Welcome to the first of our new-format news features.
"The Full Story"
replaces the two long-running
features, World Watch and News Watch
with a single more widely ranging
look at items of news from all over
the world. We hope to help join up
the dots on the picture of world
news and give our readers the full
story.
Shameful
prime ministers and shameless
popes. Two-faced politicians and bigoted
religionists.
Dean
Braithwaite and
George
Broadhead piece together the full
story.
To Britain’s
shame, Gordon Brown (as Prime Minister)
invited Pope Benedict XVI on a State visit
to the UK later this year. Since that
invitation was made public, there’s been
growing unease among many people about
playing host to this man. A man who: has
probably contributed to the suicides of many
gay people; colluded in protecting priests
who have abused children; been responsible
for the deaths of many in Africa and
elsewhere who might have benefited from the
use of condoms to stave off disease; and who
wants to dictate to the UK how it should
frame its equality laws! People and groups
campaigning against his visit are growing
day by day, and, in April, Richard Dawkins
and Christopher Hitchens gave their support
to an attempt to have the leader of the
Roman Catholic Church arrested once he
arrives on British soil.
In this
video, Hitchens is speaking to MSNBC, the US
news channel, about what he sees as the
legal case against Pope Benedict XVI.
Also in
April, the UK government felt it necessary
to apologise to the Pope after it emerged
that someone from its Papal Visit Team
had sent out a memo suggesting that, during
his visit, he could open an abortion clinic,
launch a range of “Benedict condoms” and
bless a gay marriage.
Apparently,
according to the Daily Telegraph, the
ideas had emerged during a brainstorming
session among officials. The memo is headed
“The ideal visit would see . . .”, and
includes other items, such as: “Reverse
policy on women bishops/ordain woman”;
“Review of Vatican attitude on condom use”;
“Training course for all bishops on child
abuse allegations”; and “Apologise for . .
.”
Leaked Papal
Visit Team memo
The British
Foreign Office was quick to issue a public
apology to Pope Benedict, and the Foreign
Secretary, David Miliband, said he was
“appalled” at the memo. Miliband, of course,
is an atheist who sees nothing wrong in
sending his son to a faith school. In our
view, the only thing we should be
apologising for (to all those victims of
Catholic-instigated child abuse) is for
inviting the evil bigot to the UK in the
first place!
The Daily
Telegraph quoted Malcolm McMahon, Roman
Catholic Bishop of Nottingham, who said he
was astonished and angered by the proposals.
“This is appalling. You don’t invite someone
to your country and then disrespect them in
this way. It’s outlandish and outrageous to
assume that any of the ideas are in any way
suitable for the Pope.”
Yes, we
couldn’t agree more. Pope Benedict cannot be
expected to take seriously the issue of
priestly-led child abuse, care for the
disadvantaged, stand up for equality or
respect human rights. Afterall, he’s the
leader of one of the most evil institutions
the human race has ever devised.
If we’d been
in on the brainstorming session, we’d have
added: “Turn around, get back on the plane
and bugger off back to the Vatican.”
Tory faith schools
The Tory
leader, David Cameron, is very good at
trying to look both ways at once.
Unfortunately for him, he’s not very good at
actually pulling it off. See “Vote seXuality”, elsewhere in
this issue, for his performance during a
recent interview he gave to Gay Times.
Here is another example:
UK gay
Humanists condemn Conservative support for
faith-school teaching on homosexuality
The UK gay Humanist charity the Pink
Triangle Trust (PTT) has condemned the
Conservative Party’s successful blocking of
Labour’s plans to introduce compulsory sex
education in schools. It has also condemned
Conservative support for faith schools
teaching it “in a way that’s consistent with
their beliefs”.
In an
interview with The Catholic Herald, the
Conservative Party’s leader David Cameron
said: “I do think that sex and relationship
education is an important part of learning
about responsibility,” he said. “But schools
should be allowed to teach it in a way
that's consistent with their beliefs, and
parents should be free to decide whether or
not their children should take part in these
lessons.”
Commenting
on this revelation the PTT’s secretary
George Broadhead
said: “Mr Cameron has claimed to be
supportive of gay and lesbian rights, but
doesn't he realise that if faith schools are
permitted to teach that same sex sexual
practices are morally wrong, it will do
irreparable harm to their lesbian and gay
pupils and cause an increase in bullying?
“75% of gay
kids in faith schools face homophobic
bullying”
“Faith
schools now make up one third of the total
number and all three main political parties
intend to expand them further.
Unsurprisingly, a Stonewall survey revealed
that a higher proportion of anti-gay
bullying occurs in these schools than in
others. How is this going to be tackled if
such schools are permitted to teach pupils
that lesbian and gay sexual relationships
are sinful?
“Faith
issues dominate American election campaigns
and this is the latest indication of the
growing use of this style of campaigning by
the Conservatives.”
As a
Humanist charity, the PTT is also against
David Cameron’s opposition to assisted
suicide, which he expressed in the same
interview.
Well hung?
At the time
of writing, it seemed a hung parliament was
a real possibility for the first time in 30
or 40 years. Of course, by the time you read
this, the UK general election should be
over. And not before time. We’ve lived long
enough and seen enough to realise that,
whoever ends up running the country, nothing
really changes. And that surely will be the
case even if the government ends up being a
coalition one. Although most political
pundits were anticipating the possibility of
a Lib Dem–Labour or a Lib Dem–Conservative
coalition, that didn’t stop the nutters
crawling out of the woodwork.
Before the
election, the Guardian spoke to the Reverend
George Hargreaves, he of the Christian
Party. He told the paper that they couldn’t
possibly do a deal with the Labour Party –
as if that would ever be in the offing this
side of Pope Benedict declaring to the world
that he’s gay, however desperate Gordon
Brown was.
Scroll of
the psalms
Apparently,
the reason why Hargreaves’s Christian Party
couldn’t do a deal to keep Brown at Number
10 is theological. He told the paper:
Psalm 94,
verse 20 warns that there will be a “throne
of iniquity”, and that’s the Labour
government, with its equalities act forcing
Christians to make nice with gays; its
education rules hampering them from running
faith schools as they wish; its hostility to
creationism.
Hargreaves,
who was contesting the Barking constituency,
the seat held by Margaret Hodge, says that,
in terms of morality, she’s the worst:
“Abortion, gambling. She has no Christian
credentials at all.” Good enough for us!
Iran and the UNHRC
In April,
Sonja Eggerickx, President of the
International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU),
launched an international appeal to keep
Iran out of the United Nations Human Rights
Council. As part of its campaign, IHEU has
started a
petition
on its website, and is seeking signatures
from other organisations.
Petition
to Keep Iran out of the UN Human Rights
Council
More than six decades after the United
Nations proclaimed a set of universal human
rights, respect for these fundamental
freedoms remain “the foundation of freedom,
justice and peace in the world”. [1] Yet,
even within the organs of the United
Nations, it has required constant vigilance
and striving for these global standards to
survive and strengthen. In 2005, then UN
secretary general Kofi Annan called for the
replacement of the UN Commission for Human
Rights before it brought “the entire UN
system into disrepute”. In establishing the
Human Rights Council to replace the
discredited Commission, the UN General
Assembly decided “that members elected to
the Council shall uphold the highest
standards in the promotion and protection of
human rights” [2] Now, just four years
later, the UN is being asked to elect one of
the world’s worst human rights abusers to
that very Human Rights Council.
Iran: a
world-record of human rights abuse
The Islamic
Republic of Iran is one of the world’s most
blatant violators of human rights. This
alone should disqualify it from membership
of the Human Rights Council, because the UN
General Assembly required that “when
electing members of the Council, Member
States shall take into account the
contribution of candidates to the promotion
and protection of human rights and their
voluntary pledges and commitments made
thereto” [3]. Iran has a record of
persecuting religious minorities, denying
freedom of conscience and freedom of speech,
and violently suppressing democratic voices.
No other country executes as many of its
young people as Iran. No other member state
of the UN has called for another sovereign
state to be wiped off the map, in blatant
contravention of the UN Charter. In all of
these well-documented abuses [4], Iran
flouts the values and work of the Human
Rights Council.
Legal and
diplomatic condemnations of Iran by
UN
Member States
In March
2010, the Federal Court of Switzerland, the
country’s highest judiciary body, refused
any further cooperation with the Islamic
Republic of Iran because of its grave human
rights violations. The Swiss Federal Court
noted that Iran was denounced in a UN
resolution adopted by the General Assembly
in December 2009 and does not believe that
it will comply with its human rights
obligations even if it explicitly guaranteed
to do so [5]. The Swiss condemnation of Iran
was echoed by other States including the
Czech [6] and German [7] governments, which
called upon the UN to reject Iran’s
application to join the Council.
Voting
against Iran: defending the Council’s
credibility
The late
Commission for Human Rights failed because,
in the words of UN secretary general Kofi
Annan, its work had become irremediably
compromised by its politicking and
selectivity, and by its failure to address
human rights abuses by its member states.
Repeating this mistake by electing Iran
would lead the Council down the same
suicidal path taken by the Commission. The
future of the Human Rights Council, and the
credibility of the entire UN system, are at
stake.
We the undersigned non-governmental organizations therefore call upon
all member states of the United Nations not
to vote for Iran to become a member of the
Human Rights Council.
The Pink
Triangle Trust (PTT) showed its support for
the IHEU initiative, signing the petition
and calling on others to do so.
Gay
Humanists support opposition to Iran’s
membership of
the UN Human Rights Council
The UK gay Humanist charity, the Pink
Triangle Trust (PTT), has supported a move
by the International Humanist and Ethical
Union (IHEU) to keep Iran out of the United
Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
IHEU
President Sonja Eggerickx said: “Iran has
one of the worst human rights records on
earth. Yet it has had the audacity to
announce its candidacy for membership of the
UN Human Rights Council. The international
community must not let this happen. We are
calling upon the world's non-governmental
organisations to join us in our appeal to
keep Iran out.” IHEU has started a petition
on its website and is seeking signatures
from other organizations.
The PTT’s
secretary and veteran gay activist
George Broadhead
said: “When the Human Rights Council was
established, the UN General Assembly decided
‘that members elected to the Council shall
uphold the highest standards in the
promotion and protection of human rights’.
Now, just four years later, the UN is being
asked to elect one of the world's worst
human rights abusers to that very Council.
“The Islamic
Republic of Iran is one of the world’s most
blatant violators of human rights. This
alone should disqualify it from membership
of the Human Rights Council, because the UN
General Assembly required that ‘when
electing members of the Council, member
states shall take into account the
contribution of candidates to the promotion
and protection of human rights and their
voluntary pledges and commitments made
thereto’.
“Iran has an
appalling record of persecuting LGBT people,
denying freedom of conscience and freedom of
speech, and violently suppressing democratic
voices.
“The
punishment meted out to gays by this Islamic
theocracy, which includes floggings and
executions, are reminiscent of the Middle
Ages. In 2005, Iran sparked international
outrage when it publicly hanged two gay
teenage boys Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni.
Hanged:
Iranian teenagers
“It is quite
intolerable that such a murderous homophobic
state should be considered for membership of
the UN's Human Rights Council”, concluded
Broadhead.
The IHEU
petition, which Broadhead has signed on
behalf of the PTT, can be found at
here.
Gay Belarus
Just time to
highlight Gay Belarus, the Belarusian LGBT-rights
project set up in 2008 by Sergey Androsenko.
The group is not recognised by the
authorities in Belarus. Androsenko says: “In
our country, it is impossible to register a
gay organisation. Actually, it is impossible
to register any type of organisation. The
process has been made especially complex to
discourage anyone. And the authorities
sometimes take criminal charges against
non-registered organisations on the basis
that it compromises the ‘happy future of
Belarusian people’. So, the majority of
activists, whether gay or not, are potential
criminals.”
A statement,
sent in March 2008 by the President of
Belarus, shows how difficult life is for gay
people in that country. According to
Androsenko, it accused the Initiative of
Young Gays of “homosexual propaganda in
Belarus, of summons to the unendorsed
meetings, of insulting the government and
the President of Belarus and of
disinformation of the international society
about the social and political life in the
country”.
The
organisation has launched its own magazine,
GAY: Good As You. Published on a
bi-monthly basis, the periodical will be
available in Belarusian and Russian. The
first issue was distributed in Minsk in
March this year, but, according to its chief
editor, Sergey Praded, “The authorities have
denied to register our magazine, making it
unofficial, and preventing us to print more
than 299 copies according to the law; but we
hope to be able to circulate a few in other
cities by April.”
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