This years London Gay Pride saw one of the biggest turnouts ever despite two factors that would have all but destroyed other events. Firstly unknown persons planted two 'devices’ on the route of the march two days before. This could have led the Police to cancel the procession or a least reroute it through a less glamorous part of town. Then there was the rain that tipped down by the bucket full from beginning to end and the pathetic little protests by the National Front and their brethren from the Christian Right. Fortunately the LGBT community and their supporters are not so easily put off and beer and broll'ies were the order of the day, with the pink pound ensuring plenty of both flowed through the damp streets of London.
However, marchers carrying banners with the word 'queer' displayed on them were forbidden from displaying them at yesterday's Gay Pride event in London. Blundering cops decided that the word was 'offensive', and someone wearing a t-shirt which read 'anarchists make better lovers' was also ordered to cover it up as this was also deemed 'offensive' by those arbiters of good taste the London Met. Politics is not allowed at Pride it seems, leaving more room for corporate back-slapping about how right on companies like Lloyds Bank and British Airways are.
Reports and Photos: Pride 2007. Pitiful counter demos. | Pride 2007 photos and report. | Queers Banned at Pride! | British Airways Shame London Pride | Anarchists join Gay Pride march
Pride 2007 Reports Elsewhere: Dublin Gay Pride 2007 | Gay Pride in Riga, Latvia 2007 | Chicago's Biggest Pride Parade Ever! Gives Warm Welcome to Progressive Contingent | 2007 Pride Weekend in San Francisco | Israel - we are all queers
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On Friday 25th November up to 600 women took to the streets of London to "Reclaim the Night" - as they marched from Soho Square to a rally at the University of London Union (see pics).
Reclaim The Night (also known as 'Take Back the Night') began in Northern England during the 1970s to protest against the fear that women felt walking in the streets at night. The action was held on 25th November, The United Nations International Day To End Violence Against Women, and was part of 16 days of activism against gender violence. The London Feminist Network was demanding a number of measures including culturally-specific counselling for women who have experienced sexual violence and for an audit of London transport safety.
An Amnesty International UK report recently revealed shockingly low knowledge about the scale of sexual violence against women in this country and worrying attitudes towards such crime. Every year there are thought to be up to 50,000 rapes in the UK. Currently only 5.6% of rapes reported to the police result in conviction.
In February 2005 The Home Office brought about new regulations forcing all non European Nationals to ask ‘permission’ before getting married.
Those non EU Nationals married in the United Kingdom before February of this year may classify themselves as being amongst ‘one of the lucky’ few who managed to marry the person they love, however it seems that even before these new laws were passed marriage to an non-EU member didn’t count for very much in Britain anyway.
The shocking reality of being married to an non-EU member in Britain today is a life of forced uncertainty, dominated by the imminent threat of your loved ones being deported and returned to a country where they most probably face certain death. Astonishingly the ’Right to Marry and found a family’ as outlined in Article 8 of The Human Rights Act is certainly not a right that exists for many British women today.
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Most people believe sex workers should not be criminalised. "Paying the Price", the first review of the prostitution laws for 50 years, hides the impact of the prostitution laws on women's and children's safety, protection and welfare, and makes way for more criminalisation. Sex workers and others discuss a response. See Paying the price of criminalisation - A response to the government consultation paper on prostitution by the English Collective of Prostitutes.
International Conference on prostitution, Saturday 4 December 9.30 - 6 pm St Mary's Church, Eversholt St.
See the full agenda and speakers and there is more info at prostitutescollective.net
Background info: Sex workers & other Soho residents demand protection not eviction | Reclaim the Night | The International Union of Sex Workers
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