■ Gay Christian lay preacher Davis Mac-Iyalla (right), the Ugandan seeking refuge in the UK but who was 'incarcerated' in an asylum detention centre last week, with Peter Tatchell and Sir Ian McKellen at Pride London on Saturday. photo courtesy Outrage!

LONDON, July 7, 2008  –  Harriet Harman MP, government minister of equalities and deputy leader of the Labour Party, was booed and heckled as she spoke from the main stage at the gay Pride London celebrations in Trafalgar Square on Saturday afternoon.

Gay Pride organisers came on stage and appealed to the crowd to stop jeering and listen to what she had to say.

But their appeal had limited effect as the crowd which packed Trafalgar Square expressed their anger at the Government’s approach to gay men and women who seek refuge in the UK after feeling from danger.

“At several points during her speech, a bewildered Ms Harman appeared to waiver and had to struggle to be heard,” said gay human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who was at the side of the stage – he was also one of the speakers.

“Hundreds of people in the crowd expressed their anger at the way the Labour government is locking up gay asylum seekers, refusing them refugee status and ordering them to be sent back to violently homophobic countries like Algeria, Uganda, Iran, Nigeria, Iraq and Belarus,” he said.

“Those who are returned are at risk of arrest, imprisonment torture, rape and even murder.

“I tried to explain the crowd’s anger to Ms Harman as she left the stage,” he continued.

“But several Gay Pride stewards violently shoved me out of the way and threatened to have me arrested.  It was needless and unjustified aggression.

“As I was being dragged away by the stewards, Ms Harman shouted for me to contact her.  She said: ‘Peter, give me a call and we can discuss your concerns’.

“I will take up her offer.  I plan to present the government with a six-point plan to end the homophobic bias of the asylum system,” said Mr Tatchell.

And in another incident in Trafalgar Square, a transgender was threatened with arrest by official Gay Pride stewards.

Roz Caveney, a long-time human rights campaigner, journalist and transsexual woman, wanted to use the toilet.

“Official stewards who were running the toilets at Trafalgar Square announced that I, and any other transgender or transsexual woman, had to use the disabled toilets and was not allowed to use the regular women's toilets,” she wrote on the Transgender At Pride website. 

“I pointed out to the stewards that I transitioned and had surgery before they were born; I was more polite than a polite thing.  No dice…”

Earlier, Mr. Tatchell marched in the Pride Parade holding a poster placard ridiculing the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It featured a doctored photo of Amhadinejad wearing blue eye shadow, red lipstick, a gold earring and pink nail varnish.

He met the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and urged him to confound his gay critics and show practical support for London's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

Mr Tatchell marched in the parade with actor Sir Ian McKellen and Davis Mac-Iyalla, a leader of the Nigerian gay rights movement.

“Mr Mac-Iyalla was recently forced to flee Nigeria after threats and attempts to kill him, following homophobic denunciations by the Anglican Archbishop of Nigeria, Rev Peter Akinola. Akinola is a leading figure in the conservative splinter group, Gafcon, which opposes women bishops and gay priests, and which supports punitive legal discrimination against lesbian and gay people,” said Mr Tatchell.

“Davis arrived in Britain seeking sanctuary but was incarcerated in an asylum detention centre.

“The government treated him like a common criminal.

“It took a frantic lobbying campaign to pressure the Home Office to release Davis.  He was only set free from Oakington detention centre at 5pm on Friday, the eve of the Pride London parade.

“Although it is good that he was released, the Home Office should have never incarcerated him in the first place,” added Mr Tatchell.

Speaking from the main stage in Trafalgar Square, Mr Tatchell condemned “President Amadinejad’s violent homophobia” and “the Labour government’s policy of deporting lesbian and gay asylum claimants back to Iran”.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith MP last month refused requests for a moratorium on the return of gay asylum seekers to Iran, claiming “the evidence does not show a real risk of discovery of, or adverse action against, gay and lesbian people who are discreet about their sexual orientation”.

“This is complete nonsense and deeply insulting,” said Mr Tatchell.  “It is like saying that Jews in Nazi Germany were safe if they hid their Jewishness.”