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Peter Tatchell Human Rights Fund Campaign Report 2005
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Darfur and Congo In May, Peter helped organise and publicise a protest by 200 refugees from Darfur, who staged a sit-in outside the gates of Downing Street to demand UK, EU and UN action to halt a genocide that has claimed up to 300,000 lives and created more than two million refugees. Peter has also highlighted the genocide in the Congo, where two million people have been massacred, while the international community sits back and does nothing. Asylum Supporting asylum seekers (gay and straight) and exposing the abuses within the UK asylum system has been the major focus of Peter’s work in 2005. Together with OutRage!, Peter set up an asylum task-group to support, organise and empower LGBT asylum seekers. It is staffed by volunteers, some of whom are asylum applicants themselves. Peter has secured solicitors, expert witnesses and human rights reports to corroborate their claims. He has also succeeded in stopping deportations and ensuring medical treatment. Peter lobbied the Home Office and MPs, exposing the homophobic, sexist and racial abuse that detainees often suffer in asylum detention centres. These centres are prisons in all but name, with detainees having fewer legal rights than criminals arrested on charges of rape and murder. Many are victims of torture but are often denied medical treatment or counselling. Some remain locked up for nearly two years, despite having committed no offence. Nigeria and Namibia Peter made representations to the Nigerian government over the savage caning of six teenage lesbians, one only 12 years old. He also protested against the Namibian government’s condemnation of lesbians and gays as unAfrican, traitors and spreaders of HIV/AIDS. Civil Partnerships In April, Peter was arrested under the Terrorism Act when he and OutRage! protested outside the royal wedding in Winsdor with placards emblazoned with the slogan: “Charles and Camilla can marry twice – gays can’t marry once!” The demo was to highlight the ban on same-sex marriage. While welcoming civil partnerships as an important advance, Peter condemned as “sexual apartheid” the separate, two-tier system of partnership recognition it has created: marriages for straights only and civil partnerships for queers only. Separate is not equal. Two wrongs do not make a right. He also criticised the government’s refusal to recognise same-sex marriages lawfully conducted abroad, in countries like Canada and the Netherlands. Almost single-handedly, Peter exposed the massive loss of benefits experienced by all cohabiting same-sex couples – even those who chose not to enter a civil partnership. Thousands of unemployed, disabled and elderly LGBT couples have been plunged overnight into devastating poverty. Some may be forced to sell their homes. Peter pressed the government to provide transitional relief, as it has done many times in the past when new benefit rules are introduced. But the government refused. Zimbabwe Peter’s commitment to supporting the struggle for democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe is undiminished. Three years ago, he helped organise the first protest in what has since become a weekly picket of the Zimbabwe High Commission in London. In March, Peter joined the vigil outside the High Commission to protest against rigged elections. He backed Zimbabwean calls for a general strike and a “people power” mass non-violent uprising to overthrow President Mugabe’s tyranny. Equality Bill The Equality Bill places a legal obligation on all public bodies to proactively combat discrimination on the grounds of race, disability and gender. But not, as Peter pointed out, on the grounds of sexuality, belief, age or HIV status. It also excludes protection against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation with regard to housing, goods and services and education. Although the government has promised to rectify this omission by October 2006, Peter queries why LGBT protection was excluded in the first place. Nevertheless, the Equality Bill very commendably creates a single equalities body, the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, to tackle all discrimination – an idea that Peter pioneered when he stood for election in the Bermondsey by-election in 1983. The new CEHR is, however, flawed because of the uneven patchwork of equality laws. Peter argued it will only work if there is a comprehensive Equal Rights Act to harmonise all equality legislation upwards to the gold standard of the race equality laws, and if the CEHR has stronger powers to monitor, promote and enforce equal rights. Peter also proposed that each of the different equality strands (race, sexuality etc) should have a separate division within the CEHR to ensure that no community is neglected. Iraq As well as opposing the western occupation of Iraq, Peter has campaigned against the creeping imposition of Sharia law, which is having deadly repercussions for LGBTs and for women who refuse to be veiled. The US and UK-backed Grand Ayatollah Sistani has issued a fatwa, calling for the execution of lesbians and gay men. To defend women’s and gay rights against Islamist fundamentalism, Peter is working with the Organisation for Women’s Freedom in Iraq and with the new Iraqi LGBT group, Abu Nawas. The Pope In the wake of Pope John Paul II’s death, Peter was one of the first voices to offer a balanced perspective on JPII’s legacy, pointing out that his condemnation of condom use had contributed to millions of needless deaths from HIV. He also highlighted the late Pope’s protection of paedophile priests while persecuting gay clergy, and the Vatican’s promotion of so-called “reparative therapies” to “cure” gay children. On the election of Cardinal Ratzinger to the Papacy, Peter exposed the new Pope’s previous role in orchestrating these homophobic policies, and his hostility to women’s rights, fertility treatment and embryo research. Malcolm X For 50 years, the bisexuality of US black nationalist hero, Malcolm X, has been hidden from history. Writing in the Guardian, Peter blew the whistle on this cover up. Drawing on research by the biographer, Bruce Perry, he revealed Malcolm’s teenage and early adult same-sex experiences. Given the lack of living world famous openly gay black icons, Peter feels it is important that young black LGBTs have a role model like Malcolm X, whose life shows that black bisexual people have made an important contribution to human history. Solidarity with Muslims Peter worked with progressive Muslims, including clerics and activists, to lay the foundations for an Islamic Enlightenment and to help create in the UK a liberal Muslim movement, similar to the Muslim Canadian Congress, which backs women’s rights and same-sex marriage. He has also supported individual women and gay Muslims who have been victims of attempted “honour killings” by fundamentalists. Together with OutRage!’s Muslim Affairs spokesperson, Aaron Saeed, Peter exposed the ban on LGBT Muslim participation in the government-sponsored Festival of Muslim Cultures. Shamefully, Prince Charles, the Home Office, Foreign Office, British Council and Arts Council are continuing to back this homophobic Festival, in defiance of their own equal opportunities policies. Peter also challenged the Muslim Council of Britain’s hypocritical stance on Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). The MCB now protests that it is “too exclusive.” Previously, the MCB had complained it was “too inclusive.” The MCB objects to HMD commemorating the victims of the Armenian genocide and what is dismisses as the “so-called gay genocide” by the Nazis. Despite this bigotry, when Sir Iqbal Sacranie of the MCB denounced homosexuals during a BBC interview, alleging that LGBT people are harmful, immoral and spread disease, Peter defended Sir Iqbal’s right to free speech and opposed attempts to prosecute him. As a result of his work defending women, gay and liberal Muslims, Peter has been subjected to Islamist death threats. The website, Islamophobia Watch, regularly (but falsely) denounces Peter as anti-Muslim. It is feared this could make him a target for Islamic fundamentalists who monitor the website to compile their hit-lists. Employment discrimination Peter successfully assisted several individuals suffering workplace victimisation. These include Sid Saeed, a gay Muslim employee, who faced racial and homophobic abuse at Deutsche Bank, and Andre Z, a gay Algerian, who was subjected to anti-gay harassment at a nursing agency that supplies staff to the NHS. Stop Murder Music The ‘Stop Murder Music’ campaign was suspended after a deal was struck with leading reggae record companies to halt recording songs that incite violence against lesbian and gay people. The deal is holding, although two of the eight singers have publicly performed their murder music tracks in defiance of the agreement. Meanwhile, the fight for LGBT rights in Jamaica continues. There have been setbacks. Steve Harvey, a prominent AIDS activist, was murdered by a gang of men who burst into his home. Another gay man, Nokia Cowen, drowned after he jumped into Kingston harbour to escape a homophobic mob. Despite the testimony of several witnesses, reggae star Buju Banton was acquitted of gay-bashing charges. Amnesty International reports that LGBT Jamaicans seldom get justice, with the police often colluding with the perpetrators and ignoring homophobic hate crimes. Peter is working with the Jamaican gay rights movement, JFlag, to launch a major new campaign for gay law reform in 2006. Nepal Acting in response to calls for international solidarity from Nepal’s LGBT movement, the Blue Diamond Society, Peter helped publicise the victimisation of gay and transgender Nepalese, and lobbied the Nepal government, police and political parties to uphold the human rights of sexual minorities. He has also endorsed the pro-democracy demonstrations against the autocratic monarchy. Homophobia in sport Homophobia in football was highlighted, with Peter proposing a public education campaign with the theme of: “Give homophobia the boot”. He also urged the Football Association to agree to tough disciplinary action against players, managers and fans who stir up anti-gay prejudice. Following successful campaigns by the football authorities to tackle racism, it is time to tackle homophobia and misogyny as well. Iran After being contacted by underground LGBT groups in Iran, Peter and OutRage! helped spread worldwide the news of a series of executions of gay people; most notably the hanging of two gay 17 year olds in Mashhad in July. He helped coordinate two protests outside the Iranian embassy in London. Peter also worked with Iranian exiles (gay and straight) and left-wing opposition movements inside Iran to expose the persecution of women, trade unionists, students, writers and human rights activists. While rejecting any western attempt to impose regime change on Iran, Peter supports the internal Iranian struggle to overthrow the clerical dictatorship in Tehran.
International Day Against Homophobia In May, Peter assisted in organising the first International Day Against Homophobia. It was marked in London by a picket of the Saudi embassy, in protest at the beheading of gay men. Poland The Polish Prime Minister visited London for a speaking engagement at Chatham House last November. Peter liaised with the International Lesbian and Gay Association, OutRage! and gay Polish exiles to protest at the Warsaw government’s increasing crackdown on women’s and gay rights, including the banning of Gay Pride marches and violent attacks on, and arrests of, LGBT campaigners. To avoid the protesters, the Polish PM suffered the humiliation of having to slink into Chatham House through a side door. Hate crimes Peter devotes much effort to defending gay, black and Muslim hate crime victims, and to supporting prisoners (gay and straight) who have been wrongly convicted. Among the cases he has taken up is that of a gay Muslim prisoner and imam, Naushad, who was jailed for eight years following a homophobic hate attack at his home. He was the victim, not the perpetrator. His assailants framed him for attacking them. He has been left to rot in prison for three years, with no solicitor to defend him. Peter is assisting with the preparation of Naushad’s appeal against conviction and has unearthed new evidence and witnesses substantiating his claims of innocence. ■ For more information about the forthcoming Peter Tatchell Human Rights Fund Reception, on 20 March, where guest speaker Sheikh Dr Muhammad Yusuf will call for an Islamic Reformation, go to http://www.petertatchell.net
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Posted: 27 February 2006 at 19:00 (UK time)