The University of Strathclyde in Glasgow is holding an event which it is hoping will offer an insight into parliamentary life and LGBT matters. (more…)
Category: News
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Peter Tatchell Has Changed His Mind On Gay Cake Ruling
Peter Tatchell has said that he was “wrong” about the gay cake row and that he has changed his mind.
In 2014 a bakery in Northern Ireland refused to make a cake with the inscription “support gay marriage” citing the owner’s religious beliefs. The cake was order by an gay right’s activist called Gareth Lee, who subsequently took Ashers Bakery to court. The court found that the owners acted “unlawfully” in denying service to Lee.
At the time the judge said,
“Whilst defendants have right to religious beliefs they are limited as to how they manifest them.”
Writing in the Guardian today leading human rights advocate Peter Tatchell said that he was “wrong” in supporting Lee’s legal claim and has said that the law “should not require bakers to promote gay marriage”.
Two days before the Asher’s is considered by the Appeal court Tatchell has changed his mind saying that he wants to “defend freedom of conscience, expression and religion” as well as defend the rights of the gay community.
Speaking about his U-turn Tatchell said,
“I profoundly disagree with Asher’s opposition to same-sex love and marriage, and support protests against them. They claim to be Christians and followers of Jesus. Yet he never once condemned homosexuality. Moreover, discrimination is not a Christian value…
“Nevertheless, on reflection, the court was wrong to penalise Ashers and I was wrong to endorse its decision…
“For sure, the law suit against the bakery was well intended. It sought to challenge homophobia. But it was a step too far. ..
“The judge concluded that service providers are required to facilitate any “lawful” message, even if they have a conscientious objection. This raises the question: should Muslim printers be obliged to publish cartoons of Mohammed? Or Jewish ones publish the words of a Holocaust denier? Or gay bakers accept orders for cakes with homophobic slurs? If the Ashers verdict stands it could, for example, encourage far-right extremists to demand that bakeries and other service providers facilitate the promotion of anti-migrant and anti-Muslim opinions. It would leave businesses unable to refuse to decorate cakes or print posters with bigoted messages.
“In my view, it is an infringement of freedom to require businesses to aid the promotion of ideas to which they conscientiously object. Discrimination against people should be unlawful, but not against ideas.”
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Trump Would “Consider” Reversing Same-Sex Marriage In US
Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has told Fox News that he would “strongly consider” the reversal of same-sex marriage in the US.
If made President of the USA, Donald Trump said he would “strongly consider” reversing the landmark ruling which extends marriage to same-sex couples across all fifty states of the US, despite saying last year that the issue was a “dead issue”.
He was being interviewed by Chris Wallace on the Fox News Sunday programme.
When asked whether he would appoint new justices to overturn the ruling Trump replied,
“I would strongly consider that, yes.”
Last summer when questioned about whether he would pass an amendment to the law, Trump said that he would not oppose the law, saying,
“Some people have hopes of passing amendments, but it’s not going to happen… Anybody that’s making that an issue is doing it for political reasons. The Supreme Court ruled on it”
Up until this point Trump was the only Republican candidate who did not oppose same-sex marriage.
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Dolce And Gabbana Release Same Sex Family Products
Dolce And Gabanna have showcased a new line of t-shirts and hand bags which feature gay couples with children.
Taking to Instagram Stefano Gabbana showcased two new designs that show same-sex couples holding children along with the hashtag dgfamily
.#dgfamily ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️#dgfamily ???
A photo posted by stefanogabbana (@stefanogabbana) on
Last year the D&G brand came under intense criticism after Domenico Dolce said that they “opposed gay adoptions” and described children born to same-sex couples by IVF as “synthetic children”.The comment resulted in Elton John leading a boycott against the fashion brand and a Twitter storm and trending topic that lasted days.
In September’s issue of Vogue, Dolce had a U-turn saying,
‘I’ve done some soul-searching, I’ve talked to Stefano a lot about this. I’ve realised that my words were inappropriate, and I apologise.”
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Rainbow Lanyards Promotes Pro LGBT Environment in NHS
A scheme which allows LGBT workers and their allies at a London NHS trust to wear rainbow lanyards has been hailed as a success.
Last year Central and North West London Trust launched a scheme that introduced rainbow-coloured NHS lanyards for staff to reinforce the Trust’s values and promote an environment of openness in all the Trust’s services.
Over a thousand staff members at the CNWL trust now wear the lanyards including 500 straight allies.
Alison Devlin, CN WL’s Equalities and Diversity Manager, said,
“The initiative has been a phenomenal success. Once a few people started wearing the lanyards then they quickly spread across our sites and services.
“The lanyards are completely optional – Staff can choose to wear the rainbow version instead of the standard NHS blue ones to highlight their support for LGBT colleagues, patients and the public and to get people talking about LGBT topics in a more confident and open way.”
Mrs Devlin first came up with the initiative after a Patient Experience Survey, carried out by The Advocacy Project (an independent advocacy organisation) on nine of the Trust’s inpatient mental health wards found that some patients preferred not to be open about their sexuality for fear of judgement from staff and other patients.
Mrs Devlin continues:
“This report really highlighted the importance of creating a more open environment and a better experience for LGBT patients. As a result of the findings we rolled out LGBT awareness training sessions for inpatient staff which, together with the lanyard scheme, has helped to encourage openness on the wards and transform the patient experience. They give a powerful message to people at a time when they might be feeling at their most vulnerable.”
Lanyards are distributed with an information booklet that explains the scheme and includes signposting information to a variety of local, London-wide and national LGBT organisations. Staff are also automatically signed up to receive Straight Allies bulletins and educational links to further educate them about LGBT equality issues.
Claire Murdoch, CNWL Chief Executive, said:
“This was a really good initiative that raised issues in an unusual but everyday way and quite colourfully. We’re a diverse Trust and these small reminders add to a positive atmosphere.”
The lanyards were rolled out in February 2015 during LGBT History Month and are promoted to staff continuously throughout the year.
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Ofcom Will Not Investigate Channel 5 Over Winston McKenzie’s “Homophobic” Remarks
Ofcom has announced that it won’t investigate remarks made by Winston McKenzie in this series of Celebrity Big Brother even though it has received nearly 400 official complaints.
The media watchdog Ofcom has said it won’t be investigating Channel 5 after it broadcast the “homophobic” and bigoted views by London Mayoral hopeful Winston McKenzie.
When questioned whether he could deal with gay people during his time in the Celebrity Big Brother house, McKenzie said in his initial VT he,
…Could cope with a homosexual in the house. I guess I’ll just have to stand with my back against a brick wall all the time,” he said.
A statement released by the watchdog said,
“We are satisfied that Channel 5 broadcast clear and appropriate warnings about the potentially offensive content, and intervened in heated exchanges and situations at appropriate times.
“We have also taken into account the audience’s expectations of this well-established reality format, and that the series is aired after the watershed.”
During his time in the house McKenzie tried to explain his feelings about same-sex parenting, which he said he feels is akin to child abuse. McKenzie was nominated by the LGBT charity Stonewall as Bigot Of The Year in 2013 for the comment.
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LGBT Mental Health Charity Shuts For The Last Time
The mental health charity, PACE has closed due to “local authority budgets”.
The London-based PACE mental health charity aimed at helping the LGBT community is due to close on the 29th January 2016 citing cuts in funding and a tough financial climate.
The 31-year-old company is due to cease all operations from the 29th January.
A statement on the charity’s website said,
“The decision to close the doors on PACE after 31 years of supporting the LGBT+ community is one that we have taken with a very heavy heart.
“The financial climate is very difficult for small charities, especially those delivering services at a local level with continuing cuts to local authority budgets. Sadly despite work to support the charity raising the necessary income needed has proved increasingly hard and it has become clear that it is no longer financially viable for the charity to continue.
“The staff and trustees will work to ensure that PACE’s clients are given as much support as possible during this difficult time and referred to other support services as far as is possible.
“We would like to thank all those who have supported us and worked with us to deliver vital support services for the LGBT+ community. A very big thank you to all the staff and volunteers over the last 31 years wo have provided so much support and dedication to the community.”
In November PACE released findings that showed that 34 per cent of young LGB people have tried to commit suicide in the last year, spelling out how necessary a charity, which focuses on the mental health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people in the UK, is at this time.
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Poppers To Be Made Illegal From April
The UK government has voted to ban Poppers and other “legal highs” in law that is due to come into force in April.
The new law which is due to be enacted on April 1st, will mean that if you sell or offer Poppers to anyone you could land up in jail for up to 7 years.
A last ditch effort was made to exempt alkyl nitrites (poppers) from the Psychoactive Substances bill, however it failed 309 votes to 228.
Speaking about the new law and the way in which it is written Lord Paddick told THEGAYUK:
“it’s any substance that changes your mental state like making you feel happy.
“So suppliers of air fresher for example and potentially florists could be arrested because the scent given off by roses makes people feel romantic, makes them feel better.
Last week Conservative MP Mike Freer shared a document from the Advisory Committee of the Misuse of Drugs which said that poppers were “not seen to be capable of having harmful effects sufficient to constitute a societal problem.”
In 2013 two men were found to have alkyl nitrites in their system after they died, however their deaths were not linked to their usage of poppers.
In 2013 there were 8,416 alcohol-related deaths in the UK.
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ISIS Fighters Throw “Gay” Man Bound By Feet and Hands To His Death
ISIS fighters in Iraq have thrown another man they believed to be gay to his death.
The man who was bound by his feet and arms was thrown from a tall building to his death in Rawa City in Iraq after being accused of being gay in the latest affront to gay people, or people thought to be gay in Islamic State-controlled areas.
The so-called Islamic State adopts Sharia Law for its judicial system. Sharia law forbids homosexuality.
SHARIA WHAT DOES IT MEAN:
Islam’s legal system, derived from the Koran
Informs every aspect of Muslims’ lives
Islamic jurists issue formal guidance through fatwas, or religious edicts
Sharia law includes provisions for capital and corporal punishment but modern scholars say getting to that stage can be difficult
Marriage is treated as a contract in Islam
From The BBC
Terrormonitor.org, the terror watch group released pictures of the man bound by his feet and hands being pushed to his death. The terrifying pictures were released yesterday.Earlier this month ISIS fighters allegedly threw a 15-year-old boy to his death after it was discovered that he was in a “relationship” with an ISIS officer. The officer was spared and demoted. The boy was executed. -
Young Gay Man Sends Friends Final Message Moments Before Being Killed In Hit And Run
A young gay man has been killed after being hit by a car in Texas City, moments after texting his friends to say he would be with them in moments.
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LORD PADDICK | Anti Poppers Law Could Make Criminals Out Of Florists
The Lord Brian Paddick has slammed the Psychoactive Substances Bill, which could make so called “legal highs” including Poppers illegal as “ridiculous”.