Gay Rights Are The Indicator Of A Civilised Society, Says Polly Toynbee

LONDON, 12 NOVEMBER 2007 — Gay rights are the bellwether that indicates whether a society lives by civilised values, said Polly Toynbee, journalist and commentator, who was the guest speaker at a packed annual lunch of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association on Saturday 10 November in London.

Ms Toynbee, who is one of The Guardian’s senior columnists, told the humanist group that the level of commitment to human rights that any given nation has can be measured by its attitudes to its gay community. By that measure, Britain wasn’t doing too badly. She was critical of religious attacks on the human rights of gay people and alarmed at the rise of religious influence in the political sphere.

Ms Toynbee said that little had been made of the rights of lesbian and gay people during the conflicts in Iran and Afghanistan. Nigeria still has a capital offence for homosexual acts, and so have Saudi Arabia and Yemen, which the UK government still regard as “our very good friends”. If we make gay rights the sticking point in our relationships with these countries, then this might be the way to go forward.

She praised the progress in the areas of civil partnerships, equality law and protection against discrimination. Such rapid gains had not been anticipated when New Labour came to power in 1997.

Toynbee warned about the constant threat of religious fundamentalism. She pointed out that it was a coalition of all faiths that led to the defeat in Parliament of the right-to-die bill and other progressive legislation. The threats made by religious groups during the passage of the Sexual Orientation Regulations had been outrageous. She questioned the morality of religious groups conducting that kind of campaign against vulnerable minorities. This, she said, was the reason religious groups should not be permitted to run welfare services.

Polly Toynbee criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury for betraying his own innate liberalism to placate the homophobic bigots within his church. She said “The weight of religious power always lies with the conservatives and fundamentalists.”

She also laid into Joseph Ratzinger, the Pope, whom she said was “incredibly, more reactionary than his predecessor” Polly also criticised the appointment of Joel Edwards, leader of the Evangelical Alliance, to the new Equality and Human Rights Commission, saying that it would inevitably lead to conflict. He’ll be obliged eventually to say which side he stands on and will be pressed on gay rights: he can’t uphold both sides.

It’s easier to oppose Christian homophobia than that which emanates from Islam, she said. “It’s called ‘Islamophobic’ when we fight against the Islamic view of women or gay rights. It’s not Islamophobic. As dedicated humanists, we’re the ones who can say we’re against the whole lot of it. We know we’re not being racist. What they stand for is dreadful and harmful and awful – we are the ones who cannot be silenced. There has been a lot of turning-a-blind-eye to Islam. We are the ones who stand for progressive policies and have a unique voice to say so.”