GALHA Celebrates 30th Anniversary

London, 7 January 2009 — The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2009 with a series of special public meetings and an exhibition of its work launched in July at the Bishopsgate Institute in Central London.

GALHA secretary David Christmas commented “There are very few LGBT organisations that have lasted 30 years and probably none at all that have held regular public meetings.” The Pearls of Wisdom programme of events starts this Friday with the world premiere of For the Bible Tells Me So which is directed by Daniel Kerslake. The widely praised film, which is said to “offer healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crossfire of scripture and sexual identity”, is bound to provoke interest and debate. Other highlights of the 2009 programme include a talk based on new research about how a group of Brixton squatters contributed to the start of gay liberation in the UK and a controversial talk and discussion about Islam, Human Rights and Homophobia.

GALHA was formed in 1979 following the prosecution of Gay News for the then crime of blasphemy by Christian moral crusader Mary Whitehouse. A GALHA spokesperson commented “Clearly, we have made enormous progress since then with our avowed aim of gay rights as human rights. But our hard won rights and freedoms are under continual threat. You only have to look at the way LGBT people are treated in many countries around the world to see the dangers, and sadly these threats almost always have a religious motivation. Only last month an unholy alliance of Catholic and Muslim countries voted against a groundbreaking UN statement on LGBT rights”.

“By contrast LGBT rights have long been supported by our kindred international humanist and secular organisations without qualification”, added David Christmas.