Category Archives: Secular

Editor quits in gay row

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The editor and deputy editor of a gay magazine have resigned after they were accused of printing racist articles.

The Lesbian and Gay Coalition Against Racism led a group of mostly ethnic minority protesters who slammed the Lesbian and Gay Humanist magazine – accusing it of having “demonised immigrants”. The last edition of the magazine carried a picture of two gay teens being hanged in Iran on the cover and, inside, raised questions about Islam. In another article it referred to “foreign settlers” as “often poor, ill-educated and culturally estranged Third Worlders” also claiming many of them are “criminals of the worst kind”. A statement criticising the magazine was signed by the gay Muslim group Imaan, the Black Gay Men’s Advisory Group and representatives of the Met Police and the Society of Black Lawyers.

Now editor Andy Armitage has quit, because he claims his publishers didn’t back him up. He denies the material was racist. He said: “I wouldn’t say it demonised them [immigrants]. It was robust and very analytical and it touched a few raw nerves. There are too many people of the political correctness brigade who conflate any criticism of religion with racism”. Armitage said he recognised that there are many moderate Muslims but he said the religion represents a “growing threat” to gays and women. The Pink Triangle Trust which publishes the magazine is meeting this Saturday to decide its future.

Pink Paper, 24 November 2005

Me – Islamophobic? Tatchell responds to critics

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“We have only once staged a protest against a muslim leader”, Peter Tatchell states. “That was against the rightwing, misogynist, anti-semitic and homophobic cleric, Dr Yusuf Qaradawi.” So that’s alright, then. Tatchell and his friends in Outrage mount a hysterical, lying campaign against one of the world’s leading Muslim scholars, but it doesn’t means they’re Islamophobes.

Weekly Worker, 24 November 2005

Tatchell also informs us that “most of the Muslims that the SWP-Respect ally with are homophobes, but the vast majority of Muslim people in this country seem to be prepared to live and let live”.

Now here’s a thing. On Tatchell’s website you can find this article which warns that “homophobic Muslim voters may be able to influence the outcome of elections in 20 or more marginal constituencies. Their voting strength could potentially be used to block pro-gay candidates or to pressure electorally vulnerable MPs to vote against gay rights legislation (and other liberal measures)”. Has Tatchell changed his mind about this, then? In which case, why is the article still on his website?

It would also be interesting to hear from Tatchell about current relations between Outrage and the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association, given that the two organisations have long enjoyed a close alliance and some overlap in membership.

GALHA secretary George Broadhead’s Islamophobic remark – “What does a moderate Muslim do, other than excuse the real nutters by adhering to this barmy doctrine?” – was quoted in a speech at the Respect conference. Earlier this year, in reponse to reports that Dr al-Qaradawi was about to visit Britain, Broadhead stated (see here and here) that Qaradawi should not be allowed into the UK at any time, “let alone at a time when the country is reeling from the kind of extreme violence that is spawned by his religion”.

Given the historically close association between Outrage and GALHA, one might have thought that, as a staunch opponent of Islamophobia, Tatchell would be the first to condemn such remarks. But, so far, not a peep.

Tatchell and pink-veiled Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Tatchell is disturbingly fixated on men with dark skin. How else can you explain why, when invited to comment on the murder of Jody Dobrowski, he rapidly started telling his radio audience about the homophobia of a well known Muslim cleric? I doubt the two white men charged with the crime place much store by the words of Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.”

A reply to Outrage’s press release about the Respect conference resolution on LGBT rights.

Lenin’s Tomb, 23 November 2005

‘Me – racist?’ Diesel Balaam replies to his critics

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sick Face of Islam“Mr Fernando is right to say that racism has no place in the lesbian and gay community. As I wrote in the Gay & Lesbian Humanist magazine ‘… racism is the antithesis of Humanism. We are not concerned where people come from genetically or geographically, but we ought to care very much about where they are going, ideologically. Racial discrimination is abhorrent …’ In other words, no one should be discriminated against or victimised because of their race, ethnicity, or skin colour – however, we should (and I quote again from the article) ‘… hold people to account for their beliefs and the actions that arise from them’.”

Diesel Balaam defends himself against the accusation by Denis Fernando of LAGCAR and other critics that his article in the current issue of Gay and Lesbian Humanist magazine is racist.

Gay.com, 10 November 2005

Happily, Balaam’s article is now available online and readers can judge for themselves.

Gay people urged to reject racism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Racism has no place in the Lesbian and Gay Community

We are deeply concerned that the autumn issue of The Gay and Lesbian Humanist magazine includes a number of statements which can be interpreted as racist, including support for the now deceased gay Dutch racist, Pim Fortuyn.

One article demonised immigrants stating: ‘our major towns and cities being for ever changed by huge numbers of foreign settlers’, referred to as: ‘the often poor, ill-educated and culturally estranged Third Worlders’ many of whom ‘are criminals of the worst kind.’ (p.11)

Another article denounces all Muslims, stating: ‘what does a moderate Muslim do, other than excuse the real nutters by adhering to this barmy doctrine?’ (p.6)

The magazine endorses views of the deceased far right Dutch leader Pim Fortuyn, saying: ‘the warning of popular gay politician Pim Fortuyn were tragically snuffed out by a left wing assassin before he could sufficiently alert people to the damage the influx of Muslims is doing to his own native land.’ (p.12)

This attitude to Fortuyn is consistent. As long ago as 2002, the editor wrote of him approvingly: ‘his “crime” in the eyes of many was that he said his country could take no more immigrants.’

We believe that the lesbian and gay community has nothing to gain from racism. On the contrary, we pledge to work with the Black and Asian communities to tackle racism and the far right which threaten all of our human rights and indeed our very lives.

We differ with the leaders of most religions in their all too often bigoted attitudes to lesbian and gay rights but rather than demonise any one religion or race or immigrants, we will work with lesbian and gay Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, people of all religions and none, to promote respect for our human rights.

Denis Fernando, Lesbian and Gay Coalition Against Racism
Ubaid, Secretary, Imaan, The LGBT Muslim support group
Dennis Carney, Chair, Black Gay Mens Advisory Group
Takhsin Begum,  Black representative, NUS LGBT Campaign
Black Lesbians UK
UNISON LGBT Committee
Kirsten Hearn, Chair of the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board of the Metropolitan Police Authority
Peter Herbert, Chair, London Race Hate Crime Forum and Spokesperson, Society of Black Lawyers
Reeva Bell, Chair, National Black Crown Prosecution Association
Simon Wooley, Chair, Operation Black Vote / Director, Black Londoners Forum
Pav Akhtar, NUS Black Students Officer
Brenda Ellis, Regard Executive Committee member
Pam Burrows, Satori Diversity and Training

‘Muslim groups may gain strength from French riots’ WSJ warns

Posted on by Bob Pitt

FireThe right-wing myth that the unrest in France is the result of an “Islamic uprising” has been rather undermined by the observable reality that French Muslim organisations have all intervened to oppose rioting. So some “Islamic conspiracy” theorists have found it necessary to shift their ground. Now, it seems, the real danger lies in the fact that Muslim organisations have intervened at all:

“These groups don’t preach violence, but they do advocate something that is troubling Europe’s secular democracies: that Muslims should identify themselves with their religion rather than as citizens. Effectively, they are promoting a separate society within society and that brand of Islamist philosophy is seeping into many parts of Western Europe. Countries from France and Germany to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands haven’t succeeded in integrating their Muslim minorities – and Islamic organizations have carefully positioned themselves to fill the breach.

“The riots ‘are a blessing for them because it gives them the role of intermediary’, says Gilles Kepel, a scholar who has studied and written extensively about the rise of Islam in France. That, in turn, puts them in a stronger position ‘to force concessions from the state’, such as demanding a repeal of the law France passed last year banning headscarves from public schools, he says.”

Wall Street Journal, 7 November 2005

Robert Spencer, though, has carefully considered the evidence and, on balance, prefers to stick with the view that it’s probably the result of a carefully prepared jihadist plan.

Front Page Magazine, 8 November 2005

The week Paris burned

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“For years, French integration policies have been based around the republican tenet of secularism. On the basis that France should be indivisible and able to assimilate all its components by officially erasing their particularities, the government does not allow official statistics to be broken down by ethnicity and religion…. Christophe Bertossian, an immigration specialist at the French Institute for International Relations, believes it is time for a rethink: ‘Part of the problem is the French approach to integration, based on the concept that everyone is equal. The idea that we are equal is fiction. Ethnic minorities keep being told they do not exist’.”

Alex Duval Smith in the Observer, 6 November 2005

‘Eurabia on the rampage’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mad Mel offers her take on the French riots, drawing her inspiration from Jihad Watch and Bat Ye’Or. “Multiculturalism, the doctrine that governs Britain and Europe and which grew out of a war upon their values from within by allowing the values of minorities to trump the majority, has been applied by the west to appease an ideology that has declared war upon its values from without.”

Melanie Phillips’s Diary, 4 November 2005

Of course, the distinguishing feature of French policy is in fact that it rejects multiculturalism in favour of secular nationalism. As a number of commentators have pointed out, this is a contributory factor in the current unrest, as it is difficult for the government to address the problems of oppressed communities when officially these minority cultures do not exist – everyone is supposed to be a French citizen and by definition enjoys equal rights.

When Melanie Phillips and her fellow right-wingers rail against multiculturalism, it’s clear that what they’re really having a go at is the existence of a multicultural society rather than multiculturalism as a policy. It is essentially a racist argument against the very existence of minority communities – at least when those communities are Muslim, that is.

Ghettos shackle French Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rioting by youths in a Paris suburb has highlighted the discontent among sections of France’s immigrant population. The BBC News website’s Henri Astier explores the sense of alienation felt by many French Muslims.

BBC News, 31 October 2005

A useful corrective to the claim that French secularism, in contrast to British multiculturalism, counters segregation and treats members of minority communities as equal citizens.

Muslim prayer room in parliament? NSS is not pleased

Posted on by Bob Pitt

sadiqkhan“Sadiq Khan, Labour MP for Tooting, is calling for a Muslim prayer centre to be installed in the House of Commons. His idea is being ‘seriously considered’ by the powerful all-party Commons Administration Committee. Mr Khan said: ‘The Anglicans are the only people among the staff and politicians at Westminster who have a place to pray. Even the Roman Catholics do not have somewhere they can use all the time. The place needs to be dragged into the 21st Century. It is only right that Parliament should provide a prayer room for people of other faiths.’ A spokesman for the Administration Committee said that they were ‘seriously considering’ the proposal, but that a multi-faith prayer room would be more appropriate. Someone needs to tell them, though, that Muslims often refuse to share prayer facilities, regarding other faiths as having ‘polluted’ them.”

National Secular Society news report, 21 October 2005