UK religions unite to oppose gay equality laws...

 http://uk.gay.com/article/5233

The major religions of the world are uniting forces to intimidate both the Government and the gay community. Muslims and Jews have joined the hysterical clamour, led by the Christian community to protest forthcoming gay rights laws.

The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations, is quite simply legislation which will ensure that businesses and organisations will be unable to discriminate on the grounds of sexuality. The regulations, which came into force in Northern Ireland this week are in line with EU requirements.

Anyone found guilty of discrimination on the basis of sexuality in Northern Ireland will faces fines of between £500 and £1,000 for a first offence and up to £25,000 for repeat "serious" offences.

Churches and religious groups are planning demonstrations next week against the Sexual Orientation Regulations, which are due to come into force in April. Unfortunately, there seems to be no plans for a queer counter-protest.

continues on link...............

and...

OutRage! News Service Jan 4th... (issued via OutRage!- see note at end)
Equal Rights Act urged by Tatchell

Call to harmonise all equality legislation

10-point agenda of “news policies for a new year”

London – 4 January 2007

The “harmonisation of all equality and anti-discrimination laws” is
one of 10 “new policies for a new year” being urged by human rights
campaigner, Peter Tatchell, in his personal New Year message.

Criticising the “differential levels of protection against
discrimination available to different minority groups,” Mr Tatchell is
calling for the “unification of all equal rights legislation in a
single Equal Rights Act, based on the gold standard of the race
equality laws.”

“We need to raise the level of legal redress for discrimination based
on sexual orientation, transgenderism, age, belief, gender and
disability to the same high standard that already exists for
discrimination based on race.

“Instead of the existing diverse, separate, piecemeal equality laws,
it is time we tackled all forms of discrimination in a uniform,
coherent way,” said Mr Tatchell.

“I would like to see an all-inclusive Equal Rights Act to standardise
all equality laws in a single, comprehensive legal framework. The
current uneven patchwork of equality laws is unfair and bad for
community relations. It is wrong that some victims of discrimination
have lesser legal protection and redress than others. Without
universal equality legislation, the new Commission for Equality and
Human Rights is bound to be split by divisions and resentments, which
will impair its effectiveness,” he said.

Mr Tatchell’s full 10-point agenda of “new policies for a new year”
follows below.

This agenda is Mr Tatchell speaking personally, as a political and
human rights campaigner, since the issues covered go beyond OutRage’s
remit.

Further info: Peter Tatchell, 020 7403 1790


2007: New policies for a new year

2007 doesn’t have to be a repeat of the failures of 2006. New policies
are needed at home and abroad

Peter Tatchell’s personal New Year Message 2007

New Labour isn’t working. The Blairite strategy of Thatcherism lite
has failed.
A once great party has lost its heart and soul. As 2007 dawns, all
that Gordon Brown (the expected new Labour leader and Prime Minister)
is offering is more of the same. It is time for a radical rethink.
Here are 10 policy ideas that might offer solutions to some of the key
issues facing Britain and the world in 2007:

1. The withdrawal of US, British and other western forces from Iraq,
and their temporary replacement by UN peace-keepers (not war-fighters)
drawn from African, Middle Eastern, Asian and Latin American countries
– until the Iraqis can train up enough of their own police and
soldiers to halt the escalating sectarian violence. Our presence in
Iraq is neo-imperialism. It is fuelling the insurgency. But
unilaterally withdrawing western troops is likely lead to an even
worse bloodbath. It would be just as immoral as maintaining the
occupation. UN peace-keepers, under neutral UN command, are needed to
stop the daily sectarian car-bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.
Without replacement UN peace-keepers to stabilise the security
situation, Iraq is likely to slide further into civil war, with a
repeat of the large-scale massacres that followed the Islamist
revolution in Iran in 1979. Security is the precondition for Iraqis to
determine their own future and to rebuild the country’s
infrastructure. They deserve the same freedom from political and
sectarian violence as we, in Britain, deserve.

2. Armament and trade sanctions against Israel
www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1259087,00.html
, and a boycott of oppressive Israeli institutions, to force Israel’s
withdrawal from its illegal occupation of the West Bank. When a nation
wilfully defies international law for 40 years, something drastic has
to be done. An Israeli pull-out from the West Bank, and the creation
of a viable, independent Palestinian state, are the key to lasting
peace, equality, justice and security in the Middle East. It is in the
interests of both Arabs and Jews.

3. Halt the creeping, back door privatisation of the National Health
Service www.keepournhspublic.com/index.php and cut the bloated
hospital bureaucracies. Fund frontline NHS services, not managers and
consultancy firms. My cousin died in 2005, partly because funding
shortfalls stopped her getting fast, hi-tech treatment. Doctors
refused her request for a brain scan, which would have detected her
tumour. Too many patients are dying needlessly every year because of
cuts and closures.

4. No nuclear power expansion
www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/help/help_stop_nukes.php . The government
should invest in job-creating energy conservation, which could cut our
energy needs by 25%, and develop renewables like off-shore wind farms,
and wave and tidal power, which could provide at least 50% of our
energy requirements.

5. An all-inclusive Equal Rights Act
www.petertatchell.net/equality%20-%20strategies/cre.htm to standardise
all equality laws in a single, comprehensive legal framework. The
current uneven patchwork of equality laws is unfair and bad for
community relations. It is wrong that some victims of discrimination
have lesser legal protection and redress than others. Without
universal equality legislation, the new Commission for Equality and
Human Rights is bound to be split by divisions and resentments, which
will impair its effectiveness.

6. Reform Labour’s unjust and merciless asylum system
www.refugeecouncil.org.uk . Detention without trial of asylum seekers
is economic madness. Half of all asylum claimants have skills that
Britain urgently needs. They should be allowed to work pending their
hearings. This will reduce the cost of the asylum system by saving on
accommodation and social security payments. Gainfully employed
refugees would make a positive contribution to the economy and pay
taxes. They would become financial assets, not burdens. The
deportation of asylum seekers who have suffered imprisonment, rape and
torture is particularly grotesque and heartless.

7. No more divisive faith schools
www.secularism.org.uk/faithschoolswritetoyourmp.html
and the phased withdrawal of state funding from existing ones. They
are a recipe for sectarian division. Just look at northern Ireland.
Let children of all faiths, and those of no faith, mix together and
understand their common humanity.

8. An elected head of state www.republic.org.uk . Monarchy is
incompatible with democracy. The royals are unelected and
unaccountable. Let’s have an elected president - a low-cost, purely
ceremonial president, like the Germans and the Irish. This would make
the people sovereign, not the royals. It would give us an important
safeguard: if we don’t like our head of state, we can elect a new
one.

9. Ban medical research using primate species
www.eceae.org/english/primates.html . Over 3,000 monkeys are subjected
to experimentation in the UK every year. Some die; others suffer pain;
and all experience extreme emotional distress due to long-term
captivity and isolation in tiny cages. Instead, finance a global
scientific effort to develop humane (and more efficient) alternatives
to animal experimentation, similar to the replacement medical research
methods pioneered by the Dr Hadwen Trust www.drhadwentrust.org.uk

10. A fair voting system (proportional representation)
www.makevotescount.org.uk for Westminster elections, to ensure the
number of seats each party wins closely corresponds to the proportion
of votes cast for each party. This would make for fairer, more
representative government. An effective form of PR is the electoral
system for the Scottish Parliament. It includes both constituency MPs
and top-up additional MPs. Adopting this model for Westminster would
end the political corruption whereby Labour secured less than 36% of
the votes cast at the last general election, but bagged 55% of the
seats. This isn’t democracy. It is a rigged electoral system that
echoes some of the notorious tyrannies the government often rages
against.

Note: This New Year message is Mr Tatchell speaking personally, as a
political and human rights campaigner, since the issues covered go
beyond OutRage’s remit.

Further info: Peter Tatchell, 020 7403 1790

Ends

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