Update on Brenda Namigadde

On 28th January Brenda Namigadde was placed on a 9:20pm flight en route to Uganda, by UK border officials. Then, at the eleventh hour, an injunction stopping her deportation was granted, and Brenda was taken off the flight shortly before takeoff.

From an e-mail by AllOut:


Brenda is scheduled to attend a High Court hearing on Monday morning to review her case. We are hoping the judge finally grants her asylum, but unfortunately we have plenty of reason to be skeptical: the British government is currently refusing up to 99% of asylum claims made by LGBT people.2

Luckily Brenda’s Member of Parliament, Andy Slaughter, is advocating strongly on her behalf. At a time when the Ugandan parliament is debating a law to make homosexuality punishable by death - and with last week’s murder of LGBT activist David Kato - he understands the grave danger Brenda faces. Slaughter has put forward an Early Day Motion3 in Parliament to pressure UK Immigration Minister Damian Green and UK Home Secretary Theresa May to intervene in Brenda’s case in the event that the court does not rule in her favour.

Our contact in Andy Slaughter’s office has told us that if even just a few dozen MPs sign this motion in the next few days, it will send a powerful message to Theresa May and the Home Office that they must intervene on Brenda’s behalf. Will you take a moment to ring your MP and ask them to sign on and support Brenda? It only takes 2 minutes and will make a huge difference:

1. Find your MP's number:
http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/

2. Ask them to support Brenda. Here's a quick script to help:
“Hello. My name is (YOUR NAME) and I’m one of (MP NAME)’s constituents. I’m calling today about the case of Brenda Namigadde, a lesbian who is in danger of being deported to Uganda where she faces grave danger.
Please urge (MP NAME) to sign onto Early Day Motion 1385, sponsored by MP Andy Slaughter. The motion calls on the Government to exercise its powers to allow Brenda Namigadde to remain in the United Kingdom.
I will continue to follow Brenda’s case closely and urge you to sign the motion today before her hearing at the High Court on Monday.”
3. If you make a call, please reply directly to this email and let us know your MP’s response, so we can pass this information on to Brenda and her lawyer. On Monday, we want Brenda to know she still has our support, and we want the court to know how many others in the UK and around the world are standing by her side.

All best and All Out,
Andre, Jeremy, Joseph, Tile, Wesley and the rest of the team at All Out
www.allout.org

More info here and here.

Urgent, petition to save Brenda Namigadde from deportation today

Over at this website there is a petition :



STAND WITH BRENDA

Brenda Namigadde, a Ugandan lesbian in the UK, faces deportation TOMORROW back to the life-threatening persecution she fled eight years ago.

We just found out that one of the leading figures in the LGBT movement in Uganda, David Kato, was murdered yesterday in his home. This awful tragedy makes clear what's at stake for Brenda if she is forced to return.

Will you join more than 20,000 people in 85 countries and sign this urgent letter pressuring U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May to stop Brenda’s deportation?

David Kato - In Memoriam

From Peter Tatchell:


Heroic campaigner for LGBTI freedom murdered in Uganda


Ugandan LGBTI rights activist David Kato was found murdered in his house on 26 January 2011. He had received homophobic death threats and had been pictured and named by Uganda's Rolling Stone magazine in an article that called for gay people to be killed.

British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said:

"My sincere condolences to Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and to the Ugandan LGBTI community concerning the tragic, brutal murder of David Kato.

"I salute David and his immense, brave contribution to LGBTI human rights in Uganda.

"He was an inspiring campaigner of long and great commitment.

"David will live on in our memories. He will also live on through the rights and equalities that LGBTI Ugandans will win eventually thanks to his many years of tireless groundwork and campaigning.
"I express my admiration and appreciation to all the members of SMUG who are battling for LGBTI freedom in conditions of great adversity and danger. Their courage and tenacity is awesome.

"This savage killing will, I hope, finally prompt Uganda's political, religious and media leaders to cease their homophobic witch-hunts. Their hatred helps create the bigoted atmosphere that leads to queer-bashing violence.

"I urge the government of Uganda to withdraw the 'kill the gays' Anti-Homosexuality Bill, decriminalise same-sex relations and legislate protection for LGBTI people against discrimination and hate crimes," said Mr Tatchell.



There will be a vigil :


Memorial Vigil for David Kato in London

Murdered Ugandan LGBTI activist honoured

Friday 28 January 10.30am, Ugandan High Commission


Friday 28 January 2011
10:30 - 12:30
Uganda High Commission
58-59 Trafalgar Square
London SW1, United Kingdom
(south side by the start of Pall Mall, nearest tube Charing Cross)


LGBTI activist David Kato was beaten to death in his home in Uganda on 26 January.

David's funeral will be held on Friday 28th January. To coincide, a memorial vigil is being held outside the Ugandan High Commission in London.

Please spread the word via your email lists and Facebooks - and join us at the vigil.

Gay Scientists Isolate Christian gene!

UN vote against sexual orientation protection "shameful"

Press release from Peter Tatchell :

Comfort to homophobes, green light to homophobic murder



The United Nations voted this week to remove sexual orientation from a resolution calling on countries to protect the life of all people and to investigate extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions that are motivated by prejudice and discrimination.

The UN:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2010/gashc3997.doc.htm

IGLHRC & ARC:
http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/pressroom/pressrelease/1257.html

Commenting on the UN vote, gay rights and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said:

"This is a shameful day in United Nations history. It gives a de facto green light to the on-going murder of LGBT people by homophobic regimes, death squads and vigilantes. They will take comfort from the fact that the UN does not endorse the protection of LGBT people against hate-motivated murder.

"The UN vote is in direct defiance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees equal treatment, non-discrimination and the right to life. What is the point of the UN if it refuses to uphold its own humanitarian values and declarations?
"This vote is partly the result of a disturbing homophobic alliance between mostly African and Arab states, often inspired by religious fundamentalism. LGBT people in these countries frequently suffer severe persecution.

“Many of the nations that voted for this amendment want to ensure that their anti-gay policies are not scrutinised or condemned by the UN. Even if they don’t directly sanction the killing of LGBT people, they have lined up alongside nations that do.

"South Africa and Cuba claim to support LGBT human rights, yet they voted to remove sexual orientation. They can no longer be considered gay-friendly states. Both countries have allied themselves with tyrannical, violent, homophobic regimes, like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Presidents Raul Castro and Jacob Zuma should hang their heads in shame. They've betrayed the liberation ideals that they profess to uphold," said Mr Tatchell.

Also check out this post for a personal reflection .

How countries voted :

The votes to amend the resolution were as follows:

In favor of the amendment to remove sexual orientation from the resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (79):

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Brunei Dar-Sala, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Comoros, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Opposed to the amendment to remove sexual orientation from the resolution on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (70):

Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Micronesia (FS), Monaco, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela

Abstain (17):

Antigua-Barbuda, Barbados, Belarus, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Colombia, Fiji, Mauritius, Mongolia, Papau New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Vanuatu

Absent (26):

Albania, Bolivia, Central African Republic, Chad, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Marshall Island, Mauritania, Nauru, Nicaragua, Palau, Sao Tome Principe, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Togo, Tonga, Turkey, Turkmenistan

The reinvention of Ann Widdecombe

I don't actually watch Strictly Come Dancing, but from clips on news sites and reports I have looked at, it seems old Widders as she is affectionately known is coming across as a bit of a card . Willing to be pulled across the floor looking ridiculous, being a good sport and feisty with the judges seems to add up to being the latest 'national treasure.'

Well she may be willing to make a fool of herself, but she certainly isn't some nice eccentric old bird .

Well for those of you with short memories , Pickled Politics has a handy list and links to highlight why old Widders is actually an unpleasant reactionary piece of work . The post reminds us of her homophobic, sexist, anti abortion and more. The only plus point is she is against fox hunting .

The F-Word has a link to an Abortion Rights planned protest . Widdecombe is speaking at a fundraiser for an anti choice group , exploiting her new found image as a nice harmless old eccentric. Details here.

More on anti gay bullying in schools

A little while back I posted about bullying of LGBT teenagers in the US and the rise of suicides .

Check out this clip of a gay teenager defending a teacher who was suspended for disciplining an anti gay student. A very eloquent and brave young man .

LGBT rights , battle not won

Many think LGBT rights have been won, I mean look the poofs can have a civil partnership. There is the pink pound, now stop your griping and get back in the club rather than the closet .ON an aside that ignores the point that LGBT includes Trans people and bi-sexuals, often forgotten in the debates. One need only look at Stonewall to see how even Gay organisations happily ignore the issues of trans people by nominating candidates for awards with less than enlightened views . Then there is the attitude of some feminists to trans women, ignoring the very real violence that they face and excluding them from events , by omission or explicitly. I'll say more about trans issues and bisexuality as well , another time .

Back to the main point, people are still prejudiced against lesbian and gay people, and the battle is far from won . Sadly no one should sigh with relief and believe its all sorted , rights and acceptance can slip away . Even in very Gay friendly Brighton there is still violence and abuse . I want though to focus on worrying reports from the US . The Observer reports on this :

Liberal America has looked on aghast as virulent homophobic prejudice seems to have returned to its streets and cities. Most remarkable of all, much of it seems to be centred on the New York region, usually tolerant in its politics and not seen as hostile to homosexuals living openly. But it was just a few miles away from Bounville's protest in the Bronx that a group of suspected gang members brutally beat and tortured a 30-year-old gay man and several other youths who had been associated with him. The details of the assault, for which 10 people have been arrested, horrified New Yorkers. The gay victim was kidnapped, beaten, whipped and burned.

The shocking crime was just one of a series of incidents that have hit the city. Others have even occurred in the heart of New York's vibrant gay scene. In the Chelsea neighbourhood, which has a large gay population, a group of men hugging each other goodbye after a night out were punched and had a rubbish bin thrown at them. Meanwhile in the famous Stonewall Inn, where the modern gay rights movement was founded after a police raid in 1969, a customer was beaten and robbed by men who hurled homophobic insults at him.

For many observers the violence has been especially worrying as it has come at the same time as several leading Republicans have made anti-gay statements. South Carolina's Senator Jim DeMint, one of America's most powerful Republican politicians, has publicly said that gay people should not be allowed to become teachers.

Those sentiments were echoed by the Republican candidate in the New York governor race, Carl Paladino. In an astonishing piece of political theatre at a meeting of conservative Orthodox Jews, Paladino condemned gay pride parades and said gay people should not teach in schools. When the comments stirred outrage in the media, Paladino went on the talk show circuit in New York to complain about men "grinding" against each other at marches while wearing Speedos. "Is that normal?" he asked one TV interviewer.

The remarks were so bizarre some observers dismissed them as just another gaffe from a candidate dogged by allegations of infidelity and sending pornographic images by email. But gay rights activists say that is a mistake. There is a direct link, they say, between such public statements of homophobia and attacks. "These comments give licence to those who use violence. It is dangerous. It is tragic to think these hateful kinds of words have consequences," said Michael Cole, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, which campaigns for gay rights in America.

Such sentiments do not just encourage violent attacks; they can also spur people to suicide. Recently a student at Rutgers University committed suicide after his room-mate broadcast one of his gay sexual encounters over the internet. In Oklahoma recently a 19-year-old man killed himself after attending a local council meeting where members of the public had spoken out against celebrating the local gay community. The family of Zach Harrington, who committed suicide at home, told their local newspaper in the small town of Norman that they believed the "toxic" environment of the meeting had pushed him over the edge.

I remember friends who struggled at school , teased and bullied for being gay . Its depressing to read reports of this still happening , but it does. "Gay ' is an insult in the playground , kids are still bullied in the US and over here . Talk of gay people as unsuitable to be teachers sends a very clear message ; being lesbian or gay is not normal, don't tell anyone if you are and of course that most despicable of mud slinging, poofs are paedophiles after your children. Sickening . Add in faith schools teaching its a sin and its hardly a positive environment .

Playground bullying extends into adult violence , as Johann Hari points out :

In London, recorded homophobic attacks are up by 20 per cent. In Glasgow it's 32 per cent; in Liverpool it's 40 per cent; in Greater Manchester it's 63 per cent. James Parks is only the latest face to be kicked in by this trend: last week, the off-duty police officer left a club in Liverpool with his boyfriend and was lynched by a group of 20 teenagers who smashed his skull and left him close to death.

In a recession, violence always rises, and violence against minorities rises more. Attacks on Muslims, Jews, and black people are also spiking across Britain. But recorded violence against gay people has shown the most extreme rise. Last year, an 18 year-old hairdresser in Liverpool called Michael Causer was sleeping on a friend's sofa after a party when he was woken up. A witness testified that a group of teenagers yelled, "You little queer faggot!" They said they were going to cut out his body-piercings with a knife, and started burning his legs with a lighter. He was found bleeding to death later, dumped in the road outside, after having his head smashed in with a hardback book.

At the trial, one of the 19-year-olds tried for the murder said he was acting "in self-defence" – against a smaller, seven-and-a-half stone boy with no history of violent behaviour. A witness said that during the attack, he had yelled: "He's a little queer, he deserves it!" Yet the jury found him not guilty

Hari points out the culture in schools :

Almost all the new homophobic attacks have been carried out by teenagers who are in – or just out of – the education system. It is not a coincidence that our schools are the one place where homophobic violence is still absolutely mainstream. The official schools inspectorate, Ofsted, says that homophobia is "endemic" in our playgrounds and our classrooms. A study by Stonewall found 41 per cent of gay children are beaten up, and 17 per cent have been told they're going to be killed (it's 10 per cent higher still in faith schools). The young people who attacked PC James Parks were simply taking that culture out of the playground and onto the streets.

This doesn't have to happen. Michael Causer's mother, Marie, says: "This generation of infants needs to be educated. You hear youngsters as young as four and five saying 'Go away, you're gay.' It might be a word to them, but their parents need to pull them up and tell them that it's wrong. They need better education to let them know that gay people are no different."

When this is tried, it works. The Stonewall study found that in schools with a consistent policy of punishing homophobic language, gay children were 60 per cent less likely to be attacked. That fall in violence could ripple out from the school gates - but today, only 6 per cent of schools adopt this policy. The Government should immediately make it mandatory.

So my point is ? Well its that there is no room for complacency .It IS still an issue. Kids are still bullied, its still seen as an insult . People die, others still pretend or struggle . The left as well need to keep this in mind, many seem to minimise it when it happens in 'anti imperialist' countries, well it happens here as well . Wherever it happens , its bloody awful.

This still needs to be on our agenda , even if it doesn't build the party.

So if that has fired up anger at such horrific examples of violence, the only 'reason' for it being that someone loves or has sex with another of the same gender, then get along to this on the 23rd . It is the 2nd Vigil against hate crime.

Now to end on a more positive note, a very moving personal account alongside the stories and pictures of children who killed themselves due to homophobic bullying :

A very brave man, especially in Texas I suspect. Give that man a hug.

Cross post from Peter Tatchell - After 40 years of gains on homophobic law repeal, is there any more need for a separate identity?

A bit late cross posting this, but I was waiting to hear back from Peter as to whether he was OK with it going on this blog.


Beyond gay and straight



After 40 years of gains on homophobic law repeal, is there any more need for a separate identity?



By Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner



The Guardian - London - 3 July 2010



http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/02/40-years-gay-pride



Today's gay pride parade in London celebrates 40 years since the formation of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in Britain. This was a watershed moment in British queer history. For the first time, thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people stopped hiding in the closet and suffering in silence. I was one of them. We came out and marched in the streets, proclaiming gay pride and demanding our freedom.


This had never happened before. In 1970, many LGBT people were ashamed of their homosexuality and kept it secret. Some wished they were straight and went to doctors to get 'cured'.



This internalised homophobia was not surprising. Forty years ago, the state branded homosexuality as unnatural, indecent and criminal; the church condemned LGBT people as immoral, wicked and sinful; and the medical profession classified us as sick, abnormal and disordered.



LGBT people were sacked from their jobs, evicted from flats, refused service in pubs, arrested for kissing in the street and had their children taken from them by the courts. There was no legal protection against such discrimination. It was lawful.



The Gay Liberation Front was the first major challenge to this heterosexism. Inspired by the Black Power slogan "Black is Beautiful", it proclaimed "Gay Is Good." Back then, it was very radical to suggest there was anything good about being gay. Most people thought queers were mad, sad and very, very bad.



Even liberal-minded heterosexuals often supported us out of sympathy and pity. Many reacted with horror when GLF declared: "2-4-6-8! Gay is just as good as straight!" Those assertive, affirmative words - which were so empowering to queers everywhere - frightened the life out of smug, arrogant straight people, who had always assumed they were superior.



GLF's rebellion against heterosexual supremacism kick-started a still on-going revolution in public opinion, laws and cultural values. It overturned the conventional wisdom on matters of sex and human rights. Our joyous celebration of gayness contradicted the uptight straight morality that had ruled the world for centuries and which had oppressed heterosexuals as well as homosexuals.



While most politicians, doctors, priests and journalists saw homosexuality as a social problem, GLF said the real problem was society's homophobia. Instead of seeking to justifying our existence, we demanded that the gay-haters justify their bigotry.


GLF's unique style of 'protest as performance' was not only incredibly effective, but also a lot of fun. Christian morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse had her Festival of Light rally in Central Hall Westminster invaded by a posse of gay nuns. They staged a kiss-in when one of the speakers, Malcolm Muggeridge, disparaged homosexuals, saying "I just don't like them." The feeling was mutual.


There were also more serious acts of civil disobedience to confront the perpetrators of discrimination. We organised freedom rides and sit-ins at pubs that refused to serve 'poofs' and 'dykes'. I disrupted a lecture by the eminent psychologist, Professor Hans Eysenck, when he advocated the use of electric-shock aversion therapy to 'cure' homosexuality.



In the 40 years since GLF, queer people have become more visible than ever before and most of the public are relaxed about same-sex relationships. All major homophobic laws have been repealed, apart from the ban on same-sex civil marriage. Positive images of LGBT life abound on television. Politicians and entertainers are openly gay. The police are serious, at last, about tackling homophobic and transphobic hate crimes. Gayness is no longer classified as an illness.



At this pace of progress, in the long term, homophobic prejudice and discrimination are doomed. It is then that the LGBT community will face an unexpected challenge.



LGBT identity is largely a defence against homophobia. Faced with victimisation, we had to defend our right to be LGBT and create our own community institutions to fill the void created by an uncaring, bigoted society. But when legal equality and social acceptance have been won, will there be any need for a separate LGBT identity and community? If one sexuality is not deemed more valid than the other, much of the raison d'être for distinguishing between gay and straight disappears.



This is the ultimate paradox. GLF spawned a movement that created the conditions for its own dissolution. The more we secure the acceptance and human rights of LGBT people, the less we need a separate gay identity, community and movement. In a queer-friendly society, the differences between homo and hetero lose their significance. When no one cares who is gay and who is straight, there will be no point in maintaining a distinction between the two sexualities. Labelling people and behaviour becomes irrelevant. The movement becomes redundant.



Forty years after GLF pioneered a trailblazing freedom agenda, I am still celebrating LGBT Pride. But my eye is firmly fixed on the real prize: a world beyond gay and straight.

Kylie, cocktails and gay men

Well the good news is :

Gay and lesbian asylum-seekers have won the right to live in Britain after the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the Government was wrong to return refugees to countries where people had to choose between homophobic persecution or hiding their true sexual identity.


The ruling by Britain's highest court ends the Home Office's controversial policy of refusing asylum to gay refugees on the grounds that they could avoid persecution abroad by pretending to be heterosexual.

This is to be welcomed. It was pretty disgusting that the Labour Government deemed it acceptable to ask lesbian and gay people to pretend they were heterosexual. Why should the rights of a lesbian or gay person from another country be worth less than someone born here? The previous Government did much good work in this area, yet somehow thought persecution abroad acceptable, just pretend ? Live a lie .

Would it be acceptable to ask a Jewish or Muslim person, or any religion, to pretend not to be? What about racism? Should a Black person white up? Of course not, ludicrous ? So why would the human right of a person not to be persecuted, and be given protection here, be denied ?

But in amongst this good decision was some stereotyping of gay male (and straight male) culture :

Lord Hope, deputy president of the court, who headed a panel of five justices who heard the case of a man from Cameroon and a man from Iran, said that to compel a homosexual to pretend that their sexuality does not exist or can be suppressed was to deny him his fundamental right to be who he is.

Lord Rodger said the normal behaviour of Gay people must be protected as it was for heterosexual people.

"What is protected is the applicant's right to live freely and openly as a gay man. To illustrate the point with trivial stereotypical examples from British society: just as male heterosexuals are free to enjoy themselves playing rugby, drinking beer and talking about girls with their mates, so male homosexuals are to be free to enjoy themselves going to Kylie concerts, drinking exotically coloured cocktails and talking about boys with their straight female mates."

Hmm, Kylie is so last year, Lady Gaga is the latest gay icon.

Seriously though, this brings the issue of a lesbian or gay person's human rights to a very shallow level . Yep, there is the campness, but not for all. I believe there is even an out Gay rugby player ! I know some pretty macho gay men and some sensitive straight ones . It is about someone being able to be themselves , to live and love with who they choose, regardless of gender. Not to hide , pretend and lead a secret life waiting to be found out.

Of course much hysteria ensued from certain sections of the media yep , we are gonna be flooded by camp queens downing cocktails and singing Kylie songs , like one long Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Or worse still, people pretending to be gay.

The Daily Star is campaigning to overturn the judgement, so that 'outcasts' are refused asylum.

People like this :

In one case, John Smith, not his real name, said he was a victim of violent homophobia in Uganda before he sought asylum in Britain this year after becoming "tired of running and hiding".

Mr Smith was attacked and "left for dead" by a gang of nine men who "were holding sticks and shouting and yelling abuse at me". He said: "I couldn't run, they just attacked me. They hit me on the head and I fell down. They were saying, 'it's the one'. I was bleeding and they hit me on the eye and I became unconscious. They continued attacking me; they stabbed me on the right-hand side of the stomach and tried to cut my big toe off. I have lost sight in my left eye because of the attack." Smith sought asylum in the UK after feeling it was unsafe to stay in Uganda where homosexuals have to be reported to the authorities.

His life was about running, hiding and fear of being found out . Not cocktails and Kylie, not an 'outcast.' A human being . Shame on the Star.

Homophobia and the Tories

Seems a rising star Tory has some homophobia in her closet :

A high-flying prospective Conservative MP, credited with shaping many of the party's social policies, founded a church that tried to "cure" homosexuals by driving out their "demons" through prayer.
Philippa Stroud, who is likely to win the Sutton and Cheam seat on Thursday and is head of the Centre for Social Justice, the thinktank set up by the former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, has heavily influenced David Cameron's beliefs on subjects such as the family. A popular and energetic Tory, she is seen as one of the party's rising stars.
The CSJ reportedly claims to have formulated as many as 70 of the party's policies. Stroud has spoken of how her Christian faith has motivated her to help the poor and of her time spent working with the destitute in Hong Kong. On her return to Britain, in 1989, she founded a church and night shelter in Bedford, the King's Arms Project, that helped drug addicts and alcoholics. It also counselled gay, lesbian and transsexual people.
Abi, a teenage girl with transsexual issues, was sent to the church by her parents, who were evangelical Christians. "Convinced I was demonically possessed, my parents made the decision to move to Bedford, because of this woman [Stroud] who had come back from Hong Kong and had the power to set me free," Abi told the Observer.
"She wanted me to know all my thinking was wrong, I was wrong and the so-called demons inside me were wrong. The session ended with her and others praying over me, calling out the demons. She really believed things like homosexuality, transsexualism and addiction could be fixed just by prayer, all in the name of Jesus."
"T" said he moved to Bedford because he believed the church could help him stop having homosexual thoughts. "I was trying to convince myself that a change was possible but, at the same time, a part of me didn't believe it was possible," he said. "The church's approach was not that it was sinful to be homosexual but that it was sinful to act on it. The aim is to get a person to a position where they don't have these sinful emotions and thoughts."
"T" said it was only after he "took a break" from the church that his depression lifted. "It was the church's attitude towards my sexuality that was the issue," he recalled.
"My impression is that she genuinely cares about people," he said of Stroud. "Her personal beliefs may get in the way sometimes, but she is a positive person."
Stroud and her husband, David, a minister in the New Frontiers church, allied to the US evangelical movement, left the project in the late 1990s to establish another church in Birmingham. Angela Paterson, who was an administrator at the Bedford church, said: "With hindsight, the thing that freaks me out was everybody praying that a demon would be cast out of me because I was gay. Anything – drugs, alcohol or homosexuality, they thought you had a demon in you."
Kacey Jones, a hostel resident, said she was told to end her lesbian relationship or leave the church. "Philippa was still around when I first moved in," Jones said. "There was a 'discipleship house' for Christians struggling with issues, including their sexuality. They told me my feelings weren't normal. I didn't want to be gay, I wanted to be like everybody else, get married, have kids and please my parents."
Stroud wrote a book, God's Heart for the Poor, in which she explains how to deal with people showing signs of "demonic activity". Stroud, who declined to talk to the Observer, writes: "I'd say the bottom line is to remember your spiritual authority as a child of God. He is so much more powerful than anything else!"
In the book she discusses the daily struggle of running the hostel. "One girl lived in the hostel for some time, became a Christian, then choked to death on her own vomit after a drinking bout. Her life had changed to some extent, but we wondered whether God knew that she hadn't the will to stick with it and was calling her home."

Who's Not Normal?

Conservative candidate Mr Philip Lardner has been suspended from the Tory Party for writing that gay people are "not normal". Mr Lardner vows to fight on as an independent in defence of his right to be a bigot in defiance of all this modern, tolerant, heathen, politically-correct nonsense.

Despite the Party suspending Lardner, this proves, if proof were needed, that the Tory Party is still a party that attracts homophobes. Just when David Cameron was hoping we had forgotted Chris Grayling's 'off-message' view that B&Bs; (Bigots and Boneheads?) should be allowed to turn same-sex couples away.

I also sniff a little double standard. Mr Lardner is a Scottish Tory. That, surely is "not normal".

Happy St Patrick's Day ...if you're straight .

Pink News reports :

A gay rights group in New York will protest at the traditional St Patrick's Day Parade today.

The group, Irish Queers, plans to disrupt the parade, which excludes members of the LGBT community on the grounds that it is a religious event.

"We're sick of hearing city officials say they can't intercede in the homophobia because it's a religious march," said Tierney Gleason of Irish Queers.

"If it's a religious anti-gay parade, and uniformed cops and firefighters have to be pulled out.

"It can't be both privately religious and publicly Irish."

Today's St Patrick's Day parade will be the 247th in the New York's history.

The parade is organised by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-Catholic fraternal organisation.

In 1991 it was legally redefined by the NYC Parade Committee, meaning that organisers could ban gay groups.

The parade is one of the largest St. Patrick's Day events in the world.

...

Christine Quinn, the openly gay New York City Council speaker, last year boycotted the event in favour of Dublin's St. Patrick's Day.

She tried, unsuccessfully, to broker a deal with the organisers to allow gay and lesbian participation.

Quinn, a potential candidate for the Mayor of New York City in 2009, is still hopeful that LGBT Irish-Americans will one day march.

Meanwhile :

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has been accused of hypocrisy for taking part in a pre-St Patrick's Day march which bans gays.

Mr Adams is in Boston, Massachusetts for the annual celebration and has accepted an invitation to join the march, although Boston's mayor Thomas Menino refuses to attend because of the anti-gay policy.

He also attended and spoke at a club last night which bars women, despite his party's attacks on "elitist and sexist" men-only establishments.

Mr Adams said today at a St Patrick's Day breakfast: "I am against exclusion, I am for inclusivity."

Err, seems not.

Hat Tip Liam.

Being gay is not a crime!

By Manchester socialist, Gordon Shand

In 2010, nearly half a century after buggery was decriminalised in this country, you would think it impossible that any person should be registered as a sex offender for having consensual sex. Regrettably, truth is sadder than fiction.

After applying for a position as a volunteer at Wormwood Scrubs prison, John Crawford from London discovered that his Criminal Record Check showed him to be a sexual offender because of two counts of buggery dating back to 1959. 51 years later, when applying to work with vulnerable people, Crawford remains legally bound to disclose a conviction received when he was just 19 and extracted after weeks of beatings in a police cell. If he failed to mention his buggery conviction he could be prosecuted under the Sexual Offences Act 1956.

Crawford has taken his grievance to court and in doing so launched a landmark legal battle to overturn his 1959 conviction for buggery. In an interview with the Guardian, Crawford explained that "what I want to do is apply for voluntary work and, when it comes to the box on the application form that says 'do you have a criminal record', I want to be able to say no."

As the old slogan goes “an injury to one, is an injury to all” and as such we should all show our support of John Crawford’s case and others like him. You can sign a general petition to abolish convictions for buggery at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/GayEquality/ and there is a facebook group in support of his case at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=480914655493

I originally read about his case in the Pink Paper at http://news.pinkpaper.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=2415!

Socialist and Gay Rights Campaigner? Guilty and Proud of it!

The Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association (LTDA) seems to have got itself all in a lather about my leftiness. Click here to read the latest issue of their 'Taxi' magazine, and turn to page 3. There you will find the shocking news that (a) I attended a meeting of the RMT London Taxis branch (hardly surprising, as I am the union's Regional Council Secretary, and (b) that I am a socialist and gay rights campaigner.

Firstly, may I congratulate the LTDA for being able to use Google. Secondly, can I assure them and everyone else that I am not in the least bit ashamed of being either a socialist or a gay rights activist, and have never sought to hide either. And thirdly, I'd point out that other than this, there are several factual inaccuracies in the article: the Socialist Alliance folded several years ago, and although I was a SA candidate a few times, I'm not sure I was ever a 'leading member' of it; I gave a brief-ish report to the branch meeting and certainly did not take up most of its time; RMT does not tell taxi drivers not to work during Tube strikes; I said nothing about automatic ticket machines; I did explain why London Underground's attacks on jobs and customer service were bad news for taxi drivers, as when people are driven off public transport and into their cars, taxis lose out too.

RMT's taxi driver members understand this last point, which is why several of them joined the union's Lobby of Parliament against Network Rail job cuts recently. When, around a decade ago, annual multi-fatality rail crashes seriously damaged public confidence in rail safety and therefore caused a drop in passenger numbers, taxi drivers saw a fall in trade from ranks at stations.

Fortunately, leading members of RMT's London Taxis branch see this attack for what it is: an attempt to whip up cheap, populist, right-wing sentiment against what the LTDA evidently sees as a rival organisation. Whichever organisation you think taxi drivers should be members of - whether RMT, Unite or LTDA - I'm sure all Stroppyreaders will agree that this sort of thing is beneath contempt.

Government Replies on Ugandan LGBT Rights

Stroppyreaders will recall that some time ago, I posted about an attempt at severe legal repression of homosexuality in Uganda. The government has now posted its response, which is as follows:

We received a petition asking:

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to condemn the government of Uganda if they pass the ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’ which proposes the death penalty for some homosexual activities.”

Details of Petition:

“A draft of the “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” was introduced by Ndorwa West MP, David Bahati on October 14, 2009 providing for a death penalty for those engaging in homosexuality. Homosexuality is already a crime in Uganda (introduced into the penal code by the british), but the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo has been complaining that the law is inadequate to curb homosexuality that is reported to be on the increase in Uganda.”

Read the Government’s response:

The legislation is a private member’s Bill, which was introduced on 14 October and is currently at committee stage in Uganda’s Parliament.

However, the Government is very concerned about the proposed private members Bill, now in its Committee stage in Uganda’s Parliament, which would broaden the criminalisation of homosexuality. The Government has made those concerns clear in numerous representations to the Ugandan Government. Most recently, the Prime Minister expressed his concerns with Ugandan President Museveni at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad and also in a telephone call on 11 February 2010. Baroness Kinnock, Minister for Africa, raised the issue with the Ugandan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sam Kutesa at CHOGM. The UK High Commissioner in Kampala takes every appropriate opportunity to engage Ugandan Ministers on this issue.

We have also lobbied through the EU. Sweden, who held the local EU Presidency in Uganda, led a EU demarche to the Ugandan Foreign Ministry in December. The European Parliament has also called on the Ugandan authorities not to approve the bill in a resolution passed on 17 December.

The UK is in close touch with and is supporting Ugandan civil society organisations campaigning against the bill. There are now reports that the Ugandan Government may not pass the bill in its present form. But the Government will continue to follow the passage of the bill closely and to lobby against its introduction.

No Right to Religious Bigotry

In a welcome decision, the Employment Appeals Tribunals has ruled that legislation outlawing religious discrimination does not protect Bible-bashers who want to discriminate against others.

The EAT made its decision following on from the case of London Borough of Islington v Ladele, which Stroppyblog has reported on previously.

Hurrah. Workers do not have nearly enough rights. But the one right they should not have is the "right" to use religious beliefs as a pretext to oppress other workers or services users.

Whether you would want to get relationship guidance from someone who thinks you are a mortal sinner is another matter, of course.

In praise of Gareth ‘Alfie’ Thomas by a Welsh communist and rugby lover

Guest post by Ben , also at Third Estate blog and cross posted here.

It is rare in the news that you read or see something that cheers you up. The far left press’s eternal Panglossianism – occasionally tantamount to self-delusion – does not count in this respect. Overwhelmingly, it serves to maintain a pseudo-reality in which the bosses are really bad (and things are getting worse for them), and we, the left (ie this or that particular sectlet) are progressing inexorably towards socialism. Shades of Stalin’s five year plans and Brezhnev’s ‘we will be at communism by year X’, maybe?

So it was that, being both a huge rugby fan and somebody who has consistently agitated for LGBT rights all of his adult life, there was a story that did cheer me up last weekend – Gareth ‘Alfie’ Thomas coming out. Despite being a harrowing tale of a man coming to terms with himself and the world around him, it is one that fills me with great optimism and hope. He is the first openly gay professional rugby player and – as an ex-captain of Wales with over 100 Welsh caps, loads of points and even some appearances as captain for the British & Irish Lions in New Zealand – probably the most high-profile sportsman to come out.

The Wales on Sunday (think News of the World but with fairly decent rugby reporting) stated that his homosexuality is “one of the worst kept secrets in the game”. This is certainly true.

It must have been about ten years ago that I first got wind of rumours of Alfie’s homosexuality. And it was on the pitch. A huge Cardiff fan, I was in the stands with a cheap £1 ticket (them were the days!) for a home game against Ebbw Vale. I was quite shocked by some of the fans’ reaction: “You can’t play rugby, you’re a fucking queer”. It was Alfie who had the last laugh though, scoring no less than five tries (!) against a distraught Ebbw back line that could neither deal with his pace, twinkle-toes step or his sheer physicality. Good on you, Alfie.

Rugby is a much maligned and misunderstood sport often dismissed as the preserve of brutish, air-headed public school boys engaged in an 80 minute futile war of attrition. I often despair at such an ignorant conception of the game, comparing people who spout such nonsense to the way that the political establishment, academia and ‘Marxologists’ alike malign Marxism – purporting to disprove its fundamental tenets without even having bothered to read any of the stuff. One ‘authoritative’ work I read stated in its introduction that the problem with Marx was that he saw all property as theft! Are you taking the piss from the grave, Mr.Proudhon? How does this stuff even get published?

Anyway, there is method in my invective. In many ways, ‘Alfie’ does sum up the multi-faceted and complex beauty of the game of rugby, and why it is more than the standard “big blokes running into each other”.
He combines 15 stones of brute strength with a sprinting ability not far behind some of the best athletes. Running full tilt, he can turn on his feet quickly enough to find the smallest of gaps in the 50-stone-thick wall of the opposition back row, he can put a ball carrier into the air and then proceed to rip the ball from his clutches, and he can pass and kick with a subtlety that many basketball players and footballers would be proud of. As somebody who has followed Cardiff Blues and the Welsh XV since he was able to mouth the word ‘rugby’, Alfie has always been a personal hero of mine. He knew that to succeed and fully reach the awesome potential of his talents he had to live a lie.

Merely in order to survive, most of us live some sort of existence where we have to lie not only to others but – perhaps more importantly – to ourselves. ‘Being successful’ or, the term I loathe most, ‘bettering yourself’ at the very least means telling some fibs to somebody sometimes, and usually a whole lot worse… ‘Life choice’ – the watchword of liberals – almost invariably means eking out an existence in some unfulfilling job at the expense of pursuing manifold interests and developing our talents. We are trapped in the realm of necessity, where our private sphere of activity precludesour development into well-rounded human beings who are at once critics, sheperds, hunters and fishermen. As such it is hardly surprising that both the playing and watching of sport become mere forms of escapism, a means of ‘getting away from life’, rather than actually feeding into this social development. Particularly in rugby with its ‘macho’ image, this means that bigotry and intolerance are easily replicated at all levels of the game. In this instance, it is a narrow, partriarchal, understanding of gender and sexuality that has been exposed. For some, after all, it is anathema that a man who is sexually attracted to other men could be a strong, physically fit and successful rugby player, just as a ‘real man’ (ie a heterosexual one supping Strongbow whilst perusing page 3) could ever be, say, a successful dancer or fashion designer. As somebody who has played rugby from the age of 4, the Alfie case pertinently brings home how – for all the claims about gay equality – there is still a long way to go in a struggle that is intricately bound up with far more wide-ranging social change than formal equality and the hijacking of LGBT rights via the ‘pink pound’ and so on.

Had Alfie planned all of this in order to bring these questions out? Or are more sinister forces of blackmail (ie The Daily Mail) at work? Back in the heady days of him captaining Wales to Grand Slam success, for example, he had to leave the Welsh camp in order to persuade a newspaper from printing something about him.

This direct correlation between his rugby success and the media interest in his private life underlines the tragedy of all this. The media will sink to almost any depths in order to make money – often ringing up celebrities and sports stars to inform them that they have certain pictures of them with women (or maybe in the Alfie case, men) which they will publish unless the person in question comes in to give an interview etc. Tiger Woods was naive enough to go for the interview and boast of his ‘brilliant’ family life. Now, I hate golf with a passion,but I am pretty sure it suffers as a sport without its best player. The details of the Alfie case are still unknown.

Anyway, after narrow defeat to the Aussies in September 2006, he broke down and revealed all to (then) Welsh coach Scott Johnson, who informed the two most senior players in the Welsh side – Martyn Williams and Stephen Jones. He recalls waiting to talk to them for the first time afterwards:

“As I sat in the bar waiting for them, I was terrified, wondering what they were going to say. But they came in, patted me on the back and said: ‘We don’t care. Why didn’t you tell us before?’ (The Sunday Times, December 20).

This was the nightmare from which Alfie could never escape in the pursuit of his dream to be a rugby player – a dream which he knew he could only achieve at the expense of his family, friends, fellow players and himself as a gay man. Although many young Welsh boys would kill to be a Grand Slam-winning Welsh captain, it is impossible to comprehend the mental torture that he must have been through in all of this. He even turned to the church to ask God to ‘rid him’ of what he saw not as his burden of ‘shame’.

That he put up with this intolerable situation for so long shows just what the human spirit can adapt and to what lengths it can go to come to terms with the world’s prejudices. For Thomas, this even meant a loving relationship with a woman who he said he – and this can be believed – “would die for”. It is shocking to think just how many men are currently living (‘living’ seems the wrong word) such lives in order to be ‘normal’. In a country where rugby probably has more of a following than Christianity, let us hope that he serves as an inspiration to many other men enduring such existential anguish.

Whether one is the village priest, local barman or captain of the Welsh rugby team, every fetter on the flowering of one’s individuality and personality must be fought tooth and nail. As we have seen in the tragic case of the gifted footballer Justin Fashanu, who took his life after coming out, when it comes to such an infinitely complex matter as concealing and denying one’s own sexuality, these are genuinely matters of life and death. Although my heart also goes out to Alfie’s wife, with whom he has obviously shared a loving relationship, I do not in any way blame him. He knew full well that he could either be gay or a professional rugby player. For someone with his ability, this was no easy choice to make. It is one that nobody should have to make again.
As good a player as he is, Alfie is not going to rid sport, let alone society, of homophobic attitudes and prejudices. LGBT oppression can only be overcome through mass class organisation and a political programme that does not treat such questions as mere trifles to be fought merely in the workplace, but as key democratic questions for society as a whole. Given the left’s narrowness in passing off some sort of generalised and deepened trade union dispute as a ‘strategy’ for working class power, it is hardly surprising that we have such a shoddy record in this field. And those who scorn the notion of a communist political platform for sport should take another look at the best of our history and events like the Workers’ Olympics.
In spite of some rather vomit-inducing reporting in The Times (cue Thomas in the pink Cardiff Blues’ away strip with the heading ‘pink power’ and a huge picture of him getting ‘double-tackled’ by the Kiwi back row) the establishment response, and indeed that of the rugby world more generally, has been positive. Fans have rallied to his defence and hopefully this will mark a sea change in rugby culture. Let us now hope that he can finish off his highly successful career and start to live his life away from media hounding and the paparazzi preying on him on the streets of Cardiff.

What Alfie has done is to open up an argument that Marxists – whatever our opinion of what, in this author’s eyes, is the best sport on the planet – would be stupid to ignore or to play down. You can rest assured that the topic will be heatedly debated in Welsh pubs, rugby clubs and over family dinner tables during the festive season. Just as in the Cardiff Arms Park stands ten years ago, old prejudices and outright reactionary sentiment will surface, but this can only be overcome through democracy, discussion and exposure (like all prejudices, in fact). With the spread of girls’ mini-rugby and mixed-sex ‘tag’ rugby in schools, concerted LGBT campaigning in rugby and sport could bear fruit.

In 2010 we might just see a sporting world where homosexuality is at least less of a taboo, and for this we must thank Alfie.

At least this is something Welsh rugby fans can look forward to…With or without Alfie, my Cardiff Blues are still in the doldrums after being trounced by Toulouse last week. We are a watery image of last year’s successful team. With the prospect of the Blues not making the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup (think Champions League but with an oval ball), Wales looking flaky ahead of the The Six Nations and an ‘ENGERLAND’ football Summer ahead, this writer’s sporting year ahead does not look great though. C’mon Ivory Coast!

Ben Lewis is a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (www.cpgb.org.uk) and a regular writer for the ‘Weekly Worker’. He blogs in English and German at ‘Die Welt ist Klein’ (http://benjamin-edgar-klein.blogspot.com)

Sign This Petition Against Uganda Death Penalty for Homosexuality

Hat tip: Clive

*Uganda to legislate 'death penalty' for Homosexuals!*

Dear Friends and Activists,

Please see below a petition for our Ugandan brothers and sisters and against the 'Anti-Homosexuality Bill'.

A draft of the "Anti-Homosexuality Bill" was introduced by Ndorwa West MP, David Bahati on October 14, 2009.

Paragraph 3 of the draft bill sets out provisions on what it names as "aggravated homosexuality," which will incur the death penalty, contradicting the global trend toward a moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Homosexuality is already a crime in Uganda (introduced into the penal code by the British), but the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Dr. James Nsaba Buturo has been complaining that the law is inadequate to curb homosexuality that is reported to be on the increase in Uganda.

I trust you may be able to sign the petition and circulate around

Click here to add your name.


Thank you
Dennis Hambridge
dhambridge@btinternet.com


Uganda: 'Anti-Homosexuality' Bill Threatens Liberties and Human Rights Defenders

"This draft bill is clearly an attempt to divide and weaken civil society by striking at one of its most marginalized groups"

Human Rights Watch, October 15, 2009
http://tinyurl.com/yjl7pvw

Jan Moir, Friday fuckwit

The Daily Mail seems to have excelled itself at nasty homophobic hatefulness today. Yes, I know, what do I expect and yes I know I could fill this blog with rants about it forever more . This article though, is low even set against its daily attacks on women (too thin, too fat, let themselves go, not ageing gracefully, how dare they have a life) and its trumpeting of the values of net curtain land, where all would be well if women got back in the kitchen and LGBT people in the closet. Arghh, my blood pressure is rising as I think about it.

Jan Moir, with no regard for his loved ones at this time and lacking in medical knowledge it seems, decides his death was sleazy and unnatural :

All the official reports point to a natural death, with no suspicious circumstances. The Gately family are - perhaps understandably - keen to register their boy's demise on the national consciousness as nothing more than a tragic accident.
Even before the post-mortem and toxicology reports were released by the Spanish authorities, the Gatelys' lawyer reiterated that they believed his sudden death was due to natural causes.
But, hang on a minute. Something is terribly wrong with the way this incident has been shaped and spun into nothing more than an unfortunate mishap on a holiday weekend, like a broken teacup in the rented cottage.
Consider the way it has been largely reported, as if Gately had gently keeled over at the age of 90 in the grounds of the Bide-a-Wee rest home while hoeing the sweet pea patch.
The sugar coating on this fatality is so saccharine-thick that it obscures whatever bitter truth lies beneath. Healthy and fit 33-year-old men do not just climb into their pyjamas and go to sleep on the sofa, never to wake up again.

Err, yes they do, but hey lets not let facts get in the way of bigotry and muck racking .
An autopsy report differs from Ms Moir, who from what I can tell is not medically trained :

This means that Stephen Gately's death was not caused, as some have been speculating, by either alcohol or drugs: he most certainly did not inhale his own vomit.

“There is nothing to indicate the death was caused by alcohol or drugs,” said a spokesman at the Court of Instruction in the island’s capital.
The official denied earlier reports that the star may have choked to death on his own vomit. “That did not cause his death,” she said.
“Preliminary results of the autopsy found acute pulmonary oedema indicating Stephen Gately died of natural causes.”
Medical experts said such a finding was common in those who had suffered a fatal heart attack.

Obviously it's sad that he died and slightly mystifying to us all that someone so young and apparently healthy can simply fall over dead, one minute to the next. But it does indeed happen as it has done here.

Now the headline states "Why there was nothing 'natural' about Stephen Gately's death." The facts dispute this,so what is her point , what is 'unnatural'? Well she goes on to show that gay men cannot live happily ever after :

Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one. Let us be absolutely clear about this. All that has been established so far is that Stephen Gately was not murdered.
And I think if we are going to be honest, we would have to admit that the circumstances surrounding his death are more than a little sleazy.
After a night of clubbing, Cowles and Gately took a young Bulgarian man back to their apartment. It is not disrespectful to assume that a game of canasta with 25-year-old Georgi Dochev was not what was on the cards.
Cowles and Dochev went to the bedroom together while Stephen remained alone in the living room.

So fucking what. They had an open relationship, they seemed to have been honest and not sneaking around or lying to each other. Lots of so-called monogamous heterosexual couples 'cheat' on one another. That to me is sleazy.

Even when presented with medical evidence, Moir just keeps on :

A post-mortem revealed Stephen died from acute pulmonary oedema, a build-up of fluid on his lungs.
Gately's family have always maintained that drugs were not involved in the singer's death, but it has just been revealed that he at least smoked cannabis on the night he died.


Again, he smoked a joint , so fucking what. He did not die with a needle in his arm, from the medical reports drugs did not play a role. In Moir's world perhaps no one sips more than a sweet sherry, but sorry a few joints does not make him sleazy and does not appear to have lead to his death.

Oh but she leaves the best, or should that be worst, to last :

Another real sadness about Gately's death is that it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships.
Gay activists are always calling for tolerance and understanding about same-sex relationships, arguing that they are just the same as heterosexual marriages. Not everyone, they say, is like George Michael.
Of course, in many cases this may be true. Yet the recent death of Kevin McGee, the former husband of Little Britain star Matt Lucas, and now the dubious events of Gately's last night raise troubling questions about what happened.


Well first off , just like heterosexual people, relationships come in all shapes and sizes. Some LGBT people may want a monogamous civil partnership and there are plenty of happy ones around. Lets not though hold up heterosexual marriage as some perfect institution, that just by fancying the opposite sex you lead a life of idyllic bliss. There can be abuse, violence, divorce, 'cheating' and lying in any relationship .

Some LGBT people, and some heterosexual people, don't want to follow the idealised model of marriage and lead more 'unconventional' lives. They though are able to love and care for each other. Its not sleazy , whatever that means anyway.

How does the death of Stephen and Kevin in any way 'raise troubling questions?' Kevin seems to have had drug problems and the relationship broke down because of them. News flash, that happens to heterosexual people as well.

How was Stephen's death 'dubious' and in what way was it linked to his relationship ? Where are her facts that civil partnerships lead to a 'sleazy' death ?

Oh and gay people wanting tolerance and understanding , well not from this unpleasant woman.

It is important that the truth comes out about the exact circumstances of his strange and lonely death.
As a gay rights champion, I am sure he would want to set an example to any impressionable young men who may want to emulate what they might see as his glamorous routine.
For once again, under the carapace of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see.

What truth is she wanting ? The medical facts seem to have been established, so what else needs to be known? Ahh, muck racking and some sort of proof that 'unnatural' relationships lead to 'sleazy' deaths.

And how was his death 'strange' and 'lonely?' It has been established that sudden deaths do occur in healthy people. How was he lonely, he was on holiday with his partner ? Again, facts seem not to be a priority here.

The facts show this to have been a tragic death, I don't believe the death certificate states being gay or in a civil partnership as its cause .