! is working to support our counterpart organisation in Baghdad, Iraqi LGBT. Despite the great danger involved, Iraqi LGBT has established a clandestine network of gay activists inside Iraq’s major cities, including Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala, Hilla and Basra. These courageous activists are helping gay people on the run from fundamentalist death squads; hiding them in safe houses in Baghdad, and helping them escape to Syria and Lebanon. The world ignores the fate of LGBT Iraqis at its peril. Their fate today is the fate of all Iraqis tomorrow.

* Iraqi LGBT is appealing for funds to help the work of their members in Iraq. They don’t yet have a bank account. The UK gay rights group OutRage! is helping them. Cheques should be made payable to “OutRage!”, with a cover note marked “For Iraqi LGBT”, and sent to OutRage!, PO Box 17816, London SW14 8WT.

More info on Iraqi LGBT: http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com/

Gay & Lesbian Humanists

2006-08-30T23:06:00.000+01:00

Gay & Lesbian Humanists

This is not particularly a gay issue -- but it is an important one, which the BBC have done well to tackle.

"London has to face the illegal consequences of religious practicesthat some migrants bring with them from their countries of origin. We should neither accept them, nor ignore them to appease cultural sensibilities."

Still Learning After Victoria Climbie

The spectre of Ndoki, or witchcraft, being practiced [sic] in London has reared its ugly head again. The Metropolitan police arrested an Angolan pastor who has been ministering in London for the past five years. Kurt Barling looks at the fall out

Although the congregation of the Christ in Mission Church in Tottenham has declined recently, Pastor Dieudonne Tukala who arrived in London from Angola in 1999 still has a significant following.

His word is interpreted by some in his congregation as the word of God. He is accused of inciting cruelty to children.

In an unconnected case back in 2001 a torso was washed up on the banks of the River Thames. The police investigation into who murdered the child they named "Adam" has so far found no perpetrators. What was uncovered though was a gruesome example of a ritual sacrifice. Through his DNA, the boy was identified as coming from Western Nigeria.

Although there is little evidence to show the cases coming to light are directly related, they nevertheless fit a pattern which points to practices still common in parts of Africa finding their way to London with new migrants.

What seems to remain a matter of confusion for a number of emerging churches steeped in African tradition is the difference between cultural practices which are unusual and those which in Britain are illegal.

Lord Laming's inquiry into the murder of Victoria Climbie three years ago exposed ambivalence amongst some officials when it came to dealing with migrants. A certain amount of cultural relativism clouded their judgement. The child protection agencies still have work to do to get to grips with the problem.

A preacher at the church attended by Victoria's great-aunt said Victoria was possessed and he had prayed for her to be delivered from witchcraft or wicked spirits. Most people accepted that was whacky, but some emerging churches clearly were having difficulty accepting it as illegal. One consequence of this has been that the torture Victoria Climbie was subjected to has been repeated.

Nearly five years on a minority of deliverance churches still seem to be struggling with the idea that those who lead worship in the name of any faith must not break the law themselves, or incite others to.

If this debate is to have any meaning then it's particularly important that emerging churches are not cut off from the mainstream. There's strong evidence that it is amongst these isolated congregations where children are most vulnerable to "ndoki" practices.

That's not to say it happens in every African centred church. Far from it. The manner in which worship can appear exuberant can be unsettling to those familiar with Christian worship in the host community. That doesn't make it sinister, unless of course you find all Christian worship sinister.

It shouldn't be forgotten that exorcisms, or the excising of bad spirits, are carried out in the Church of England. These are part and parcel of Christian tradition. Every London diocese has its own designated exorcist. Permission must be sought from a Bishop to carry out an exorcism.

It's self-evident though that the more cut off from any form of accountability new churches are, the more difficult it can be to ensure that when things go wrong there is a mechanism to correct them.

Few people within a congregation will stand up to challenge a powerful pastor. If you put into that mix the anxiety of refugees and asylum seekers, some of whom will have been tortured, abused and mistreated in the past you have a recipe for vulnerability. In the French speaking Congolese community this is compounded by a significant language barrier.

When three adults were convicted last year at the Old Bailey of torturing an eight-year-old Angolan orphan known to the court as child B the Met Police decided to take proactive measures to find out how widespread a problem they could be facing.

The evidence had shown that over several months child B was cut with a knife on her chest, beaten, kicked, starved, whipped with a belt and had chilli peppers rubbed in her eyes when she too was accused of being a witch..

In the wake of the Laming inquiry the Met had already commissioned a report from two people deeply involved in previous child abuse scandals involving African children to investigate this unknown territory.

The report remains unpublished, one must assume because the Met police remain very nervous about revealing its contents. The researchers found that although not widespread, there was a significant incidence of ndoki, or witchcraft, in London. They concluded that the practices did put some children at risk and congregations were burying their heads in the sand. They urged the public authorities not to do the same.

Last autumn, Operation Violet which was set up by the Yard's Child Abuse Investigative Command, got Detective Inspector Bob Pull to actively seek out as many emerging Congolese churches as he could amongst the 11,000 strong Congolese community.

His job was then to ensure a coordinated effort to tackle the risk identified in the report, largely through offering advice and training on child protection issues.

Pastor Jules Mahele who has been appointed as spokesman for around 60 of the 80 or so Congolese churches in Britain told me (most are in London and have memberships of anything from a few dozen to a few hundred) that there is a general recognition that there is a problem.

He believes it is particularly an issue in those churches that have so far shown an unwillingness to join forces with similar denominational groups to support each other in ensuring that worship does not conflict with the laws of the land.

In a statement released last Friday the Congolese Pastorship said that: "No church using the Bible as its authority can justify any behaviour that puts children at risk of abuse. The practice of ndoki, or witchcraft, which identifies children as possessed by evil spirits, is not a practice Christians find acceptable."

The message couldn't be clearer. Those who claim to be Christian pastors but endorse these practices cannot hide behind their ethnicity as a defence.

The difficulty is anyone can set up a place of worship in this country. The act of collective worship is in effect a private gathering. If abuse takes place it's often away from the place of worship as a result of "guidance" from a so called pastor. Policing the private domain is notoriously difficult; you only have to look at the problems of tackling domestic violence.

There are simply no easy answers to dealing with this. It requires a cultural shift so that the mores and norms of the broader society are accepted and practiced [sic] by these churches themselves.

This needs public education and unambiguous sanction when wrongdoing comes to light. Last week's arrest is a positive step, because it shows that more people within these churches are becoming vigilant and questioning.

As a world city London has to face the illegal consequences of religious practices that some migrants bring with them from their countries of origin. We should neither accept them, nor ignore them to appease cultural sensibilities.

On the other hand hysterical reactions to individual cases which stigmatise whole communities will do little to reduce the risks to the most vulnerable.

last updated: 15/08/06

Archbishop's latest move 'spineless' say Gay Humanists

2006-08-29T10:12:00.000+01:00

NEWS RELEASE28 August 2006

The Archbishop of Canterbury's latest pronouncement in which he tells gays that they are not welcome in his Church unless they "change their ways", was condemned today as "spineless" by the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).

GALHA's Secretary George Broadhead said: "Rowan Williams has now made it clear that he thrown in his lot with the religious right, and confirmed himself to be a kind of Vicar of Bray figure - changing his opinions to fit in with the mood of the times rather than sticking to his principles. If anyone in the Anglican Church was in any doubt about where Williams stood on gay rights, they now know."

Mr Broadhead said that if the suggestions that up to a third of Anglican clergy are gay is true, then there should be a mass exodus from the church. "How anyone with a grain of self-respect would want to serve under a man who has betrayed them so badly is incomprehensible. Gay people should leave the church in their droves."

Mr Broadhead pointed out that the Church of England is established by law and has political power in this country with its bishops sitting in the House of Lords. "This is not just a matter for gay Christians. The Anglican Church's swing to the right affects all of us. There have been increasing examples of the bishops in the House of Lords opposing gay rights. Indeed, they argued strongly that the Church should be exempted from the forthcoming legislation banning discrimination against gay people in the provision of goods and services.

The latest move by this spineless Archbishop should serve as a warning signal to all gay people - religious or not. Religion has declared war on them."

Religion = Honesty?

2006-08-24T11:07:00.000+01:00

Religion = Honesty?

By now, even people – like me – with very little interest in sport will have heard about the controversy surrounding the cricket test match between England and Pakistan. Long story short: Pakistan were accused of ‘ball tampering’ and the dispute that followed led to a stand-off between the team and the umpires and Pakistan ultimately forfeited the match.

I’m sure there’s more to it in the detail, but to use an obvious pun, I don’t really give a toss. Let’s face it, in sport, these controversies arise all the time. Hardly a month goes by without some news of an athlete stripped of their medal because they’d been taking some hay fever medication with a banned ingredient, or some Grand Prix driver forced to start from the back for some reason unfathomable to the layperson. And then of course there’s football…

At the end of the day, it all seems rather over-inflated… grown men either whacking balls (or each other) away or chasing after them for whopping great salaries.

But two responses to the England-Pakistan match in the media caught my eye. Both leave unpleasant tastes in the Humanist mouth.

Firstly, The Guardian made it a race/religion issue. In it’s leader on Monday, the paper said:

“The dispute was not between England and Pakistan, which may allow the forthcoming one day series to continue. But it can only fuel the alienation felt by some British Muslims at a time of great strain.”

Shahriyar Khan or the Pakistand Cricket Board and Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach seemed keen to run with this theory and appeared to accuse Darrel Hare, the umpire, of fomenting WW III.

In a very sensible editorial, The Times took them to task:

Shahriyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, appears most confused. “What a wonderful sight it is to see cricket between Pakistan, a Muslim country, and England, where the majority are Christian. Why destroy this over a technicality?” he asked. With respect, Shahriyar does not know his technicalities from his elbow. The rules of cricket are not a technicality; Muslims and Christians, in this context, are. The most stupid, the most catastrophically misguided aspect of this debate is the one that insists on bringing the world of religious politics into a row about cheating in a cricket match.
Hair, we are told, has added to the volatile relationship between East and West. So, presumably, the next time London or Bali goes up, we can attach his decision to the list of liberal hand-wringing explanations for the atrocity. “Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon — and that Aussie bloke who called Pakistan for ball-tampering at the Oval. Well, what did we expect?” It is shocking the way a decision made purely in a sporting arena has been so self-servingly transferred to the political.

“All the Muslim players are sensitive individuals who are very opposed to terrorist activities,” Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, said. “To accuse Pakistan of cheating brings these tensions to the fore. I wonder whether Darrell realises the consequences of his actions.”

What consequences? What tensions? Are we meant to applaud Woolmer’s Pakistan team for their sensitivity in not endorsing mass murder? Are we meant to worry that, having been accused of ball-tampering, they now will?

Pure insanity. Or political opportunism. Either of which, rational people ought to knock for a six.

Secondly – and this is what really got my goat – former cricketer Geoffrey Boycott writes in The Telegraph:

“Ball-tampering is a sensitive issue for the Pakistanis and that is why they staged their protest yesterday. They wanted to make a statement because the reputation of the team and the integrity of Pakistan cricket had been called into question. You have to remember that the Pakistan players are deeply religious and pray five times a day, so an allegation of cheating hurts them.”

Eh?

What on earth makes Boycott think that the more religious people are, the more they will be hurt by accusations of cheating or dishonesty? Does he really imagine that non-religious people are any less concerned about being thought of as fair and honest?

Why do we have this knee-jerk assumption in society that religious people are automatically more virtuous than the rest of us? (Let’s face it, the evidence is often quite the reverse.)

Is it not perhaps the very fact that this common assumption exists that religious groups are allowed to get away with so much? If people aren’t apologising for them, they’re cultivating an ever growing blind-spot. Even people who are not religious have some ‘reverence’ for the vicar. Instead of mocking their insane moonbattery, many of tend to think that the pious are more “spiritual” than their neighbours, more “virtuous”…

And of course, it is this tosh that allows religious commentators to tell politicians with a straight face that - even if people don’t believe in a god - religion instills essential ethical and moral concepts in the developing mind. Without our CofE grounding, even Atheists would be morally adrift… or so they say.

No, the fact that the Pakistan team is very religious should in no way be relevant to assessing their propensity to cheat (or not to cheat) or the level of offence they take at the accusation.

The fact is, no one likes being called a cheat.

Summer GHQ now out!

2006-08-22T20:13:00.000+01:00

The summer edition of Gay Humanist Quarterly is now available.

It can be downloaded (free) as a PDF... or you can subscribe and receive the print edition.

Issues covered in this edition include: the butchering of gay, lesbian and transgender people at the hands of Islamist militias in Iraq; the on-going persecution of gays in Iran a year after the hanging of two teens in Mashhad; the failure of the High Court challenge of the government's policy of not recognising foreign same-sex marriages; the general uselessness of the Democratic Party in the USA on LGBT issues; the dangers of 'Creationism' entering UK schools and US-style Televangelism coming to the UK; the attacks on the gay communities of Eastern Europe; Dr Qaradawi's insights into why Bush won the election; and more news, views and reviews, including Spielberg's 'Munich'.

See http://www.gayhumanist.com/index.html for a detailed content listing (and to download the mag - or subscribe)

Back-issues are also available as PDF downloads.

As the name suggests. GHQ is published four times a year and covers issues around sexuality, politics, humanism, atheism, liberalism and free thought, particularly (but not exclusively) from a gay and lesbian perspective.

Williams a 'humanist mole'?

2006-06-29T12:32:00.000+01:00

An um, ‘interesting thesis by Andrew Brown in The Guardian to explain the ‘liberal’ Rowan William’s betrayal of lesbian and gay Christians.

One is reminded of Conquest's law, that all organisations are headed by the secret agents of their opponents. Perhaps the archbishop is actually taking his orders from Richard Dawkins, and acting to discredit the notion that a decent Christian can ever say clearly what he means, or mean honestly what he says. But even that, if it were true, would demand an explanation. Before he took this office, Dr Williams had a considerable, and deserved, reputation for straightforward eloquence and direct symbolic action. He had a great many gay friends, not all of whom were celibate or pretended to be. Now that he has turned against them, we have to ask: was he a sleeper for the British Humanist Association all along?

Still, who knows why Anglicans want to remain “in communion” with each other when their views are evidently mutually loathsome!

My thesis is that Williams was chosen as Archbishop of Canterbury precisely because his years as an armchair academic left him with a weakened backbone.

When Priests Attack!

2006-06-23T00:24:00.000+01:00

It’s a moot point with atheists – tee hee – but this video of a vicar beating up a parishioner (who appears to be an older woman) has to be seen to be believed!

GALHA Media Release, 7 June 2006

2006-06-12T18:22:00.000+01:00

VATICAN ATTACKS AGAINST GAYS "REMINISCENT OF WORST DICTATORS

The Vatican's relentless and defamatory attacks on the rights of gay people are beginning to sound like the kind of propaganda used by the worst dictators, says the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association.

The latest Vatican document, published this week, says the acceptance of gay partnerships is "an eclipse of God". In previous documents the Vatican has said that gay people are "intrinsically evil", "morally disordered" and a threat to civilisation.

Terry Sanderson, a spokesman for GALHA, said: "The Vatican is playing a very dangerous game with these relentless attacks on gay people. The language being used is dehumanising, and the demands for the wholesale removal of civil rights from an identifiable group is reminiscent of some malignant dictatorship. The Pope's constant vilification of gay people is leading to violence and persecution. We have only to look at what is happening in Catholic Poland, where gay people are publicly insulted and humiliated by senior government ministers. In other Eastern European countries where Catholicism is strong, there is evidence that the gay communities are being targeted by populist politicians. If Benedict isn't careful, his reckless statements will result in innocent blood being spilled."

Mr Sanderson suggested that in non-Catholic countries the Pope's utterances were regarded as either repellent or irrelevant. "The Catholic Church is losing adherents all over the world, and this is because of its increasing authoritarianism and intolerance".

AoC confirms ruling of arch-homophobe Scott-Joynt

2006-06-06T11:26:00.000+01:00

After an evangelical priest, incensed by guidance from the House of Bishops on civil partnerships, arranged "irregular ordinations" by an "out of communion" confederate shipped in from South Africa, he was stripped of his licence by the Bishop of Southwark.

Following an appeal presided over by the arch-homophobe Michael Scott-Joynt, Bishop of Winchester, Dr. Rowan Williams has now confirmed Scott-Joynt's ruling that the evangelical priest should be relicensed.

Some years ago, Scott-Joynt led a working party which recommended dropping the ban on the marriage of divorcees. However, apart from this, he has a history of anal-retentiveness. He bitterly opposed any relaxation of the requirement for clergy to wear traditional robes at services. He was one of the nine diocesan bishops who wrote to Rowan Williams, opposing the appointment of Dr. Jeffrey John as suffragan bishop of Reading. And he denied transsexuals the right to marry in their adopted sex, because it would undermine marriage, which

"according to the law of the land is the union of one man with one woman and that is proclaimed by the plaque in the wall of every Register Office ... the words 'woman' and 'man' will no longer mean what everyone including the law has always thought that they meant".

Writing in the "Guardian", ["Care in the communion", 5th July, 2003], he concluded. --

"For me, it is fundamental to being an Anglican that we respect each other, listen to each other, learn from and with each other ..."

We are still waiting for signs that this fundamentalist has ever listened or learnt. Today's report is yet another example of sifting facts and rejecting the advice of a QC to rule in favour of another homophobe and reinstate his licence to preach hatred. --

Williams reinstates cleric in gay dispute
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent

An evangelical cleric who was stripped of his licence by his bishop last year following a dispute over homosexuality was reinstated yesterday by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

In a surprise decision, the archbishop upheld an appeal by the Rev Richard Coekin against the Bishop of Southwark, Dr Tom Butler, who banned him from officiating in his diocese after an irregular ordination service.

The dispute blew up after Mr Coekin, the minister of Dundonald church in Wimbledon, south London, arranged for a bishop to be "parachuted in" from South Africa over the head of Bishop Butler to ordain three of his staff as deacons.

The unofficial ordinations were backed by Reform, the evangelical network, whose 600 clergy members are increasingly rejecting the authority of the bishops in protest at their "un-Biblical" stance on homosexuals.

Mr Coekin and many other evangelicals have declared themselves to be in "impaired communion" with their bishops over guidance on civil partnerships issued by the House of Bishops a year ago.

Dr William's decision followed a rare Church court hearing in London last month, presided over by the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, and attended by several QCs.

The Archbishop said yesterday that he backed a report drawn up by Bishop Scott-Joynt in which he found that treatment of Mr Coekin had been "seriously flawed".

However, Dr Williams also made clear that Mr Coekin must in future conform to the discipline of the Church.

The Archbishop said that relationships in the diocese now needed to be "rebuilt through the processes of prayer, discussion and trust".

Friends of Mr Coekin insisted last night, however, that he would remain in impaired communion until Bishop Butler distanced himself from the guidance on civil partnerships.

Southwark appeal hearing for vicar Number: 5818
Date: May 5 By Ed Beavan

THE MINISTER who was stripped of his licence after going ahead with irregular ordinations in the diocese of Southwark was this week appealing against the decision. The Rev Richard Coekin, minister of Dundonald Church in Wimbledon and senior pastor of the ‘Co-Missions Initiative’ group of churches in London, exercised his right of appeal after the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Rev Tom Butler, removed his licence last November. The appeal was being presided over by the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, at St Dunstan’s-in-the-West Church in Fleet Street, London.

The situation occurred after Mr Coekin oversaw the ordination of two curates, Andy Fenton and Richard Perkins, to lead church plants as part of the ‘Co-Missions Initiative’. Mr Coekin declared ‘temporary impaired communion’ from the diocese of Southwark, leading to the ordinations being carried out by a South African Bishop, Martin Morrison. Mr Morrison belongs to the Church of England in South Africa, a small denomination which broke off from Anglicanism in South Africa and is out of communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Bishop of Southwark had refused to ordain the two men for three years arguing that the diocese’s numbers were capped by the ‘Sheffield formula’.

Mr Coekin’s appeal revolved around four main points, the main one being that the Bishop formalised ‘schism’ by removing his licence rather than accepting ‘impaired communion’ over theological differences. His second point was the refusal of the Bishop to oppose the House of Bishops statement on Civil Partnerships which he claims is contrary to the Bible. He also argued that his church planting initiative should be welcomed by the Bishop of Southwark, and the South African Bishop who performed the ordinations is excluded from church rules in the area, so nothing illegal had taken place.

At the London Men’s Convention last Saturday, which Mr Coekin chairs, the Rev William Taylor, Rector of St Helen’s Church in Bishopsgate, urged the congregation to pray for Mr Coekin during the hearing. At the time of going to press the appeal was still ongoing. Full details of the verdict will appear in next week’s edition of The Church of England Newspaper.

Archbishop to decide on Coekin Number: 5819
Date: May 12 By Ed Beavan

THE ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury will decide on the fate of the minister who had his licence revoked after organising irregular ordinations in the Diocese of Southwark.

An appeal by the Rev Richard Coekin against the licence revocation by the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Rev Dr Tom Butler, took place at St-Dunstan’s-in-the-West Church in Fleet Street, London, last week. Mr Coekin, who is minister of Dundonald Church in Wimbledon and senior pastor of the ‘Co-Missions Initiative’ group of churches in London, arranged the ordinations of Andy Fenton, Richard Perkins and Loots Lambrecht last November after declaring ‘temporary impaired communion’ from the Diocese of Southwark.

They were ordained by Bishop Martin Morrison of the Church of England in South Africa (CESA), a church currently not in communion with Canterbury. At the appeal, which was presided over by the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, lawyers for Mr Coekin argued that because CESA is out of communion with the Church of England the ordinations could not be deemed a breach of canon law or an ecclesiastical offence. They also claimed Mr Coekin had not rejected the Bishop of Southwark’s authority.

But representatives for the Bishop of Southwark countered that Mr Coekin’s actions were clandestine because he had sought neither the permission of the Bishop of Southwark nor the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the licence revocation was entirely appropriate.

Before the hearing both sides had unsuccessfully met to see if an agreement could be reached. The details of the appeal will be sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who will confirm, vary or cancel the revocation of Mr Coekin’s licence. The decision is expected to be made within the next month.

See also:
Coekin Butler Scott-Joynt
Coekin appeal is heard

Archbishop allows Coekin appeal
Monday 5th June 2006

Bishop of Winchester's report
Monday 5th June 2006

IN THE MATTER OF CANON C12(5) OF THE CANONS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

BETWEEN:
THE REVEREND RICHARD JOHN COEKINAppellant
And
THE BISHOP OF SOUTHWARKRespondent

REPORT TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

...

Gas attack in Moscow

2006-05-27T11:35:00.000+01:00

A group of 20 neo-Nazi thugs burst into the conference venue hosting an international gay conference in Moscow spraying an “unidentified” gas at the assembled delegates, according to this morning’s Times.

The violence follows a similar attack on a Moscow gay club a fortnight ago where elderly religious ‘protestors’ chanted antigay incantations while a small army of skinheads hurled bottles and attacked patrons.

Veteran US jouralist Doug Ireland is providing on-going coverage on his blog of the stand-off between the Mayor of Moscow, assorted religious leaders (who have issued death threats), right-wing skinheads and Russia’s embattled gay community.

Russian gays are hosting an international conference and staging the first Russian Pride today, defying banning orders and threats of violence. 1000 police officers have been dispatched by the Mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, to stop the march.

British campaigners Derek Lennard of the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association (who is the UK co-ordinator for the International Day Against Homophobia) and OutRage! activist Peter Tatchell are in Moscow to attend the conference and join the march.

Also in Moscow is Oscar Wilde’s grandson, and Human Rights Watch director Scott Long. Scott is publishing a diary as events unfold.

GHQ Magazine, (just out) has a cover story on Russian Pride. An electronic (PDF) version is available here.

Nevertheless, Russia’s gay community is divided. Some fear that the backlash will not be worth it, while other believe that a stand must be taken. This is not a new debate, nor a debate specific to oppressed gay communities. It is always the first debate that any civil rights movement has. The same debate was had by religious minorities over the centuries, by the women’s suffrage movement, by the black civil rights movement in the US and by those who stood up to Apartheid.

What is too often painfully clear is that there is rarely progress without blood in the streets.

Scott Long says in his diary that the foreigners left the room to allow the Russians to debate the next step. They voted to march!

I don’t have prayers, but today my thoughts will be with my comrades in Moscow.

UPDATE:
Over 50 activists have been detained by Russian police, including march organiser Nikolay Alexeyev.

UPDATE #2
I've just heard from Derek Lennard in Moscow and he's safe. He's waiting to hear from French activist Louis-Georges Tin and Peter Tatchell, who were part of a different delegation going to City Hall. Derek confirms that Nikolay Alexeyev has been arrested. He adds that at least the tomatoes he had thrown at him seemed fresh organic and thankfully "good enough to eat". It seems Russian neo-Nazis haven't forgotten their manners altogether.

UPDATE #3
A German MP, Volker Beck, and a French Green Party official have been injured in clashes with police and neo-nazi thugs. Apparently, a delegate from the Paris Mayor's office was one of the gay activists arrested today.

Christian Hospitality

2006-05-25T14:18:00.000+01:00

The Times reports that the Bishop of Chelmsford, the Right Reverend John Gladwin, and 20 curates have been abandoned somewhere “in Africa” after the Anglican church in Kenya discovered the bishop’s “liberal” views on homosexuality – and deserted them!

According to The Times, things were going well during the visit to rural parishes, but then:

“[T]he Archbishop of Kenya, the Most Reverend Benjamin Nzimbi, has withdrawn his hospitality because of Bishop Gladwin’s support for homosexuals. He said in a statement that the Kenyan church was “unable to continue with advancing the lined-up activities with the diocese of Chelmsford”.

Bishop Gladwin is the chair of Christian Aid and has recently become a patron of Changing Attitude, an Anglican LGBT group.

Gladwin had to call off a visit to the Caribbean last year after a ruckus over his support for gay Christians.

Church cross as Madonna’s cross crosses line

2006-05-23T17:56:00.000+01:00

The Church of England is angry, according to the BBC, at Madonna after her appearance on a cross to kick off her latest tour in Los Angeles.

David Muir of the Evangelical Alliance accused the singer not only of "blatant insensitivity", but added that the use of Christian imagery is “dangerous”.

Well, it is, you could fall off, scratch yourself on a rusty nail, or have your side split… by the silly protestations of EA vicar.

‘The Cross’ is a western meta-narrative. It belongs to our communal literary tradition. It is not the property of only the dwindling bunch who still believe.

Gay & Lesbian Humanists

2006-05-22T22:22:00.000+01:00

Gay & Lesbian Humanists

New Statesman: Tatchell beats Queen and Dalai Lama

Peter comes in at no. 6, the Dalai Lama at no. 9, and Desmond Tutu at 32.
But there's no sign of a pope or an Archbishop of Canterbury.

www.newstatesman.com/200605220016

Heroes of our time - the top 50

Cover story / Jason Cowley / Monday 22nd May 2006

1. Aung San Suu Kyi - Pro-democracy campaigner
2. Nelson Mandela - First president of the free South Africa
3. Bob Geldof - Pop star turned poverty campaigner
4. John Pilger - Writer and broadcaster
5 Margaret Thatcher - British Conservative prime minister, 1979-90
6. Peter Tatchell - Gay-rights campaigner
7. Noam Chomsky - Writer
8. Bill Gates - Microsoft founder
9. Dalai Lama - Buddhist spiritual leader
10. David Attenborough - Naturalist and broadcaster

11. Hugo Chávez - President of Venezuela
12. Tony Benn - Veteran anti-war campaigner
13. Mikhail Gorbachev - Last leader of the Soviet Union
14. Daniel Barenboim - Pianist and conductor
15. Hans Blix - Former UN weapons inspector
16. Fidel Castro - President of Cuba
17. Jamie Oliver - Celebrity chef
18. Tony Blair - British Prime Minister
19. George Galloway - Respect MP
20. Mary Robinson - Defender of human rights

21. Moazzam Begg - Guantanamo detainee
22. Muhammad Yunus - Banker to the poor
23. Richard Branson - Billionaire entrepreneur
24. Mordechai Vanunu - Israeli whistle-blower
25. Germaine Greer - Academic and broadcaster
26. Richard Dawkins - Evolutionary theorist
27. Simon Weston - Falklands war veteran
28. Tim Berners-Lee - Inventor of the worldwide web
29. Amartya Sen - Nobel laureate
30. Bono - Rock-star activist

31. Brian Haw - Peace campaigner
32. Desmond Tutu - Anti-apartheid cleric
33. Elizabeth II - Queen
34. Lesley Abdela - Champion of women's rights
35. Shami Chakrabarti - Civil liberties campaigner
36. Bill Clinton - US president, 1993-2001
37. Bob Dylan - Singer-songwriter
38. Clive Stafford Smith - Human-rights lawyer
39. Anna Politkovskaya - Russian journalist
40. Helena Kennedy QC - Leading British lawyer

41. Jimmy Carter - US president, 1977-81
42. John Carr - Internet safety expert
43. Ken Livingstone - Mayor of London
44. Lech Walesa - Unionist-turned-president
45. Neil Armstrong - Astronaut
46. Prince Charles - Eldest son of the Queen
47. Rami Elhanan - Israeli peace campaigner
48. Toni Morrison - Novelist
49. Stephen Hawking - Leading theoretical physicist
50. Andrew Flintoff - Cricketer

Protest: Stop deporting gay refugees

2006-05-16T10:50:00.000+01:00

17 May is International Day Against Homophobia

Protest: Defend Gay Asylum Seekers
Date: Wednesday, 17 May 2006
Time: 12 – 2 PM
Place: The Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1

Attending the protest in defence of gay asylum seekers will be lesbian and gay refugees who will tell their stories of victimisation in their home countries and abuse in the UK by the Home Office.

To mark the second International Day Against Homophobia, Lesbian and gay people will protest outside the Home Office to highlight the plight of gay asylum seekers who have fled homophobic persecution in countries like Pakistan, Uganda, Sudan, Jamaica, Iran, Belarus, Algeria, Iraq, Nigeria and Egypt.

The Home Office is being called to account for its five failings:

No training on sexual orientation issues for asylum staff and adjudicators
No official policy supporting the right of refugees to claim asylum on the grounds of sexual orientation
No action to stamp out the abuse of gay refugees in UK asylum detention camps
No accurate, up-to-date information on the victimisation of gay people in violently homophobic countries
No adequate access to proper legal representation for gay asylum applicants

"On this International Day Against Homophobia, we want to express support for gay people in other countries who are suffering arrest, imprisonment, torture and murder. We are demanding that the UK government offers refuge from persecution," said Derek Lennard of GALHA, UK coordinator of IDAHO.

Research by OutRage!, based on its work with gay asylum claimants, shows that the Home Office is failing lesbian and gay asylum seekers.

"The Home Office does not explicitly accept persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation as a legitimate basis for gaining asylum," said Brett Lock of OutRage!, who is currently documenting a major expose of homophobic bias in the asylum system.

"Low legal aid funding means most gay asylum applicants fail because they have sub-standard representation at their asylum hearings. The Home Office information on homophobic persecution around the globe is poorly researched and often downplays the true scale of anti-gay victimisation.

"The shocking stories of homophobic abuse and inhumane conditions inside the UK's asylum detention centres are a national scandal," said Mr Lock.

Liar, liar, cassocks on fire!

2006-05-15T14:37:00.000+01:00

So… after writing a self-serving load of old cobblers to The Times, saying:

“Homosexual people are first of all persons, and have the same entitlement to legal rights as anyone else.”… and …“The Church has consistently spoken out against any discrimination against homosexual persons, and will continue to do so.”

… Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Catholic head honcho could surely have waited a little longer for his lie to take root before committing an act that exposed him as the lying liar that he is.

What’s he done? Well, he’s fired a gay press officer for um, being gay.

What a great way to reinforce the church’s belief that gay people have “the same entitlement to legal rights” and what a way to have “spoken out against any discrimination against homosexual persons”.

Yeah, the very definition. Cormac, of discriminating against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and of depriving them of legal rights is to sack them because they’re gay! Jesus Christ, Cormac, are you too stupid to see the contradictions between your public statements and your actions, or are you such a practiced liar that you believe your own porkers?

But then again, when you’re the regional leader of a church that lies about everything – and then some, it’s no wonder that you can keep your office, but not your story, straight.

Letter published in The Independent 11.5.06

2006-05-12T09:06:00.000+01:00

Sir: You quote Jack Valero of Opus Dei saying: "The Catholic Church would be opposed to civil partnerships in the way they have been enacted in Britain, but it is for each Catholic to work out for themselves." I don't think the Pope would agree with that.

The Vatican's reaction to civil partnerships and gay marriage has been nothing short of hysterical. In Spain when gay marriage was legalised, the Catholic bishops organised large-scale street protests. During the US elections, Catholic bishops repeatedly tried to pressure Catholic politicians into supporting Catholic dogma in legislation. The Pope has issued a continuous stream of defamatory and insulting statements about legalised gay partnership arrangements.

And yet Ruth Kelly claims that she will be able to be even-handed in her treatment of homosexual equality in her role in government. We doubt it very much. She has made it clear from her voting record, and what she has said in interviews, that her conscience is dictated by an ultra-conservative mindset represented by her attachment to Opus Dei. No wonder gay people are worried.

GEORGE BROADHEAD
SECRETARY, GAY AND LESBIAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION
KENILWORTH, WARWICKSHIRE

Pope exposes Cormac's bollocks

2006-05-11T18:15:00.000+01:00

The Pope is sooo inconsiderate!

On the very day that his chief minion in the UK, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor has a letter in The Times claiming…

“Homosexual people are first of all persons, and have the same entitlement to legal rights as anyone else. The Church has consistently spoken out against any discrimination against homosexual persons, and will continue to do so.”

… his Holiness has spoiled the mood by issuing a statement saying:

“Only the foundation of complete and irrevocable love between man and woman is capable of forming the basis of a society that becomes the home of all men… confusing marriage with other types of weak love [should be avoided].”

According to a survey reported in Bloomberg, almost half of Italians believe that the Pope has “meddled excessively in politics” and that wasn’t because he’s “spoken out against any discrimination against homosexual persons”, you can be assured!

Are Stonewall Kelly’s heroes?

2006-05-11T14:43:00.000+01:00

I am absolutely furious with Stonewall!

It goes without saying that they do some tremendous work for which I, as a gay man, am eternally grateful, but they’re running the risk of becoming another Labour QUANGO. Their defence of the appointment of Ruth Kelly as Equalities Minister is beyond the pale!

Ruth Kelly is a member of the conservative Catholic sect, Opus Dei, whose attitude to homosexuality is in line with the Vatican’s clear antigay stance.

When asked whether she personally thought homosexuality was sinful, she refused to answer.

Not only that, but she has absented herself (“as a matter of conscience”) from almost every single parliamentary vote on gay equality issues – ever.

Except two: One was a quite fairly uncontroversial vote to address homophobic bullying regardless of Section 28, but disgracefully she voted with the Anne Widdecombe and the other homophobic Tories on an amendment to specifically EXCLUDE gay couples from adopting children.

This is not the type of person we want championing equality, but still she has received the backing of Stonewall’s chief, Ben Summerskill. Summerskill told The Independent:

“We accept Ruth's assurances that she is absolutely committed to delivering the policy of the Labour Party and the Government.”

I checked on the Stonewall website. There’s nothing about Ruth Kelly at all. Not a word of criticism, not even a murmur of disquiet or concern.

I don’t suppose the fact that Summerskill’s previous job was as a Labour councillor has anything to do with this misplaced loyalty?

Summerskill should ask himself whether Trevor Phillips of the CRE would be an apologist for an Education minister who, when asked for their view of the controversial subject of differences in intelligence between the races hedged their answer with an evasive “I’m not going to get into that,” instead of giving a clear and resounding answer in favour of equality. Would anti-racist campaigners accept that a minister’s private view would not affect their professional performance? I doubt it – especially if the minister concerned had absented themselves from every parliamentary vote on racial equality (“as a matter of conscience”) and indeed had voted in favour of racial discrimination on one of the rare occasions they’d actually bothered to vote.

Would the Government even try to get away with it? Of course not, which demonstrates their dismissive attitude to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people when our community is deemed an inconvenience.

Stonewall do a sterling job of standing up for the gay community on almost all fronts. It’s a pity their judgement is blurred when it comes to New Labour. Surely Summerskill can see in a single equalities unit, when Ruth Kelly has an Archbishop or Cardinal demanding one concession (or exemption) on one side, and the gay community is seeking full equality on the other side, she’s unlikely to be impartial. If, deep down, she thinks we are sinners, how on earth is she going to identify with or empathise with gay issues?

When the single equalities unit was mooted, the first thing most gay campaigners wondered was how our community’s interests would find parity with the demands of religious groups. The religious organisations are the only ones actively campaigning in favour of inequality and for exception from compliance with equality legislation. I guess they now have their champion, and we have our answer.

Surely, ‘equalities’ is an important portfolio which relies on community confidence. The government simply cannot afford to place a person with such a controversial and equivocating background in that role. Surely?

UPDATE:

The head of the Catholic Church in Britain, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor has written to The Times in defence of Kelly.

He says:

“Homosexual people are first of all persons, and have the same entitlement to legal rights as anyone else.”

Thanks CCMC. That’s a step forward. But you also say…

“The Church has consistently spoken out against any discrimination against homosexual persons, and will continue to do so.”

… which is quite simply untrue. Laughably so!

In 1992, the Vatican issued a declaration, which remains in force, calling on all Catholics to oppose lesbian and gay equality. In the UK, prominent Catholic leaders have consistently opposed the repeal of Section 28, same-sex adoption and civil partnerships. Ruth Kelly, of course, absented herself from two of these votes. The one she did turn up for, but only in order to vote in accordance with Church policy.

SOUNDBITE:

Ruth Kelly’s job is to champion equality. Yet she has absented herself from some of the most important equalities bills in recent history on “conscientious” grounds. She is quite simply not suitable for the job.

Nigerian Humanist stands up for gay rights

2006-04-29T14:13:00.000+01:00

A leading Nigerian Humanist is courageously standing up for the country's gay community in the face of his government's vicious attack on gay rights.

With the blessing of the Nigerian Anglican Church and its leader, Archbishop Peter Akinola, the government of Nigeria has tabled in parliament one of the world's most comprehensive and repressive anti-gay laws.

The President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has declared that homosexual practice "is clearly unBiblical, unnatural and definitely unAfrican."

Leo Igwe , the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Humanist Movement, has made an impassioned appeal to members of the Nigerian National Assembly not to pass a Bill that would not only criminalise gay marriage, but also impose a five-year jail sentence on anyone who has a gay relationship or anyone who aids or supports a gay marriage or relationship.

Mr Igwe said in his letter: "The Nigerian Humanist Movement calls for reason, common sense, thoughtfulness, knowledge, love, tolerance, human solidarity and empathy." He called on Nigeria to honour its commitments as a signatory of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights documents.

George Broadhead, secretary of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association, said: "This is probably the most oppressive piece of anti-gay legislation to have been introduced in modern times. We fear for the safety of all gay people in Nigeria, because when this law is implemented it will unleash a deep-rooted and murderous religious-based homophobia. There will be witch hunts and persecution on a wide scale. We fully support Leo Igwe's appeal to the Government not to do this, and we call on the United Nations to intervene to protect the human rights of an extremely vulnerable minority."

Courageous Iranian dissident supports GALHA

2006-04-29T12:23:00.000+01:00

The courageous Iranian dissident, feminist and human rights campaigner, Maryam Namazie, has declared her support for the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association by joining its panel of vice-presidents.

Maryam Namazie was born in Tehran, but she left Iran with her family in 1980 after the establishment of the Islamic Republic under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini. She went to study in the United States and after graduating there moved to the Sudan to work with Ethiopian refugees. Halfway through her stay, an Islamic government took power. She was threatened by this government for establishing a clandestine human rights organisation and had to be evacuated by her employer for her own safety.

Back in the United States, Ms Namazie worked for various refugee and human rights organisations. Since 1998 she has been director of the Federation of Iranian Refugees, an international organisation with 60 branches in nearly 20 countries, which campaigns on behalf of thousands of Iranian asylum seekers and refugees. Some of her personal successes include preventing the deportation of over 1000 Iranian refugees from the Netherlands after having spoken at a parliamentary meeting on the issue, and spearheading a campaign to prevail on the Turkish government to extend the period in which asylum seekers can apply for asylum.

She has worked on numerous other campaigns: opposing stonings and other barbaric executions in Islamic theocracies, defending the banning of religious symbols from schools and public institutions, opposing the incitement to religious hatred bill in the UK and defending the secularisation of society in Britain and elsewhere. She supported the successful campaign against the introduction of a Sharia court in Canada, being a speaker at its first public meeting in Toronto.

She is an inveterate commentator and broadcaster on human rights, cultural relativism, secularism, religion, political Islam and many other related topics.

On 8 October 2005, she received the first 'Securalist of the Year' award from the UK National Secular Society. On 20 March 2006 she was guest lecturer at Peter Tatchell's fifth human rights fundraiser. On 25 March 2006, she was one of the speakers at the Rally for Free Expression held in London's Trafalgar Square.

Commenting on the new addition to the panel of vice-presidents, GALHA's chairperson Lee Stacy said: "We are delighted to have the support of such a courageous and dedicated humanitarian, staunch secularist, and defender of lgbt rights."

IDAHO UK 2006 Launched in London

2006-04-11T14:57:00.000+01:00

The official launch of the UK's International Day Against Homophobia campaign kicked off in the auditorium of the Amnesty International Human Rights Centre last Friday evening, 7 April 2006, where over a hundred LGBT campaigners congregated to listen to speeches by MPs and activists.

Louis-Georges Tin, founder of IDAHO, explained how the campaign, which started last year, had spread to over 40 countries. He added that one of the campaign's political aims was for IDAHO to gain official recognition at the United Nations. In addition to the countries involved last year there were now IDAHO correspondents in Nigeria, the Cameroons, Guyana, Turkey, Uganda and Namibia. IDAHO had already established strong links with the Coalition of African Lesbians and the All African Rights Initiative.

The meeting was also addressed by a leading member of the Blue Diamond Society, the organisation for sexual minorities in Nepal, who explained the increasingly dangerous situation faced by the LGBT community in that country.

Several speakers also addressed problems faced by LGBT communities in Central and Eastern Europe: in a passionate speech, MEP Michael Cashman argued that the founding principles of the European Union must be maintained to ensure that the human rights of LGBT communities were observed.

Dr Evan Harris, Liberal Democrat MP, highlighted the threat of the growth of religious fundamentalism. Nigel Warner from the board of ILGA-Europe observed that where activists had intervened, Prides in several countries had been saved, and Jean Lambert Green MEP highlighted the centrality of basic human rights.

The meeting also heard from Matthew Davis who gave a graphic account of the appalling treatment of LGBT asylum seekers.

A message of support from the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, was also read out to the meeting. London's Mayor noted that the second IDAHO "is a timely opportunity to acknowledge the lesbian and gaycommunity's ongoing struggle for human rights and legal equality". He concluded "I give my commitment to work with you to ensure that London remains a leading city for lesbian and gay equality".

The meeting also heard about IDAHO activities which had been arranged for May 17th in London, Brighton, Manchester, Canterbury, Oxford, Bolton and Leicester.

UK IDAHO Co-ordinator Derek Lennard of the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA)said: "It is astonishing that with a very small budget and no paid staff, we have managed to organise a meeting of this size, and enabled events to be organised in these places. IDAHO is a grass roots international network, and it is up to local organisations and individuals to decide if they want to put on events and participate in the campaign."

"Several people had expressed concerns about homophobic attacks on Clapham Common, and it is hoped that local campaigners will come together to address this issue and arrange an IDAHO event to highlight the problem on May 17th," he added.

The evening also included the first public reading of a play based on Rex Batten's book "Rid England of this Plague". It was enthusiastically received and narrated by the author himself, who described the long journey from the oppressive 1950s to the many rights and freedoms LGBT people enjoy today. Mr Batten, however, urged "lasting vigilance" to preserve the gains the gay rights movement had made.

Following this highly successful launch, the priority for IDAHO-UK is now to maximise the number and quality of events on May 17th and to arrange a minute's silence at 8pm on the evening of May 17 in unison with many other countries, such as Peru and the Ivory Coast.

Speaking after the event, Keith Angus, GALHA committee member, said: "GALHA is honoured and thrilled to be part of the International Day Against Homophobia and, building on the success of last year's campaign, we have committed a great deal of our resources in co-ordinating the UK's contribution to this international initiative."As co-ordinators, our role has been largely to publicise the event through brochures, leaflets, events, press releases, and the establishment of the IDAHO-UK website, and of course to back-up and support Derek Lennard, who is doing an outstanding job leading the IDAHO team and liaising with his opposite numbers all around the world to make May the 17th one of the most important days on the international LGBT calendar." Of course, all the co-ordination in the world would come to nothing without the participation of the community. The amount of support forIDAHO in its second year has been really encouraging, with events announced, and statements of support, from all around the country."As a growing network of campaigners and activists, IDAHO is transcending May the 17th. Last month a protest outside the Russian Embassy highlighted the troubles our Russian sisters and brothers are having over their Pride celebrations. Another protest is being planned for May 17th - IDAHO Day - outside the Home Office to draw attention to the plight of Lesbian and Gay Asylum Seekers, whose treatment by our own government is pretty shabby. Shameful and outrageous, quite frankly," he said. Reiterating the need for community participation, Mr Angus added: "Now, if your group is planning an event to mark IDAHO - and we hope you will - please do let Derek know, so it can be added to the IDAHO website and other IDAHO publicity. Commenting on the success of the evening's launch event, he said: "In addition to applauding the sterling work Derek has been doing, on behalf of GALHA, we'd like to especially thank CHE, the Campaign forHomosexual Equality, for chipping in towards the cost of publicity by funding the printing of the IDAHO brochure, OutRage! for logistical support, Rex Batten and his cast for producing tonight's thought-provoking entertainment, and of course Amnesty International for hosting the event in their wonderful venue. And finally, a huge thanks to all the guest speakers, in particular Louis-George, who travelled from Paris to be here, and everyone in the community who is getting behind this campaign to make IDAHO-UK 2006 such a huge success!"

For more information: http://www.idaho-uk.org/info@idaho-uk.org

Pope's Latest Attack on Gays Verges on the Unhinged Say Gay Humanists

2006-04-11T14:29:00.000+01:00

In his "Good Friday meditations" this year, the Pope is expected to condemn gay civil partnerships as "satanic", something the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) brands as "verging on on the unhinged."

In his message, Pope Benedict will say that "aggression against the family" is a "diabolical project", and his words are bound to be seen as yet another attack on the legal recognition of gay partnerships around Europe, including Britain.

The outcome of this tolerance, he will say, is "an absurd cult of Satan, a mad desire for transgression, a false liberty without conscience, that exalts caprice, vice and selfishness."

GALHA's secretary George Broadhead said: "We are well aware that the Pope is totally opposed to the rights of gay people, but these latest pronouncements verge on the unhinged. His inhumane arguments against the recognition of gay partnerships have been widely disregarded, even in traditionally Catholic countries, like Spain, and his frustration is beginning to show in the increasingly extreme language he is employing. The Pope's apparent psychotic hatred of gays may not be quite on the same level as that of the Grand Ayatollah of Iraq, who recently issued a fatwa saying that homosexuals should be killed in the cruellest ways imaginable, but it springs from the same well of religious intolerance."

Mr Broadhead added: "Gay Catholics should think long and hard before continuing to support their church with money and other resources, until these vile outbursts stop and the Church moderates its stance on gay rights."

Learning Together, Not Growing Apart

2006-04-10T19:53:00.000+01:00

The Government’s current Education and Inspections Bill will inevitably lead to a proliferation of ‘faith’ schools and city academies controlled by religious interest groups. Polls how from 64% to 96% of the UK is against this policy. Why then, do most MPs continue to ignore this issue? We need to convince them that opposition to the creeping gift of our education system to religious interests is genuinely and widely held in their constituencies.

The British Humanist Association has set up a special online service to allow supporters to email their MP directly with a standard letter on the Education Bill, sign an online petition against faith schools and religious academies, and vote in our online poll.

If you would prefer to send a more tailored message to your MP, or write to them by post, please do still take a look at our campaign site, but we have also provided some notes for letter writers.

Please take action today (emailing your MP from the BHA site only takes a minute), and forward this message to anyone else you think will be willing to join us in this campaign.

Sunday Sales

2006-04-09T20:43:00.000+01:00

And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  John 6:16

The Disciples were lucky Capernaum was not Presbyterian.

For, Jesus, so we are told, could walk on water. But those of us who prefer more conventional (not to mention sane) means of attempting such sea travel have fallen foul of yet another island of zealots. No, it’s not the Bishops in the House of Lords, it’s the occupants the island of Lewis and Harris.

The BBC reports that two-thirds of the adult population is “staunchly Presbyterian”. They’ve signed a petition to prevent the ferry crossing from the mainland on “the Sabbath”.

After their petition (and probably a few less-publicised petitions to their god to sink the heretical ship) failed, they’re now doing what almost all the other religious lobbies do – they’re trying to invoke, manipulate or otherwise use the law:

Says the BBC:
Harris West councillor Morag Monro, whose ward contains the port of Leverburgh, said legal action was being considered.  "At the moment we are investigating whether there is a legal option open to us to protect us from this imposition," she said.

Of course, when they discover that there is no law (well, I hope there isn’t) to prevent the free movement of people in accordance with their fear of upsetting an imaginary god, I have no doubt they’ll try to have one made.

Political support for IDAHO grows as the big launch looms...

2006-04-05T12:02:00.000+01:00

Statements of support from UK Political parties have provided a major boost to campaigners for an International Day Against Homophobia, in time for the big launch of IDAHO-UK on April 7th.

The launch meeting of IDAHO-UK takes place:

Friday April 7th
6-8.30pm at Amnesty International UK,
The Human Rights Action Centre,
17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA.
Nearest tube: Old Street (0.4 miles)

Map to venue

Cross-party support

For the government Meg Munn, Deputy Minister for Women and Equality, stated that she fully supported "the work of the International Day Against Homophobia campaign to increase awareness on the legal and human rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people across the globe". She added "the UK government recognises the discrimination that many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people face in their day to day lives and we are committed to tackling it, just as we want  to encourage and develop the conditions for a fair and just society for all.

Ms Munn concluded "We are working hard to improve the lives of lesbians, gay, bisexuals and transsexuals in the UK, and I hope the International Day Against Homophobia will encourage others to take similar steps. I look forward to marking this day on 17th May from this year onwards."

Eleanor Laing, Shadow Minister for Women and Equality, added "The fact that we can celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia is a clear indication of the way in which the whole attitude of society has changed. There is a long way to go but I am confident that right across the political divide we are working for a fair and equal society."

Evan Harris for the Liberal Democrats said "Homophobia is an increasing problem in Europe and remains prevalent in many parts of the world. Liberal Democrats want to see further steps to tackle prejudice, bullying and discrimination both in the UK and abroad, and we give our whole-hearted backing to the International Day Against Homophobia."

The principal speakers for the Green Party, Caroline Lucas MEP and Councillor Keith Taylor also spoke of their "enthusiastic support" of IDAHO , saying that it "will play an important part in celebrating our vision of a world of equality, tolerance, and diversity."

Meanwhile, Stephen Williams, Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West, has tabled an early day motion in support of IDAHO in the House of Commons.

Derek Lennard, Co-ordinator of IDAHO in the UK welcomed "this broad political support for such a new campaign" and commented that the guest list of IDAHO speakers was looking like a Who's Who of LGBT Human Rights Supporters". Speakers include Louis-Georges Tin, founder of IDAHO who is expected to make a major statement concerning Moscow Pride, Michael Cashman, former actor, Labour MEP for the West Midlands and President of the Intergroup on gay and lesbian rights in the European Parliament, Jason Pollock Executive Director of Europride, Linda Wilkinson, Secretary of Amnesty International, Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London,  Dr Evan Harris, Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Matthew Davis, Vice Chair of the UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group.

There will also be a dramatisation of Rex Batten's book, Rid England of this plague.

The launch meeting of IDAHO-UK takes place on Friday April 7, 6-8.30pm at Amnesty International UK, The Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA.

The IDAHO UK Website
The petition for an International Day Against Homophobia
The International Website

Gay Humanists support rally for free expression

2006-03-27T08:47:00.000+01:00

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) lent its support to the Rally for Free Expression which took place in London's Trafalgar Square on Saturday 25 March 2006.

The rally was called in defense of the following statement of principle: "The strength and survival of a free society and the advance of human knowledge depend on the free exchange of ideas. All ideas are capable of giving offence, and some of the most powerful ideas in human history, such as those of Galileo and Darwin, have given profound religious offence in their time. The free exchange of ideas depends on freedom of expression and this includes the right to criticise and mock. We assert and uphold the right of freedom of expression and call on our elected representatives to do the same. We abhor the fact that people throughout the world live under mortal threat simply for expressing ideas and we call on our elected representatives to protect them from attack and not to give comfort to the forces of intolerance that besiege them."
The campaign to uphold freedom of expression gained support from a wide variety of groups and individuals ranging from the feisty Iranian human and women's rights campaigner Maryam Namazie (winner of the Secularist of theYear Award in 2005) to the the National Secular Society and the Free Muslims Coalition. A number of Humanist organisations and publications besides GALHA endorsed the rally. They included the British Humanist Association, Rationalist International, the Nigerian Humanist Movement and New Humanist.

Dr Evan Harris, MP, the Liberal Democrats' human rights spokesman and a GALHA vice-president, addressed the rally, together with Maryam Namazie, Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society, and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.
GALHA's secretary, George Broadhead, commented: "As gay humanists we feel very strongly that free expression is of paramount importance and this should include the right to speak out against the homophobic stance taken by many religionists including the Catholic Church which is propagating hatredof LGBT people in Eastern Europe, and some adherents of Islam who, in countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia, have been responsible for the most barbaric treatment of them."

Terry Sanderson, gay journalist and secularist commentator, said: "Attempts to portray the rally, at which I was present, as some sort of racist gathering to attack Muslims are so wide of the mark that it becomes obvious that those making these claims are themselves enemies of free expression. They are trying to manipulate the event for their own ends. Every speaker in Trafalgar Square made it clear that peace-loving Muslims are as entitled to free speech as anyone else in this country and that they, too, must be protected from the extremists who are trying to rob us all of our right to criticise and mock religion. The six hundred people who turned out for the march were people of good will, who have the interests of the whole community at heart. I saw no evidence of racism - quite the reverse, I saw a desire among the participants to create an inclusive society that is not intimidated by extremists of any kind. I have to ask the critics of this event: If you don't support free expression, what do you support?"

GALHA vice-president speaks out against Russian homophobia

2006-02-18T10:03:00.000Z

GALHA vice-president Michael Cashman MEP, who is president of the European Parliament's 'intergroup' on gay and lesbian rights, has spoken out condemning the statements that have come from Moscow during the past week.

"I will be raising this with the Human Rights Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee in the European Parliament, as well as the Commission," he said. "This kind of language and behaviour is totally unacceptable and gives an appalling insight into the discrimination, hatred and intolerance that the LGBT community face every day in Russia."

Gay Humanists call on London's mayor to challenge his Moscow counterpart's ban on gay pride parade

2006-02-17T12:15:00.000Z

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) has called on the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, to appeal to his counterpart in Moscow to lift the ban on a gay pride parade in the city.

The Mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, has said that all attempts to organise a gay parade, in any form, open or disguised, will be "resolutely quashed". His press secretary, Sergey Tsoy, said that the reports about the proposed parade "have evoked outrage in society, in particular among religious leaders."

GALHA' secretary, George Broadhead, said: "We are asking Ken Livingstone to point out to the mayor of Moscow that a gay pride celebration is a recognition of lesbian and gay human rights and should be welcomed. It is not something to be disapproved of or banned." The GALHA letter praises Mr Livingstone for his long-standing support for lesbian and gay rights - notably his enthusiastic support for the London Pride events.

On Tuesday, Chief Russian Mufti Talgat Tajuddin said gays could be beaten if they go ahead with pride celebrations in the capital. "Muslims' protests can be even worse than these notorious rallies abroad over the scandalous cartoons," Tajuddin, of Russia's Central Spiritual Governance for Muslims, told the Interfax news agency.

Russia's Chief Rabbi, Berl Lazar, said on Thursday that anything promoting what he called "sexual perversions" does not have the right to exist. "I would like to assure you, that the parade of homosexuals is not less offensive to the feelings of believers than any caricatures in newspapers," Lazar said, linking the pride parade with the current furore over the cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed published in Denmark.

George Broadhead commented: "The comments by these religious leaders are crude, dangerous and totally abhorrent. Is it not an offence to incite violence against people in Russia? Are gay people so unacceptable that the authorities can give their approval to statements such as that of TalgatTajuddin that it is alright to attack them physically? The aggression of some Muslim extremists is such that it is quite likely that participants in any parade will be killed or seriously injured. These men of God or Allah are barbaric bigots."

Moscow religious leaders incite attacks on gays

2006-02-17T10:02:00.000Z

Moscow Gay Pride banned

Religious groups threaten violence

London - 17 February 2006

Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov has announced that the city government will not allow a gay parade “in any form” and any attempt to hold a gay event will be “resolutely quashed”

The Mayor’s dictat follows statements by the Russian Chief Mufti threatening violence if the Pride parade went ahead.

Chief Mufti of Russia’s Central Spiritual Governance for Muslims Talgat Tajuddin said:

“Muslims’ protests can be even worse than these notorious rallies abroad over the scandalous cartoons,” Chief Mufti of Russia’s Central Spiritual Governance for Muslims Talgat Tajuddin said.

“The parade should not be allowed, and if they still come out into the streets, then they should be bashed,” he added.

Tajuddin declared: “Sexual minorities have no rights, because they have crossed the line. Alternative sexuality is a crime against God.”

He then called on Russian Orthodox members to join Muslims in formulating a violent response to Moscow Pride.

Not to be left out, Russian Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar said that if a gay pride was allowed to go ahead it "would be a blow for morality". He stopped short of calling for violence, but the Jewish community would not stand by silently. "Sexual perversions", he said, did not have a right to exist. Lazar said that gay pride marches were “a provocation” similar to cartoon depictions of Mohammed.

Moscow Pride organiser, meanwhile, has said that attempts to prevent the march will be challenged with court action, if necessary, all the way to the European Court ofhuman rights in Strasbourg.

Russian gay and lesbian activists announced in July that they would apply for a permit to hold pride celebrations in Moscow next May. If it is granted it would be the first pride parade ever held in the Russian capital. The projected date is May 27, 2006 — the anniversary of the abolition of Soviet laws against homosexuality in 1993.

Many well known gay rights campaigners from around the world will attend the first ever Gay Pride Parade in Russia, which coincides with the first International Day Against Homophobia conference. These include the British campaigners Michael Cashman MEP, Peter Tatchell of OutRage! and UK IDAHO co-ordinator Derek Lennard.

Also attending are the Deputy Mayor of Paris and several members of the European Council. Representatives from more than 30 countries will attend the Moscow International Gay Festival, which as well as Pride and the first IDAHO conference will include a series of talks by Mervin Holland, the grandson of Oscar Wilde, and a day of “Russian and Scandinavian homoculture”.

Derek Lennard, UK Correspondent for the International Day Against Homophobia said “The first Pride in Moscow is of enormous and enormous importance particularly to the LGBT communities in the Baltic and Eastern European Countries. All those who are able to take the freedom to organise Pride for granted will surely want show their support for the LGBT community in Moscow”

Peter Tatchell said: “These attempts by the Russian state and religious leaders to suppress the right to protest are a throwback to the bad old days of czarist and communist totalitarianism. No amount of threats and intimidation by the Mayor of Moscow, the Chief Mufti or the Chief Rabbi will halt the gay freedom struggle in Russia. The right to sexual self-determination and the right to protest are fundamental human rights that every democratic humanitarian nation must respect.”

The event is a week after the start of the Russian Presidency in the Council of Europe and just before the summit of G8 leaders in St Petersburg. President Putin has not commented on Pride or the threats of violence from religious leaders.

For further information:

The IDAHO-UK website is at: www.idaho-uk.orgThe international IDAHO website is www.idahomophobia.orgFor more information, email Derek Lennard at info@idaho-uk.orgFor info about Manchester events, email manchester@idaho-uk.org

ENDS

'Darwin's Dream'

2006-02-06T17:57:00.000Z

A GALHA/SPES Meeting, 7.30 pm, Friday 17 February 2006, library (first floor), Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1 (tube: Holborn).

'DARWIN'S DREAM'

A DVD preview of a sparkling new piece of multimedia music/theatre written by conductor-composer Graham Treacher, giving a revitalised slant to Charles Darwin's life and his theory of evolution by natural selection.

'Darwin's Dream' charts the history of the world from the Big Bang to the present day through Darwin's science, ideas and dreams. The work features opera singers, a chamber ensemble, and a cast of over 100 children. The London premiere is due to be performed at the Royal Albert Hall in Spring 2006.

The preview is a Darwin Day event jointly sponsored by GALHA and the South Place Ethical Society (SPES). Members of the musical work will be on hand to answer questions.

This is a public event with free admission, though donations are welcome.

GALHA vice-president in the forefront of the fight against Catholic-inspired homophobia

2006-01-14T11:45:00.000Z

GALHA's energetic vice-president Michael Cashman is in the forefront of the fight against the homophobia which still exists in some European states - notably ultra-Catholic Lithuania and Poland:

MEPs demand EU clampdown on homophobia
Friday, 13 January 2006

The European Parliament is calling for tough action against EU member states that fail to uphold the human rights of homosexuals.

MEPs from all the main political groups have tabled resolutions condemning moves by several EU countries, including Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, which they believe stigmatise gays and lesbians.

"We need to fight across Europe for similar equality but worryingly many European countries are not nearly at this stage," said Michael Cashman, the British Labour MEP.

"Gay pride marches are still being banned, political and religious leaders are using the language of hate and menace and police are failing to protect peaceful demonstrations and break up violent unrest by homophobic groups."

Polish president Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz last year claimed that homosexuality is "unnatural" and several gay pride marchers were arrested for attending "illegal demonstrations".
Marcinkiewicz also called for the abolition of a Polish organisation fighting discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Meanwhile, Latvia and Lithuania have both proposed legislation banning same-sex marriages.

MEPs have ordered the European Commission to explain what sanctions will be taken against countries that persistently breach the principle of respect for human rights.

"Where EU countries breach the human rights of gay and lesbian people, the council of ministers must consider action to suspend member states' membership of the EU," said Cashman."We need the commission to tell us how many EU governments are failing to adhere to anti-discrimination legislation and what they intend to do about those who are ignoring it."

Vice-President Franco Frattini is expected to be in Strasbourg on Monday to reiterate the commission's determination to stamp out homophobia. But he is likely to stop short of an outright condemnation of Warsaw's actions. The Italian was only appointed commissioner for justice and freedom in November 2004 after his compatriot, Rocco Buttiglione, was forced out the post by MEPs for his own outspoken views. Parliament was so incensed by Buttiglione's claims that homosexuality was "a sin" that it refused to endorse the entire 'college' of 25 commissioners until he was replaced. Buttiglione refused to apologise for his beliefs, and it is the same militant Catholicism that appears to motivate the political leaders in Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. But any political moves to ban, marginalise or criminalise homosexuality are likely to be met by fierce opposition both at home as well as in Brussels. Courts in Poland have already refused to begin criminal proceedings against the protestors arrested in November, arguing that they had not acted illegally.

LGBT university teachers invite a GALHA speaker

2006-01-13T17:16:00.000Z

GALHA has received an invitation from the Association of University Teachers to address its annual meeting for lgbt members to be held in London on 16 March 2006.

The AUT Policy officer - equal opportunities, Charlotte Church, said that the lgbt members see the meeting as the opportunity to meet to exchange views, discuss current issues, debate policy and set priorities for the coming year. In particular they have expressed interest in having a discussion this year about the challenges raised by forthcoming legislation on religious discrimination, hatred, etc.

GALHA's speaker will be Andrew Copson, a committee member who has recently been appointed Education and Public Affairs Officer for the British Humanist Association.

Gay Humanists welcome support from brave human rights activist

2006-01-08T14:41:00.000Z

GALHA News Release
8 January 2006

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Assocation (GALHA) is pleased to announce that the author, feminist, physician, human rights activist and Humanist, Taslima Nasreen, has demonstrated her support for the group by joining its panel of vice-presidents.

Like her fellow author Salman Rushdie, Ms Nasreen fell foul of Islamic extremists. After the publication of her novel Ljja (Shame) in 1993, she received death threats and was forced to flee her native Bangladesh. Since then she has lived in exile in Sweden, but travelled extensively giving lectures in many different countries and taking part in demonstrations.

Among the awards she has received are the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thoughts from the European Parliament, a Human Rights Award from the French Government, the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence, and a Distinguished Humanist Award from the International Humanist & Ethical Union.

GALHA members were delighted when she showed her support for lesbian and gay rights by attending a dinner which the group arranged at the Congress of the International Humanist & Ethical Union held in the Netherlands in 1996.

GALHA's secretary, George Broadhead, said: "We are very grateful to have the endorsement of this brave, internationally recognised human rights campaigner and it is a great boost to our morale. It is gratifying to receive a message of welcome for her support from Michael Cashman MEP who is already on our VP panel."

More information about Taslima Nasreen can be found on herwebsite http://www.taslimanasrin.com/index2.html.

Busted – another homophobic evangelical frock lifted

2006-01-05T10:55:00.000Z

According to the US gay weekly, the Washington Blade, an executive committee member of the Southern Baptist Convention was arrested on a lewdness charge for propositioning a plainclothes policeman outside a hotel.

Lonnie Latham, senior pastor at South Tulsa Baptist Church who has denounced homosexuality in the past was arrested after asking a plain-clothed policeman to accompany him to a hotel room for oral sex. It is not clear from the story whether he felt it better to give than to receive a blow-job.

Now, obviously, one cannot support these “pretty policeman” entrapment measures, and whether prostitution ought to be illegal is a subject up for debate, but one can’t help indulging in a little schadenfreude when these bible-thumping fundamentalists out themselves by seeking some of the fruit they try to forbid to others.

Lathan was an opponent of civil rights for lesbian and gay people and – oh irony – an enthusiastic proponent of the “ex-gay” movement.

Let’s just hope that he’s had a road to Damascus experience where he expected to find heaven and mends his ways. He can start by being honest to himself, and then gradually, others.

He could try lying – like the hapless idiot John Paulk did – but like he himself now inadvertently has, the truth will also eventually come out.

Muslim Council head says gays are sick

2006-01-04T14:18:00.000Z

“[Homosexuality] is something which is not acceptable in Islam the sameway it is not acceptable under Christianity or Judaism or other divinereligions,” says Sir Iqbal Sacranie, head of the Muslim Council of Britain.

“Our religion, our faith is very, very clear. This is harmful,” he continued.

Sacranie made these remarks during an interview on the BBC Radio 4 PM programme yesterday at around 5:20 pm.

The BBC News website reported on other remarks he made, which included describing civil partnerships as “harmful” to society, and these comments:

"It does not augur well in building the very foundations of society - stability, family relationships. And it is something we would certainly not, in any form, encourage the community to be involved in."

"Each of our faiths tells us that it is harmful and I think, if you look into the scientific evidence that has been available in terms of the forms of various other illnesses and diseases that are there, surely it points out that where homosexuality is practised there is a greater concern in that area."

The Times led with his other remarks, which included claiming that gay people were immoral and spread disease. He also said that same-sex relationships risked damaging the foundations of society, and scientific evidence showed that homosexuality carried high health risks.

The Times also reports that there has been cross-party condemnation of Sacranie’s comments…

Alan Duncan, the most prominent openly gay Conservative MP, said: “This is an absurd medieval view. One should separate the religious from the secular. Such general condemnation is no longer acceptable in a civilised modern world.”
Stephen Pound, the Labour MP for Ealing North, said: “It’s a cruel and vicious blow to strike against people who are born the way they are. We are living in 21st-century northern Europe, not 7th-century Arabia. It may come as a shock to Mr Sacranie, but I know many gay Muslims who are living perfectly normal, decent lives.”
Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on human rights, said: “To imply that homosexuality itself was unacceptable is a form of intolerance that’s deplorable.”

… but it also notes that some Catholic and Church of England leaders agree with him.

In their 2002/3 Annual Report, the Muslim Council of Britain boast about their joint lobbying work with other fundamentalist groups like The Christian Institute to counter gay rights legislation.

In another document, they claim that homosexuality causes AIDS.

There is more and more evidence emerging that religious groups – regardless of creed or denomination – are ganging up to oppose gay rights. The MCB put out a statement after the death of Pope JPII that it was also “a sad day for Muslims” since, with the Catholic Church, they’d jointly campaigned against (amongst other things) “homosexuality and lesbianism”.

Some will claim that Sacranie speaks for himself and not for thw MCB, but the MCB has a history of hostility towards gays and lesbians. It opposed the repeal of Section 28 saying that “This would mean that councils would be free to spend public money on homosexual youth groups, homosexual youth workers, and homosexual festivals. Ordinary people do not want to see councils spending public funds in this way”; and the equalisation of the age of consent, noting that their opposition was "based on a clear injunction given in the Holy Qu'ran and in the Hadith of the Holy Prophet” .

In addition to campaigning against allowing gay people to adopt and, of course, civil partnerships, they have lobbied against gay rights consistently. In fact, there hasn’t been a single piece of legislation granting civil or human rights to lesbian and gay people that they haven’t fought against.

They described the government’s efforts to address antigay discrimination as a “misguided” attempt to ‘to prove that both heterosexual and homosexual orientations are equal”.

However, describing gay people as being afflicted with a condition that leads to “other illnesses and diseases” is a new low.

UPDATE: For more on this story, see Ruth Gledhill's blog at The Times.

GALHA members tie the knot

2006-01-01T14:13:00.000Z

Ben Duncan proposed to Dick Chapman in the summer of 1952 but he still remembers the occasion vividly. He'd chosen the perfect place, the perfect time of day: Oxford's Christ Church meadow at sunset. In the distance, punts floated by on the River Cherwell. 'What I had wanted all my life was to find one other person, and I knew I had found him,' he recalls. 'We went for a walk and sat on the benches under the walls of Merton College to look at the wonderful view. I thought to myself, this is the right moment to ask. After a suitably dramatic pause, I turned to him and suggested we spend the rest of our lives together.' Ben was over six foot tall, a romantic and impulsive American from Alabama, bewitched by England: 'It was the country of my dreams. I had built up a unrealistic idea of it based on literature but I had stepped into a dream, and Dick was part of that dream.' As for Dick, he was handsome and practical, the son of high-achieving Cambridge academics. 'There are moments in your life you remember absolutely, for ever after,' he says, taking up their story. 'And Ben's proposal was one of them. I thought it was wonderful but I also thought how could this possibly be? Ben had no rights to stay in England, no visible means of support, no family.'Furthermore, Ben was suggesting they live as a couple - two men in the kind of relationship that could land them in prison if discovered by the authorities; the kind that would remain illegal for another 15 years.

Over half a century later, at 9.30am on 21 December 2005 in a brightly lit office in Cambridge, Ben and Dick were one of the first couples in the country to register as civil partners. There was little fuss, no lavish reception or meandering speeches. At their request, no family members were present. Instead, a younger gay couple acted as their witnesses, and Ben and Dick were theirs. Afterwards, all four returned home for lunch and the chance to talk about what the day had meant to them all. 'I never imagined this moment would come,' says Ben, 78. 'I suppose during the early years of the gay movement the idea was floating around, and I thought "Wouldn't it be wonderful?", but I never really believed I would live to see it happen.' Dick, 75, agrees: 'I can still hardly believe it,' he says.

Judging by the media coverage the following day, one might have imagined the only ones to walk up the aisle on 'Pink Wednesday' were Elton John and David Furnish (not forgetting their black and white spaniel Arthur, nipping at their polished heels). However, almost 700 other same-sex couples across Britain also took advantage of the historic new legislation. Over the last month I've followed three of them: Ben and Dick, Mark and Shaun Johnson from Liverpool and Karen Carter and Joanne Ellerington, who live in Blackpool. On a purely practical level, all have spent their first Christmas together secure in the knowledge that they can now automatically inherit from each other without a will, benefit from their partner's national insurance contributions and pension, be exempt from inheritance tax and treated as a couple for immigration purposes. Nine other European countries already have similar legislation but for the first time in British history privileges which have been the right of any married couple - most poignantly, the right to register a loved one's death and to be automatically consulted about hospital treatment - are now enshrined in law for gay partners, too. In the event that any of them should decide to divorce, they won't be able to until 2007. As with any doomed marriage, they must give the relationship a go for at least a year and expect the same division of assets if it does go wrong.

But talking to these newly hitched couples, it's clear the legislation is as much to do with love and romance as any of the legal small print. 'Civil partnership' might be one of the least sentimental phrases ever concocted, and filling in a form might not readily inspire kisses, champagne toasts and embarrassing bouts of retro dancing, but the ceremonies that took place on 21 December were weddings by any other name. The day symbolised public recognition for hitherto private love stories. There were bonds nurtured despite periods of secrecy, mutually supportive relationships maintained the hard way, without much celebration or acceptance.

Until now.Despite their very different backgrounds, Ben and Dick have lived together for so long that when you speak to them on the phone it is impossible to tell their voices apart. Unconsciously they echo each other's choice of language. Neither is given to overstatement or melodrama. Ben is not exaggerating when he says: 'We have often asked each other what would have happened if we hadn't met? We now believe - no, we know - that neither of us would have survived without the other.'

When they met one icy New Year's Eve in 1951, the attraction was instant, physically and intellectually. Dick: 'We were both reading English, we both liked the same kind of literature, we both had the same leftish politics. We discovered only the other day that neither of us had any idea of where the college sports ground was!' Did he like the look of Ben, too? 'Oh, I thought he was marvellous!' he smiles.' You have to remember that Americans were rarer in Britain then. He seemed terribly glamorous and exotic.'

In 1962 Ben wrote an eloquent and poignant memoir, The Same Language. It describes his childhood growing up in children's homes across America's deep south after the death of his parents, his flinty determination to make something of his life and his subsequent struggle with the Home Office to stay in Britain after winning a scholarship to Oxford. Last month an updated version was published in which Ben reveals what he could not in the Sixties for fear of serious reprisal: his homosexuality and his love for Dick. The two stories, in parallel, dramatically show how society has changed.

'It was an absolute joy to write,' says Ben. 'I can't tell you the sense of release. I wanted our lives put on record. I didn't want the moment to pass and be forgotten. I didn't want the bad things that happened to us happen to anyone else.'

He recalls a time characterised by ignorance and fear: when gay men constantly ran the risk of being arrested; when the police ransacked address books looking for incriminating names. If one of their circle was charged, everyone would club together to raise the money for a solicitor. Dick talks about a friend whose mother reacted with hostility when he told her he was homosexual. A few weeks later he committed suicide. Ben: 'It's very difficult for anybody of a younger generation to picture it - the sheer level of hostility. The view was that gay men should go to prison and never be let out again. 'Dick: 'There were no role models. 'Ben: 'There were men who were rumoured to be gay. But certainly at the beginning you would not know for sure.Dick: 'There was such a set way of life then - you got married, you had children. Now people might think, why didn't you protest and make a fuss? But you would have lost your job, your flat, your whole life would have collapsed. We were living in a totally hostile world.'

The Seventies began to bring freedoms they could never have imagined but then in the Eighties they were confronted with Aids. They estimate that they lost more than 40 friends. For the last 30 years they've been quietly active in the campaign for gay rights, setting up a branch of Crusaid in Cambridge and becoming father figures of the gay community in the area. 'I believe passionately in the idea of two against the world,' says Ben. 'Gosh, I do.'They are delighted whenever younger gay friends fall in love, just as they did over 50 years ago. Will legal recognition alter their relationship? 'I don't think it changes anything between Dick and me,' says Ben carefully. 'But I do think it changes the way we deal with the world and how the world deals with us.' By way of illustration he recounts how he opened the front door to a man delivering a celebratory bouquet of flowers on the afternoon of 21 December. 'He was gruff-looking, with an earring and so on. He asked if they were for somebody's birthday, and I wondered, "Am I going to tell him the truth?" When I explained, he looked genuinely delighted. "The world is a lot more open minded now," he said.'

There is something incredibly touching about these two dignified men, now in their retirement, talking about their love for one another. Ben, who has been dogged by ill health over the last few years, had been terrified that something would go wrong on their 'wedding day'. 'But it was wonderful. I have the sense of taking a deep breath and embarking on a different stage in our lives. This is the beginning of something new.'

(This is extracted from an article in The Observer published on Sunday 1 January 2006. Ben and Dick are members of GALHA living in Cambridge. They are also members of Cambridge Humanist Group. You can find GALHA's response to the Civil Partnership legislation at:
http://www.galha.org/submission/2003_09.html)

Cardinal risks inciting violence against gays

2006-01-01T08:33:00.000Z

Media Release, 1 January 2006

CARDINAL RISKS INCITING VIOLENCE AGAINST GAYS

The Catholic Church is exploiting bigotry and risks inciting further violence against gay and lesbian people with its continuous abusive attacks, a national gay rights group says.

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) was reacting to news that Cardinal Keith O'Brien, leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, is proposing to use his New Year's Day homily to launch a further attack on the Civil Partnership Act.

GALHA's secretary, George Broadhead, said: "These relentless Vatican-inspired attacks are reaching a level that could lead to an escalation of violence against gay people. The Catholic Church's hierarchy has used increasingly extreme language in its desperate attempts to hold back progress for the gay community. This kind of hate-mongering will be seen as a justification by some people for their already existing prejudices. It might even lead to more violence against a section of the community that is already subject to harassment and discrimination."

Mr Broadhead said that, in fact, the Civil Partnership Act was specifically created to be non-religious. "Civil Partnerships are registered in a register office, which is a secular building. The registration is carried out by a civil servant, not a minister of religion. Indeed, the Act specifically says that there must be no religious element to the registration process. So what is the Cardinal getting so excited about? Despite the fact that the media is presenting it as 'gay marriage', civil partnership registration is not marriage - something that we deplore. The gay community should have been given complete parity with the rest of the population - it should have been given marriage. Instead, the government has created a completely separate system for gay people, which is, in itself, discriminatory."

The debt gays owe to the European Court of Human Rights

2005-12-30T13:39:00.000Z

While it takes time to persuade the Court of Human Rights to adopt a position, once that position is adopted, it seems to pursue that position forcefully. Some time in the late 1990s the Court concluded that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was as serious as discrimination on the basis of gender, race or religion (up to that time, it allowed governments discretion in contentious areas like the age of consent and recognition of same-sex partnerships). Since that time it has come out with a very strong and unequivocal series of judgements in relation to the age of consent, the Armed Forces, custody rights, and equal treatment of unmarried same-sex and opposite sex partners. It has also adopted strong positions on transgender rights.

The reality is that the European Court of Human Rights has been an extraordinary force for change in Europe over the last 25 years. Since the Court ruled in the Dudgeon case (1981) against the criminalisation of same-sex relationships, decriminalisation has taken place in more than 20 jurisdictions. And the effects of its more recent judgements continue to be felt across Europe.
And looking at the EU, which only relatively recently (1997) adopted powers to combat discrimination, including those based on sexual orientation: one single directive, the employment directive, has provided legislation protecting lesbians, gays and bisexuals from employment discrimination in 25 countries. While, admittedly, a few of these countries already had such laws, the Directive was, in terms of the numbers of people affected favourably (and allowing for a couple of areas of weakness), arguably the most important piece of legislation in the history of the LGBT movement worldwide.

With civil partnership legislation coming into force this month, and with a government promise of legislation banning discrimination in the field of goods and services, my own country, the UK, is rapidly becoming one of the best countries in the world in terms of LGBT friendly legislation. But, until only a couple of years ago, virtually every positive step in favour of LGBT rights in the UK was the result of "Europe". The lifting of complete bans on sex between men in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the equalisation of the age of consent, the removal of discrimination in privacy laws, the right to work in the Armed Forces, removal of discriminatory criminal offences, recognition of transgender people's rights to change their birth certificates and to marry….indeed, it is possible to argue (without too much exaggeration) that It is only in the last few years, with adoption rights, civil partnership, and now proposed legislation banning goods and services discrimination, that any UK government has done anything significant for LGBT people without European pressure, since the original (and severely flawed) Act of 1967 (which decriminalised relationships between men over 21).

So let us recognise the extraordinary benefits of the European human rights system, and let' s keep using the wide opportunities it provides for opposing homophobia in the many European countries where it is still so intense.

Nigel Warner of ILGA (originallyposted to the euro-queer list)

2005-12-21T17:38:00.001Z

British Humanist Association
1 Gower Street
LONDON
WC1E 6HD
Telephone: 020 7079 3580
Fax: 020 7079 3588
Email: info@humanism.org.uk

Media Release
20 December 2005

HUMANIST WELCOME FOR CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed the Civil Partnership legislation for same-sex couples and congratulates all those planning to take advantage of their new rights.

Hanne Stinson, executive director of the BHA, said, ‘Humanists have been campaigning for gay and lesbian equality for over half a century. Unlike many of the major religions, Humanism is a modern worldview that has no room for the ancient prejudices which discriminate against people simply because of their sexual orientation.’

In addition to its campaigning work to achieve equality for lesbians and gay men over many years, the BHA has been providing commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples, on the same grounds as its non-religious weddings for heterosexual couples, through its national network of accredited humanist celebrants.

Ms Stinson commented, ‘We are delighted that all those couples who have shared such ceremonies over the years will now finally have the opportunity to make their relationships legal.’

END

Notes

Enquiries about humanist ceremonies can be directed to ceremonies@humanism.org.ukFor further information contact Hanne Stinson at hanne@humanism.org.uk or 020 7079 3583

New GALHA magazine launches

2005-12-20T14:21:00.000Z

Sexuality, Politics, Humanism, Atheism, Liberalism and Freethought.

The Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) is proud to announce the launch of its new magazine - Gay Humanist Quarterly.

Editor, Brett Lock, says: “We hope to bring you quality writing, incisive analysis, oodles of fun and an all-round good read. Our aim is to produce a magazine taking a view of the world from a queer, free-thinking, humanist perspective, championing secularism, reason, and human rights.”

In the launch issue:

Lee Stacy, the new chair of the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association introduces himself, the new magazine and outlines the year ahead.
We ask the question “Are religious groups getting superpowers?” and note that across the UK, Europe and North America, religious groups are pushing for more power and influence in the running of the country - and getting it.
Brett Lock speaks to Wilf Mbanga, an exiled Zimbabwean newspaper editor who has vowed to keep publishing - from the UK.
Warren Allen Smith gives the low-down on what's up across the pond in the USA.
We take a critical look at Christian Voice, run by Stephen Green and his loopy mob.
Derek Lennard interviews Louis-Georges Tin, the founder of the International Day Against Homophobia.
Guest columnist David T investigates the disturbing trend of racist groups using religion as a proxy for race.
We rummage around the web for what might be in the atheist’s Winterval stocking and also discover the hilarious ‘Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster’.
Houzan Mahmoud writes about how free speech is increasingly under threat from religious pressure.
Andrew Copson lets the government know what LGBT secularists expect from the Equality review.
Is Jesus really the reason for the season? We investigate that too.

The magazine is also packed with news, views and reviews of the latest books and films.

Lee Stacy, the new Chair of GALHA says: “Congratulations to the editors of this brand new magazine! And as chair of the well-established organization it’s representing, I’m honoured to be associated with it. This debut issue is stunning, and I look forward to future issues matching the wide-ranging, stimulating, and entertaining articles found here. I also applaud my fellow Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) committee members for laying the foundation for Gay Humanist Quarterly. “

Gay Humanist Quarterly is published quarterly. It is free to members of the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association, and available to non-members by subscription or from selected outlets. Copies cost £1.50 + P&P each or £7.50 (inc. P&P) for an annual UK subscription. International subscriptions are £12.50 (inc. P&P). Subscriptions and orders can be place online.

The magazine’s website is http://www.gayhumanist.com/

An electronic version of the debut issue is available for download from the website.

Pope abolishes the Limbo

2005-12-19T12:45:00.000Z

In an article for the New Statesman, Lindsay Hilsim reports that the Pope has abolished limbo. There is more information in The Times.

Describing those who indulge in the practice as “virtuous pagans” and “babes”, the Pope put the kibosh on the practice. The move will no doubt infuriate the many Caribbean practitioners of the dance.

In the staunchly Christian region, many will also be offended that the Pope believes that they only took up limbo because “they had not yet heard the word of Christ”.

A website which promotes the dance describes it as:

If the dancer is successful he must repeat this again and again with the bar being lowered another "Notch" each time. Each dancer does this until there is only one left standing who has not touched the bar, fallen down, laid on the floor or used his/her hands to keep balance. On-lookers as well as other dancers would clap and cheer (or egg on) and sing while the dancer trys to go under the stick. This dance was very popular at beach parties.

However, the Pope believes that those who indulge in the practice are half-way to hell.

Observers of the machinations of the Vatican are bewildered as to why the Pope has decided to abolish the Limbo – rather than focussing on more subversive dance crazes like the Charleston, or more recently, the Robot or the Macarena.

Cliff castigates church

2005-12-19T00:49:00.000Z

The church’s attitude to homosexuality is stuck 2000 years in the past and the church needs to move it says bachelor boy Christian pop star, Cliff Richard, who has been in the news lately after making his villa available for the PM’s summer holiday.

Okay, enough with the punning…

According to the Irish Independent, Cliff Richard has lectured the church that it must "learn to deal" with homosexuality. He reminded them that the world was now very different from the time of Jesus. The Independent says Richard is “saddened by conservative religious figures' attitude to gay priests and has urged for tolerance of homosexuality”.

Speaking out in favour of gay clergy, the singer said: "There are gay people in this world. Some of them are very talented. Some of them could be great priests."

This outspoken stance may make up for his support for the Festival of Light in the early 1970s, but it’s not quite enough to compensate for inflicting the dire “Millennium Prayer” on the world.

The ‘God Warrior’

2005-12-18T18:25:00.000Z

The antics of one participant in the US TV series Trading Spouses have to be seen to be believed (unlike Jesus).

You know the plot device from similar shows: couples trade spouses and families for a week and then audiences sit back and find entertainment in the resulting culture-shock.

However, the things the average family do was too much for this bible-belter… and boy, is she loud when she belts out the bible!

When her host family checked their horoscopes at the breakfast table, she walked off the show screeching about “darksidedness” and dementedly revealed to her stunned (and, it seems, long-suffering) children that the hosts were “NOT CHRIIISTIAAANNNNZZ!!!”.

Don’t take my word for it, watch the video clip.

A much longer version of the clip is available here.

One can’t help but wonder what the long-term psychological effect on the children is.

Radio Times promotes homopobic group’s CDs

2005-12-14T23:58:00.000Z

We have discovered that the Radio Times is giving away CDs of the Narnia books, which have been produced in association with Focus on the Family.

Focus in the Family are a notorious antigay group in the United States (similar to the Christian Institute here) who fund antigay initiatives and produce homophobic propaganda like A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality.

Radio Times are running a promotion where they give away a free Narnia CDs on the cover. The programmes – produced by the FOTF – will also be broadcast on BBC Radio 7 on Boxing Day.

From the BBC Radio 7 newsletter:

The Chronicles of Narnia will be broadcast on BBC7 from 8am to 8pm and will include dramatisations of the following books: The Magician's Nephew, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy and Prince Caspian. David Suchet is the voice of Aslan and Paul Schofield is the narrator. It's a marvellous listen for Boxing Day.

Radio Times and the BBC are probably not aware of the extreme antigay campaigning of Focus on the Family. We suggest that you write to radio.times@bbc.co.uk and let them know.

Lesbian and Gay people and their humanist allies are also being urded to stay away from the new Hollywood blockbuster – Narnia. The Media Transparency agency reports that it was funded by right-wing evangelicals. In particular conservative media billionaire Philip Anschutz stands to make millions of dollars from the movie (which they hope will become a franchise to rival Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter). Much of this money could end up funding anti-gay initiatives.

Most atheists and humanists already know that the Narnia series is thinly disguised Christian propaganda. Some might be willing to overlook this because it is still regarded as good story-telling. But we cannot overlook that the profits from this series may end up funding Focus on the Family and other right-wing groups who campaign against gay rights.

Don’t let a portion of your ticket end up funding initiatives like this or this.

When you write to the BBC to complain, be sure to provide them with the links to FOTF’s bigoted and malicious antigay propaganda.

Italian politician: “The Pope’s an imbecile”

2005-12-11T21:22:00.000Z

An Italian politician, Monika Spring, of the Partito di ispirazione cristiana (PPD), (roughly translated as the “party of Christian inspiration”) has described the Pope as “an imbecile” – reports the Gay Italy website.

She also described the Catholic Church as “the greatest homosexual organization of the world”. She was also critical of his stance on contraception and blamed him for many AIDS-related deaths as a consequence of his church’s policy.

Her party however has distanced themselves from her remarks.

Recent estimates have put the number of gay priests at between a third and a half. Staggering.

We, of course, share her opinion of Ratzinger.

A very rough translation (it translates “spokesperson” as “megaphone”) from the original Italian can be had via Google’s language tools.

Now store pulls our chain and wool over their eyes

2005-12-09T21:19:00.000Z

Hypocrisy watch: Retail outlet Woolworths are continuing to sell the Jerry Springer: The Opera DVD via their online store, based in Jersey.

This is bizarre. They’ve been telling the Christian loonies that they’ve pulled the product after “listening to their customer’s concerns”, but it seems all they’ve done is move it our of sight. Perhaps we can get them to agree to a compromise position. They could sell it from under the counter in a brown paper bag. That way their Christian customers won’t be offended.

Their website couldn’t be more enthusiastic about the product. It gushes:

“The Opera is the smash-hit multi-award winning musical, which opened to unprecedented rave reviews and standing ovations at the National Theatre. The Opera is the smash-hit multi-award winning musical, which opened to unprecedented rave reviews and standing ovations at the National Theatre.”

Principle is one thing, but turning down a sale is quite another. Instead of the bland PR-speak letters they were sending out yesterday (see previous post), today the company has a more canny approach. They’re telling customers who complain not to worry, Woolworths is still selling it – but on the quiet.

Dear Sir / Madam
Woolworths is guided by legislation and regulatory bodies on what it can and cannot sell in its stores. Our decisions to sell products are based on customer demand. The product is not currently available in stores, however should a customer wish to purchase it, it is available from our website - http://www.woolworths.co.uk./
Regards,
Woolworths
Plc

I wonder if this will be good enough for Stephen Green.

HEY STEPHEN – THEY”VE PULLED A FAST ONE ON YOU MATE!

But Stephen, it gets worse. Sainsbury’s are selling the book and the soundtrack too. If they won't sell you the DVD, they will rent it to you. So all in all, this gesture could be called “window undressing”.

You didn’t really think you were going to get a principled response from a retail chain, did you?

Meanwhile, actors union Equity has added a welcome voice to the fray. In a statement, they said:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM EQUITY
You may have read in the press that both Sainsbury's and Woolworths have withdrawn from sale DVDs of Jerry Springer - The Opera after receiving complaints from the public. This is the same production of Jerry Springer - The Opera which was subject to protests when the BBC screened it.
When Equity approached the two companies, Sainsbury's press office said that they had received around 20 complaints but Woolworths would not reveal the number of complaints it had received other than to say it was "substantial".
Equity is very concerned about the action of the two companies and General Secretary Christine Payne has issued the following statement"Equity is opposed to the action which Woolworths and Sainsbury's have taken on two grounds. Firstly, Equity strongly supports artistic freedom and equally strong opposes censorship in all its forms, however offended any individual may feel themselves to be by a particular piece of dramatic art.
'Secondly, Equity members derive income from the sales of recorded material, including DVDs, and so stand to lose income from actions such as these."Equity is inviting all of its members to make their views known to Sainsbury's and Woolworths about these acts of censorship."
If you wish to contact Sainsbury's with your views you can visit www.sainsburys.co.uk/contactus
and complete an e-mailable form or call their general enquiry line on 0800 636 262.If you wish to contact Woolworths you can send an e-mail to customer.relations@woolworths.co.uk or call the company's headquarters on 020
7262 1222.
Thank you.
Best wishes
Martin Brown Equity Campaigns, Press and PR Officer

Chain pulls the wool over our eyes

2005-12-05T12:36:00.000Z

Retail chain Woolworths is acting as a censor. Following ‘a number of complaints’ (remember these things are usually orchestrated) the store has pulled Jerry Springer: The Opera from its shelves.

Customers who have complained about the decision of Woolworths to act as a censor (this in not pornography, it was broadcast on the BBC following a successful West End run) are receiving a form letter in response:

Dear …

Thank you for your e-mail.

Woolworths is not a censor and does not wish to act as one. Like any other retailer, it is guided by government legislation with regard to film certification.

However, we also listen to our customers and their feedback. On this occasion we have received numerous complaints and it is clear to us that our customers would prefer us not to stock this product.

As a result it has been removed from sale.

Regards
Danny Myers Customer Support Advisor

Funny how it seems they only listen to one set of customers and their “complaints”.

DVDs are sold in shrinkwrap. It is not possible to be offended by a DVD simply because it exists. Well, I suppose it is ‘possible’ if you’re a loony Christian fundamentalist, but customer support advisors should enlighten you to the fact that if you don’t feel you’ll enjoy the movie, keep your 20 quid in your pocket.

Somehow I suspect that Woolworths will be more outraged at the suggestion that they sell DVDs for the full ₤19.99 RRP instead of at their low, low price than they will being described as “censors”.

We’ve reported at the dirty tactics of Stephen Green and his nutty so-called “Christian Voice” before. They published the names and home addresses of producers and broadcasters connected with the show and threatened theatre managers with disruptions if they allowed the show to go on. Now they appear to have some magic power over retailers.

In America, it is not uncommon for big chains like Walmart to insist that CDs and DVDs have alternative artwork or edits for the versions sold in their stores. Since these big retail outlets have such huge buying power and distribution, the artists have to cave in. Do we want the same style of bullying taking hold in the UK?

According to a report in the Independent, Sainsbury’s is caving to similar pressure. Who next? Tescos, WHSmith, HMV?

This is a point of principle. Let Woolworths and Sainsbury’s know that we’re watching. Let’s see if they respond to our complaints!

And, in a mind-numbing move, another retail chain - ASDA - has invited god-botherers of many varieties into their stores to pester customers. The Yorkshire Post reports that "The Leeds-based chain Asda has recruited 160 multi-denominational clerics who now pay regular visits to their stores across the country to chat to both staff and customers."

It really is a supermarket of religion now - get the heathen DVDs out, get the evangelists in. Oh what next? Holy water in the Coke isle? 'Blood of Christ' merlot on sale (but only until 11pm)? Communion waffers in the bakery - buy one, get salvation free?

Write to ASDA and tell them what you think of their mini-mall misionaries and their deli disciples.

Humanist award for gay and lesbian group

2005-11-05T14:47:00.000Z

GALHA News Release

The first annual Icelandic Humanist of the Year Award has been presented to the Icelandic gay and lesbian rights organization Samtokin 78.

On 21 October 2005 Sidmennt, the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association presented Samtökin '78, the Association of Lesbians and Gay Men in Iceland, with its Humanist of the Year Award for their work in gaining human rights for gays and bisexuals in Iceland. This is the first time Sidmennt has presented such an award which will become an annual event.The presentation was made during a simple ceremony at a conference centre in the Islandic capital, Reykjavik, where a framed certificate was given to the chairperson of Samtokin 78 along with the book Before Stonewall by the prominent US Humanist,Vern Bullough, for the Samtokin 78 library and a three-year subscription to Gay and Lesbian Humanist, the magazine issued to members and supporters of the UK based Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).

GALHA sent a framed certificate which was presented along with a copy of its 25th anniversary issue of Gay and Lesbian Humanist. The certificate read: "Congratulations! The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association is proud to notify Samtokin 78 that you have been given a three-year subscription to our quarterly magazine Gay and Lesbian Humanist. This is a gift from Sidmennt, the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association, as part of the Humanist of the Year Award to your organization for outstanding work in creating greater tolerance and increasing human rights in Icelandic society over the past 25 years."In her presentation speech, Hope Knutsson, president of Sidmennt said that Samtokin 78's struggle for human rights has been characterized by moderation, and undaunting determination. Samtokin 78 was established in 1978 by a group of courageous leaders whose aim was to change Icelandic society's attitude towards gays and lesbians. Until that time most gays and lesbians moved abroad to live in more tolerant societies. The organisation's leaders were undaunted despite the incredible amount of prejudice that existed towards gays in Iceland until the early 1970's.

Samtokin 78 has conducted its struggle without resorting to any radical hullabaloo. Moderation was shown in its clearly stated aim of making gays and lesbians more visible and accepted in Icelandic society and achieving full human rights. They never strayed from their goals despite encountering barriers and prejudice high and low. We in Sidmennt feel that Samtokin 78 has done more to create a broad-minded and tolerant society in Iceland than any other person or group in the last 25 years. You have shown the public that it is all right to be different, that it enriches society to have people with different gender orientations and views on life. We look up to you as a shining example of what a human rights organisation can be.Hope further explained that there is a long tradition of Humanist associations all around the world supporting the gay rights struggle because Humanists have always emphasized tolerance and believed that adults should have complete freedom of choice regarding gender orientation, among many other things. Humanists everywhere have stood side by side with gays, lesbians, and bisexuals unconditionally and unequivocally in struggling for equal rights for all human beings.A reception was held for all those who attended the event after the speeches and presentations were made. Press releases were sent to all the media in Iceland and reporters/photographers from several newspapers attended the event. Articles and photos appeared in web and paper versions of some newspapers and a radio interview with representatives from both organisations followed.

Belarus Moonbow in Exile Festival

2005-10-07T10:43:00.000+01:00

Tonight, Friday 7 October 2005, at 7.30pm in the Library, Conway Hall Humanist Centre, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1.

Homophobia in Eastern Europe. A talk by Bill Schiller, co-founder of the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network, based on his extensive involvement in campaigns for lesbian and gay rights in the region.

The meeting is open to the public. Members and non-members are welcome.

Further information is on the GALHA website

The meeting is part of the Belarus Moonbow in Exile Festival being held in central London from Friday 7 to Sunday 9 October 2005.

It is a free public festival with writers, artists, documentary filmmakers, singers and poets, organised by the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network.

There are activities at the Soho Community Safety Office, 24 Peter Street, London W1 from 11.00am to 3.00pm each day (11.00am to 6.00pm on Saturday), with follow-on events in different locations.

See the full programme.

Christian Voice out in the cold

2005-10-06T12:34:00.000+01:00

Touching. Or rather not touching… with or without a bargepole. That seems to be the reaction of many mainstream Christian groups to Stephen Green, the annoying bible-punchinello of Christian Voice.

According to Ekklesia, the Christian news service, the Moderator of the United Reformed Church, Dr David Peel, has said Christian Voice had "the right to express its extreme views, but it is as representative of Christian opinion in Britain as the Monster Raving Loony Party would be of mainstream political parties – and far less entertaining.”

Dr Peel has also said that: “It is a matter of some regret that … the BBC should choose to undermine the reputation of Question Time by giving a platform to a small, self-selecting group distinguished mainly by its absurd claim to represent Christians in this country.”

Others have joined in. It seems that GALHA wasn’t the only group concerned about giving Green an opportunity to spout his views on national television. In a press release, the Christian radio station, Premiere, said:

“From previous experience, the BBC are aware of Stephen Green’s reputation for making inflammatory comments and we are concerned that the motivation to have him as a panellist on Question Time is to provoke further provocative and extreme comments which BBC viewers may assume represent mainstream Christian opinion."

Of course, Premiere Radio had previously joined Green in slamming Jerry Springer, The Opera.

Previously the Church of England’s Peter Selby (“Bishop” of Worcester) had condemned Christian Voice’s behaviour as “disgraceful” and Jonathan Bartley, director of Ekklesia went head-to-head with Green on the Jeremy Vine show. Bartley, and many callers, complained that Green made Christianity seem like “a bigoted, harsh and judgemental religion.”

Of course, while true, Green is certainly not the only one who does that.

Bartley also attacked Green over their intimidation tactics that forced a cancer charity to turn down a generous donation. When Green said that his god would make up the shortfall, Bartley challenged him to put his money where his mouth and makeup any shortfall himself should his prediction not come true. Green refused. When questioned about what he’d said to the charity, Green said “I can’t remember”. Luckily the charity has a better memory.

Christian bloggers have been just as dismissive of Green. One called him an “objectionable, hateful little man” while another called his appearance on Question Time a “tragic performance”.

And let us not forget that self-professed Christians Simon Hughes and Janet Street-Porter were particularly, um, ‘direct’, in facing down Green on Question Time.

So what has Green’s response been to all this?

Well, first he snivelled that “to be hated and stabbed in the back by one's brothers is very hard to take”… and then predictably quoted scripture. It is a reflex action which of course bedevilled his performance on Question Time as he grappled with his own “WWJS about privatisation of the NHS?”

So in answer to his critics, he whined something about John 15:18: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before [it hated] you.” Oh the poor puppy.

It is not known whether he added on the part about going to eat some worms.

He should read on. John 15:19 says:

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

No one disputes that Stephen Green and his spaced-out lunatic colleagues at Christian Voice are from another planet!

Public Meeting - Sharia & Women's Rights

2005-10-05T10:45:00.000+01:00

The Organisation of Women's Rights-Iran will be holding a public meeting in London on Wednesday 19 October at 6 PM to talk about why Islamic Sharia law is at odds with women’s right and why a secular state is so important.

Homa Arjomand, who co-ordinated an international effort to get proposals to introduce Sharia-based family courts in Ontario, Canada dropped will speak on a range of issues, including:

Why is Islamic Shari’a law in contradiction with Women’s rights?

Religious arbitration in Canada?! What happened?

Why should the state be secular?

Are Women’s right universal or cultural?

What is political Islam and why we oppose it?

The meeting will be hosted at Conway Hall, home to the South Place Ethical Society. GALHA members, of course, will know the venue well.

Join Homa Arjomand and Azar Majedi of the Organisation of Women's Rights-Iran for an evening of speech and discussions.

Date: Wednesday 19th October 2005
Time: 6pm
Venue: Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1 (Map)
Nearest Tube: Holborn
Directions: See here

What! And Piglet too?

2005-10-03T13:59:00.000+01:00

Everyone has the right to whinge, object, protest and complain. Indeed, the "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" is a well-known caricature in the British political landscape. So, in this latest example of rank stupidity and bureaucratic absurdity, I do not blame the whinging whiner, but the authorities who acceded to his ridiculous objection – and those who supported it - need to be shown up for the idiots that they are.

So, what happened? Well, it appears that a Muslim employee of Dudley Council complained about pig-shaped novelty items in the workplace – in this case a stuffed animal ‘stress reliever’ – saying they were ‘offensive to Muslims’. The innocent promotional giveaway, it seems, has now caused anxiety rather than relieving it.

The stress releiver was apparently distributed by pigsback.com, a direct marketing company. According to their webiste, the company's name is derived from an old Gaelic expression "ar muin na muice", meaning "to be on a winner" or "to be a step ahead.

However, it doesn’t stop there. Now calendars showing cartoon pigs, porcelain figurines and even a tissue box with a picture of Winnie the Pooh’s friend Piglet have been ordered removed or covered up by the Council honchos.

According to a report in the Express & Star News, the move has not improved office relationships. On the contrary, one staff member, who remains anonymous, told the paper: "It's caused a bit of an atmosphere in the office. The staff did comply but it's just crazy - things like ornaments that have been on desks for years have had to be removed."

But not everyone aggress. Councillor Mahbubur Rahman, a practicing Muslim, said he agreed with the action taken:

"If it is a request made by an individual and other officers can reason a compromise it is a good thing, it is a tolerance and acceptance of their beliefs and understanding," he said.

It is this sort of action that trivialises real oppression and real offence. Few would dispute that a pigs head left on the steps of a Mosque or a Synagogue is a vicious and offensive act, but to ban cartoon pigs on a box of tissues from the workplace on similar grounds? Doesn’t that just make a mockery of tolerance?

I say this as a defender of “political correctness”. I think it is perfectly legitimate to take steps to be inclusive and minimise offence. It is perfectly reasonable to ask for halaal, kosher and vegetarian options in staff canteens if there is a demand for it. I support the move to change “Merry Christmas” to “Seasons Greetings” in acknowledgement of the fact that many religious groups and secularists celebrate Winterfest in different ways. In spite of the hysterical ravings of “Councils Ban Xmas” that appeared in some tabloids, it was the right decision. Workplaces ought to be, if not entirely secular, at least faith-neutral.

But seeming to equate a piggybank on a desk or a video of ‘Babe, Pig in the City’ left lying around with the acts of neo-Nazis is really not helping the case for genuine political correctness. Rather than fuelling religious tolerance, it fuels resentment – and the tabloids!

Celebs back Iran protest against executions

2005-10-03T12:44:00.000+01:00

Little Britain star Matt Lucas, actor Simon Callow and singer Boy George are supporting the axm and OutRage! 'Homophobia Kills' protest against the recent homophobic executions in Iran.
Actor Jeremy Sheffield, comedian Scott Cappurro and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell will attend the protest outside the Iranian Embassy in London:

1pm tomorrow, Tuesday 4 October 2005:
Embassy of Iran, 16 Prince's Gate, London SW7 1PT

Getting there:
The Iranian Embassy is near the Royal Albert Hall, by the junction of Kensington Road and Exhibition Road. Nearest underground stations are South Kensington and Gloucester Road.
Tuesday’s protest is being organised by gay magazine axm, and by queer rights group OutRage!
Thousands of axm readers have signed the axm 'Homophobia Kills' petition, which will be handed over to the Iranian Ambassador.

Endorsing the protest, Matt Lucas said:
'Recently in Iran two teenagers were executed for being gay. This is just one example of the constant persecution of gay and lesbian people by the Iranian government. I support efforts to put pressure on the Iranian government to stop this persecution. While gay visibility has grown in Britain in recent years we cannot forget the plight of those in more hostile parts of the world who live with the daily risk of jail, torture and execution for no other reason than their sexuality.'

Simon Callow states:
'I'm sorry, I can't make it to the Embassy on the 4th: I'm filming all day. But I unreservedly condemn this savage and barbaric treatment of homosexual men in Iran. It is inconceivable that we should have diplomatic relations with a country which betrays its citizens in this way.'

Two gay teenagers were publicly executed in Iran on 19 July 2005 for the 'crime' of homosexuality. The youths were hanged in Edalat (Justice) Square in the city of Mashhad, in North East Iran. They were sentenced to death by Court No. 19. Iran enforces Islamic Sharia law, which dictates the death penalty for gay sex. One youth was aged 18 and the other was a minor under the age of 18. They admitted to having gay sex (probably under torture) but claimed in their defence that most young boys had sex with each other and that they were not aware that homosexuality was punishable by death. Prior to their execution, the teenagers were held in prison for 14 months and severely beaten with 228 lashes. Their length of detention suggests that they committed the so-called offences more than a year earlier, when they were possibly around the age of 16.

“Although the Iranian government claims the youths were executed for the rape of a 13 year old boy, underground gay groups inside Iran tell us that the two teenagers were lovers,” said Peter Tatchell of OutRage!.

“They point out that the Iranian government routinely makes up allegations of sexual abuse, drug-taking and spying to discredit the people it executes and to discourage public protests”.The executions in July and ongoing revelations of continued anti-gay atrocities in Iran have shocked and mobilised axm readers who are travelling from as far afield as Scotland, Cornwall and Yorkshire to attend the protest onTuesday.

According to axm magazine editor Matthew Miles:
'The shocking images of the executed Iranian teenagers have galvanised our print and online readers, with thousands of people signing our petition in a ten day period. As LGBT people in the West finally gain most of the rights we deserve, it seems we are proving that there is such a thing as a global gay community by focusing on the struggle for equality in more hostile parts of the world. Protest is only a step but, as organisations such as Amnesty International and OutRage! have proved, it can and does bring change and that's why, along with OutRage!, axm magazine will be protesting against the Iranian Government from 1pm on Tuesday 4 October.'

Sign the petition against Iran online, or by post.
Online: www.axm-mag.com
Post: Iran Petition, axm magazine, 2 Charlotte Road, London EC2A 3DH

Gay Catholics should leave the Church with their dignity intact

2005-10-01T11:37:00.000+01:00

GAY CATHOLICS SHOULD LEAVE THE CHURCH WITH THEIR DIGNITY INTACT

Gay Catholics should abandon the Church that hates them, says GALHA.

The news that the Vatican is to conduct an anti-gay witch hunt in Catholic seminaries around the world is the final straw in the Church’s ongoing persecution of gay people, says the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).

GALHA is calling on all gay Catholics to leave the Church and thereby stop giving it their financial, moral and practical support.

GALHA secretary George Broadhead commented: “The Pope’s latest insult to gay people should convince gay Catholics once and for all that they are not welcome in the Church, and that eventually they could find themselves being unceremoniously thrown out, just as gay priests will be. They should leave with their dignity intact and ensure that their fellow Catholics understand why they have done so.”

Mr Broadhead said that the Vatican’s continued insulting condemnations of gay people affected not only gay Catholics but all gay people, religious or not. “Whenever the Pope issues his defamatory statements about gays, they are widely reported. They add credence to the idea that it is perfectly alright to despise people because of their sexual orientation, and they legitimise more extreme forms of persecution. The latest purge of seminarians reinforces the spurious idea that all gay men are paedophiles. How any self-respecting gay man or lesbian can continue to support an institution that so patently wishes to hurt them is beyond comprehension."

Mr Broadhead added that he hoped that heterosexual Catholics of goodwill would make clear their own opposition to the Pope’s persecution of gay people and consider abandoning the Church themselves.

(This has been issued as a GALHA news release)

God makes a monkey out of Green

2005-09-30T13:20:00.000+01:00

If Stephen Green thinks evolution couldn’t make a man out of an ape, then one hopes that this morning he is contemplating how he managed to make a monkey out of himself – which he did with little effort on the BBC’s Question Time with David Dimbleby last night.

And, I’m sure he would consider that this was his god’s will with good grace.

While the BBC still ought to consider whether publishing the personal details of private individuals and threatening to prevent a cancer charity from being able to carry out its work should be rewarded with the “credibility” of being on Question Time, those who worried that Green might use this platform to good effect needn’t have worried.

The sum total of his on-screen talk time was scarcely six minutes and 2½ of those minutes were attempts to defend his disgraceful behaviour to an unconvinced panel and audience and the rest were squandered in aimless meandering around the topic trying to introduce Jesus into the discussion.

It kicked when he tried to suggest that the police new terror legislation might be abused by the police. Fair enough. But then he tried to suggest that he and Christian Voice were a victim of it. Dimbleby jumped in and pointed out that this was a bit rich coming from a man who was not averse to using “strong-arm tactics” themselves and who had “well ‘bullied’ I think is the right word” a cancer charity.

“We didn’t bully them..” he started

“Pah!” exclaimed Janet Street Porter

“You threatened to picket them” said Dimbleby

“Not picket – ‘witness’” whined Green

“Oh, we’ll have ‘secondary witnessing’ next; that’ll be the new slogan” smirked Patricia Hewitt.

The audience shuffled.

In fact, for the entire programme, he got little applause or support from the audience at all. This, despite his email appeal to his (alleged) 50 000 supporters who he tried to dragoon into service to pack the Brighton audience.

In fact, when he did try to play the populist card by making an oblique reference to “the rest of us” it got the biggest applause of the programme – but not for him, but for Janet Street-Porter turned on him. “What do you mean ‘the rest of us’” she demanded. “You mean the people who have signed up for your minority group!”

She went on to say that the god she believed in was more robust than to be phased by a stage show.

Simon Hughes joined in saying that as an evangelical Christian himself, he condemned the bullying and intimidation techniques used by Christian Voice.

Indeed, Dimbleby and the panel at times seemed visibly frustrated with his time-wasting, irrelevant and inane contributions – most of which were prefaced with scriptural non sequiturs. For example, when asked what he thought of privatisation within the NHS, he stammered:

“As the lord Jesus commands us to heal the sick, this is very much a Christian issue…”

He then meandered around the point aimlessly, obviously trying to find away to turn it into a platform for one of his hobbyhorses. Finally he managed this:

“I find it sad that Hospitals which should be a place of healing are being used to destroy human life. What should…”

He was cut off by a visibly exasperated Dimbleby who snapped:

“Are you for or against the private sector coming into the NHS?”

Trying to recover – and perhaps scrape a little populist furrow – he started rambling on about private sector contracts only going to those to donate to political parties or have relatives in the administration. Patricia Hewitt sneered, Simon Hughes and Ken Clarke looked puzzled, and Dimbleby looked as if his patience was at an end.

“This may not be true, but those are the stories that seem to come out” he hedged.

This comment might make a wonderful blurb on the back of this new abbreviated bible, but it is certainly not up to the standard of contribution expected on a high-profile topical discussion programme. Thankfully, from that point his contributions were limited.

I suppose out of politeness more than anything, Dimbleby returned to Green one last time – his final opportunity to salvage his appearance that he’d hoped would show his ragtag bunch of theological bullies would be “taken seriously by the establishment”. Well, it was a belly flop. The subject was climate change and the news that the polar icecaps were melting at a disturbing rate. The exchange was high-comedy:

Green: Well, the Earth is the Lord’s and I’m sure he’s in control…
Dimbleby: In control?
Green: I’m sure he’s in control.
Dimbleby: So, the melting icecaps are part of his plan?
Green: Don’t worry, don’t worry, it worries and challenges me!

Oh boy!

If you missed the fun, you can watch it again on the BBC’s website. But it only stays up for a week, so don’t delay.

Priest: No value in attack on gays

2005-09-30T11:49:00.000+01:00

Because we campaign against the monolith that is organised religion, it may sometimes appear that we don’t acknowledge enough the acts of courage and integrity shown by individual members of the clergy.

A case in point is the statement by a Catholic priest in the United States who, together with his congregation, was asked to sign a petition to include the repeal of equal marriage rights for lesbian and gay people in Massachusetts.

According to a story in the Boston Globe, the Rev George Lange of St. Luke the Evangelist church in Westborough and his colleague Rev. Stephen Labaire said in response to the request:

"The priests of this parish do not feel that they can support this amendment. They do not see any value to it and they see it as an attack upon certain people in our parish, namely those who are gay."

We can only applaud such an honest, frank and unequivocal reply to such a bigoted measure.

Unfortunately for the Revs Lange and Labaire, their superiors in the Catholic Church saw things differently. They were pulled from the pulpit, and, according to parishioners, their “hands were slapped very publicly."

Apparently, though, no disciplinary action will be taken, but the Church’s policy on “gay marriage” was “explained”.

In another story, the Globe reports a fire-fight after another priest had allegedly endorsed a local gay pride march.

Of course, as we’ve reported recently the situation for gay priests is tenuous. Can the position of gay-friendly priests be secure for much longer?

Green doesn't have a prayer

2005-09-28T20:54:00.000+01:00

So, as we reported yesterday, the BBC will be giving Stephen Green of Christian Voice a platform to pontificate on the day’s news and events tomorrow on Question Time.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be too concerned. If his insight into current events amounts to “it’s my gods will” then his big chance at credibility might be a damp squib. After all, he is one of the loony brigade that postulated that Hurricane Katrina was the result of his god’s wrath. In a particularly odious press release, the idiot preacher rants thus:

There will be more than a few who will have said in the past "If God does not deal with New Orleans, He will have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorrah." The theme of judgment on New Orleans and warning to the USA has not been exclusive to Christians.

The vile pig also suggests that gays “partied amid the dead” simply because some communities tried to keep their spirits up amid the chaos. Headlines like this would be deeply offensive if we weren’t already used to them from Green’s opposite number in America, Phred Felps.

But we queers had the last laugh. As my American friend, gay activist Brian Miller, said to me yesterday:

Perhaps they should explain why if God is punishing New Orleans, why he also stripped the Gulf Coast -- buckle of the bible belt -- completely? Something like 15% of bible colleges were destroyed.

Indeed! And of course Green’s loony theory also doesn’t explain why, if this god’s wrath was against the ‘sodomites’, why the French Quarter favoured by these ‘sodomites’ was the least affected area. Perhaps your god is furious about your disgusting treatment of lesbian and gay people, Mr Green! Ever thought of that? Why else would be smite your so-called bible-centre ‘universities’?

But as I said in the previous post, while their views and opinions don’t deserve to be taken seriously by anyone, their potential to cause harm and destroy lives should not be underestimated.

For example, they use veiled threats and intimidation against people they disagree with. When a play they thought was “blasphemous” was due to be staged at regional theatres, they wrote to the theatre managers, saying:

We are at this moment preparing charges of the criminal offence of blasphemy for service upon those responsible for broadcasting the show on BBC2, and those responsible for staging it at the Cambridge Theatre. Should any regional theatre stage 'Jerry Springer the Opera' this autumn, we shall be looking to prosecute them as well. We shall be especially keen to prosecute since the BBC broadcast, because anyone staging the show will now be doing so as a deliberate act of provocation knowing full well that the show is highly blasphemous and extremely offensive to Almighty God and to Christian believers.

For those who wouldn’t fall for the (dubious) threat of legal action, they threatened to harass staff and theatre goers with mass disruptions of the performance:

Out of love and concern for where they live, our members outside London will be keen to stand up for their Lord outside any Theatre which puts on Jerry Springer the Opera, by holding prayer vigils probably at shows running before the event, and certainly during any run of 'Springer’ itself. I shall give them every encouragement.

He reminded the venue management:

You will be aware that Christian Voice organised street vigils in protest against the screening of Jerry Springer the Opera on BBC2 on 8th January. These took place outside BBC premises in London (White City - where 400-500 people attended), Cardiff, Plymouth, Norwich, Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast. In all, some 1,500 Christians came out on a cold, and in some cases a wet, Saturday night to stand up for their Lord and Saviour, mindful that He endured agonies for them when He died on a cruel cross on Calvary's hill.

And why all the fuss? Well, Green and his loony-tunes staff at Christian Voice believe that if they don’t act to stop it, a ‘blasphemous’ play will bring down “the judgment of God of our land”.

Happily, not all theatres were intimidated by the threats of legal action and the thought of 1500 ululating Christians disrupting performances. One theatre director (who deserves a medal) wrote back and said:

"I will continue to programme as I see fit and appropriate for the organisation. Neither I, nor the Trustees, will change the programme or the programming policy as a result of threats, bullying or intimidation from any outside body."

A brave move considering a BBC executive, according to the Daily Mail, had to flee his home with his young family when he received death threats after his home address and telephone number were published by Christian Voice.

Though, if you thought it couldn’t get any nastier, it did. A small cancer charity was due to receive a ₤3000 donation after the cast of Jerry Springer: The Opera put on a special benefit performance. Green and his Christian Voice goons attacked the charity and forced them to turn down the donation. Faced with the alternative of having their work to support those affected by cancer disrupted and their volunteers harassed, the charity reluctantly turned down the money. In a statement they said:

Not only were we very concerned about the disruption to our centres and our services, but most importantly, the impact of this disruption on the people diagnosed with cancer who come into our centres on a daily basis.

How dare some nutty Christian group threaten a secular charity and force it to make decisions based on their psychotic fears of divine retribution? And is threatening the sick and grieving a fast-track onto a flagship BBC programme? Perhaps if you publish personal details of BBC staff on your website! Is that the sort of behaviour that does the trick?
If terrorising theatre managers, punters and cancer suffers doesn’t do it for you, these incredibly unpleasant people have more up their sleeves. How about hurling abuse at women seeking advice on how to control their own bodies? You see, a woman seeking a morning-after pill is akin to a Nazi War Criminal inflicting a ‘Genocide of the Unborn’! Or at least it would be if Stephen Green’s perverse thinking invaded your mind!

Like a shaking madman, Green told The Times “The taking of innocent blood brings judgment on our land and cries to Heaven for vengeance,” he bayed before adding that it “wouldn’t take much” to close down abortion clinics – just a few “prayer vigils” outside.

The Scotsman put their finger on the nub of the issue in a recent editorial:

I doubt if Christian Voice and its fellow pressure group, the anti-abortion UK Life League, are worth the publicity they have received, but they are part of a trend which we need to be aware of. In its campaign against the BBC, which screened a TV version of Jerry Springer, it circulated the home telephone numbers and addresses of senior BBC executives to its members. Now it is exerting similar pressure on regional theatres which are considering staging the show. It is campaigning against abortion by proclaiming that it is the equivalent of the Holocaust, and accusing those who practise it of being Nazis. And it uses its website to attack the police for recruiting homosexuals. This is the tip of a very worrying iceberg which, in America, has come to infiltrate politics and social life at the highest level. Right-wing evangelical groups, which insist that the Bible is literally true, and which use their enormous resources to pressurise teachers, doctors and politicians into accepting their views, are, under a Republican presidency, the most powerful lobby group in the country. The extent of their influence is remarkable.

Their kindred organisation – with whom they often jointly undertake actions - UK Life League have used similar tactics, publishing the names and addresses of pharmacists who stock morning after pills and Tesco supermarket managers who allow them to be sold in their stores.

Why are there no laws against this type of blackmail? It has been brought to the attention of our lawmakers. According to the Sunday Herald, Labour MP John Cryer told parliament that Christian Voice’s actions were the work of “fundamentalist thugs,” an act of theological blackmail so far beyond the pale that it beggared belief.

In the same article, media analyst Paul Edwards noted: “This was not democracy or reasoned debate – it was an act of tyranny, a breathtaking demonstration of the power of the mob and a harsh introduction to the unacceptable face of things to come.”

If Edwards is right and this is the future, all secularists, not just LGBT ones are in for a rough ride. As a society we have taken our rights for granted. We think that just because we have won a legal right that we will be allowed to exercise our rights in peace. We won’t. At the beginning of the year, hardly anyone had heard of Christian Voice.

Now, ironically, after they got publicity by bullying the BBC it is now the BBC helping to make them respectable and reach a mainstream audience, or so Green thinks. But perhaps the BBC knows what it is doing. Perhaps they know that the best way to fight Green in the long run is to let him open his mouth.

UPDATE: This just in from Brighton:

There is a peaceful demonstration against the appearance of Stephen Green appearing on such a high profile show on the BBC. It is being held outside the Corn Exchange Brighton, on Thursday 29th September at 6pm. Guest for the show arrive between 6pm and 6.30pm. (The show is recorded as live at 8.30pm and then broadcast later that evening). The Police have been informed that this demonstration is taking place.

BBC gives Christian Voice credibility

2005-09-27T13:18:00.000+01:00

Crackpot Stephen Green of the loony 'Christian Voice' organisation has been invited to participate as a panelist on the BBC's Question Time. He is circulating the email below. Lesbian and Gay humanists in Brighton should follow his advice and apply to be on the programme. Obviously ignore the part about only forwarding it to "Christian friends".

This is important becase, as you can se by the bits I've emphasised, Christian Voice see this as a major opportunity and as a sign that they have credibility.

Christian Voice produce vicious antigay propaganda like this, support so-called "ex-gay" ministeries and have been accused of harassing and intimidating women visiting abortion clinics.

I have been invited to be a panellist on BBC's prestigious Question Time next Thursday 29th September 2005. It is a sign that we are now being taken
seriously by the establishment, but I really feel the need of prayer!

This is a huge opportunity, and I do not want to let my Saviour down. I want to bring out the word of God, not just my opinions. (John 17:14-26) Please pray for me and if you live near Brighton, the venue for this particular show, why not consider applying to be part of the audience?

The programme is transmitted on BBC1 at 10.35 pm but pre-recorded at 8.30pm as live. David Dimbleby asks the questions (which the panel do not know in advance). The other panellists are: Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt MP, Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP, Simon Hughes MP and Janet Street-Porter. Questions could be about anything in the news next week.

To be in the audience, you have to be prepared to ask questions (they don't want passive folks) and you have to apply. Do that by going to www.bbc.co.uk/questiontime and then click on 'Join the audience.' You will find a form asking for your details and your political views. Answer honestly, and expect a telephone call from one of the researchers. They assure me that the programme is squeaky-clean and that they really want a balance. Particularly as I am on the panel, they will want some Christians. What more can I say, except please forward this email to Christian friends only, apply for the audience if you wish, and please pray!

It is OK, by the way, to pray when it is being transmitted. God is way ahead of you and knows your prayer and will answer it before you pray it. Is He not mighty? 1 Cor 16:9

Stephen Green, National Director, Christian Voice

There is a spoof website which is worth a giggle and which is about as much as their views and opinions deserve to be taken seriously by anyone. However, their potential to cause harm and destroy lives should not be underestimated.

The production company that handles Question Time is Mentorn Baraclough Carey. Their telephone number is 0207 258 6800 and the editor is Nick Sarney.

No faith in 'faith' schools

2005-09-24T14:30:00.000+01:00

I had the good fortune to be invited onto Any Answers today to make the case for an end to religious schools (I won't give them the euphemism 'faith schools'). It was in relation to Trevor Phillips's assertion that we're sleepwalking into segregation. I said,

I want to make the case for an end to religious schools. Yes, it’s in families that your worldview begins, but it’s acutely consolidated in schools. Now schools I think should be a place where children learn that there’s more that binds them in their common humanity – whatever their skin colour – than separates them.

Religion’s a potent force for taking young people down a particular path, and, as we know, with a few exceptions, most practising religionists are intolerant – both of other religions and cults, and of other people and what they do with their lives. Catholic children are taught that a woman’s right to make decisions about her fertility is wrong; Muslim children are taught likewise; both are also taught that being gay is an evil, because both mullahs and the Pope say it is, and to hell with the millions who, like myself, are gay and have to listen to this insulting nonsense.

Schools are where it starts. After all, kids are – well, kids.

I think there’s no place for religion to be taught per se. Taught about as a subject, yes, but let’s keep it right out of the classroom except as an academic subject. Worship of nonexistent sky fairies is for the home and the meeting house, and the school is for arts and sciences and preparing people for life in the real world, not the world of deities and angels.

Jonathan Dimbleby asked whether I'd like to see them taken right out of the system altogether, and wouldn't this be an issue for rights? Yes, I said, but some rights are always at risk when other rights conflict with them. I did not know what the mechanics would be, I said, because I'm not an administrator, but I'd like to see no school in the system with a religious label on it.

The odd thing is that I'd got on as a result of an email I sent last night, having heard Sir Ian Blair talk about religious schools on Any Questions, and ended my email doubting that the BBC would allow an antireligious view on the air. Good old Auntie proved me wrong.

Wicked wind blows up Vatican witch-hunt document

2005-09-24T11:30:00.000+01:00

A US seminary has made the Vatican’s confidential Instrumentum laboris, (the guidelines for the team visiting US seminaries to root out homosexuals) available on the Internet to “provide necessary information to ordained graduates who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina.”

The Aquinas Institute for Theology has confirmed in a press release that the investigation is “the result of a meeting in 2002 between U.S. bishops and Vatican officials who met to respond to the crisis created when a clergy sexual abuse case in Boston led to revelations of abuses by priests throughout the United States.”

However, the 13-page guideline – which can be downloaded – makes no mention of child abuse. Instead it included 6 compulsory questions relating to homosexuality, including the blatant:

“Is there evidence of homosexuality in the seminary? (This question must be answered.)”

The Aquinas Institute’s press release also tells us how it will all happen:

The Apostolic Visitation of U.S. Seminaries and Houses of Formation has just begun nationwide. Teams of bishops and seminary personnel will conduct visits through Spring 2006 at an estimated 230 schools of theology, college-level seminaries, houses of formation and other schools that form priests. Members of the team visiting Aquinas Institute include a seminary professor, campus chaplain, parish pastor and director of religious studies, also at a seminary.

And, of course, why (well, sort of):

Visitors will examine the admissions process for candidates to the priesthood. They also will examine how seminaries and schools such as Aquinas Institute foster the intellectual and moral development of priesthood candidates and ensure the men are prepared to live chastely.

And, in the unlikely event you happen to be a freshly graduated priest reading this, don’t think you’re in the clear. The investigation will not only be looking at seminaries, but at those who have “graduated” in the last three years and each graduate will be subjected to a personal interview.

If you’re a gay priest, leave now with dignity.

Save Your Friends 96 Minutes

2005-09-23T18:24:00.000+01:00

The 100-minute Bible, aimed at the "hurried and harried" generation, was launched at Canterbury Cathedral on 21st September 2005.

While the original takes about a week of solid reading to finish, the abbreviated version can be read from cover to cover in under two hours, but why waste valuable time on it when you can find out about the Humanist ethical tradition in four minutes?

Margaret Nelson's four minute talk originally given in 1999 can be read on this web site.

Get your friends to read it and save them 96 minutes! And it makes more sense.