THEGAYUK

Tag: Politics

The latest news, interviews, and views from the world of LGBT politics in the UK and internationally.

  • 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.”

  • 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.

     

     

     

  • COLUMN | Don’t Let The Bastards Get You Down

    Brace yourself everyone. If you think we’ve had to put up with quite a lot of abuse over the last few months, then it’s no doubt going to get worse over the next week.

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  • Cher Dumps On Trump

    Never one to shy away from expressing her feelings global super star Cher has dumped on Trump calling his campaign out as a joke.

    The Believe singer who turns 70 this year, questioned whether GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump actually wanted the top job and all its responsibilities, but rather wanting the job because it is the top job.

    Speaking to Billboard.com she said,

    “I don’t like anything about Donald Trump. It’s a joke at a time when you really need serious people.

     

    “I don’t think he wants the job, or I don’t think he actually wants to do the work. I think he wants the job because it’s the ultimate deal, and he’s the ultimate ego. I don’t know that I’ve heard or seen anybody like him, and I also never thought that Americans would go for someone like him, a person of his quality.”

     

    Time for President Cher?

     

  • 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.

  • 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”.

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  • MP David Mundell Comes Out As Gay

    Britain is celebrating its first openly gay cabinet minister David Mundell who came out as gay yesterday. (more…)

  • MP Mike Freer Shares Information That Poppers Are Not Harmful To Society

    MP Mike Freer has called for the “pause” on banning poppers in the Government’s forthcoming Psychoactive Substances Bill.

    The bill which will outlaw all legal highs, will see the selling of poppers formally known as alkyl nitrate, become a criminal offense.

    Conservative MP for Finchley & Golders Green Mike Freer has said that the Government needs to reconsider the bill and “pause the banning of poppers”, which is due to be debated on Wednesday 20th January.

    Earlier today the MP tweeted a letter from the Advisory Committee of the Misuse of Drugs where they said that poppers were “not seen to be capable of having harmful effects sufficient to constitute a societal problem.”

    Poppers are largely used by the gay community to aid in anal sex due to its relaxation effects, which can make penetration for the receptive partner easier.

  • Has The Scottish Parliament Failed LGBT Children?

    In a decision branded “shocking”, the Scottish Parliament has rejected a call to include LGBTI+ education in Scottish schools.

    Yesterday morning, Tuesday 12th Jan, a petition put forward asking the “Scottish government to make the teaching of LGBTI+ issues and topics statutory” was unanimously rejected by representatives of Scotland’s three majority parties according to Buzzfeed.

    The group of MSPs said it was unable to ask the Scottish government to force through LGBTI inclusion in its schools.

    The co-founder of the TIE campaign, Jordan Daly, said:

     

    “Absolutely the wrong decision has been made here. How many more chil

  • Gay Couples Excluded From First Anti-Domestic Violence Laws In China

    Same-sex couples have been excluded from laws that protect straight couples from domestic violence.

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  • Slovenian Rejection Of Gay Marriage Is “Victory For Our Children”

    Slovenians have rejected same-sex marriage by 2 to 1 in a referendum. (more…)