Gays Call for Ban on Islamic Extremist

KENILWORTH, 19 JULY 2005 — The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA), one of Britain’s longest-established gay groups, has called on Home Secretary Charles Clarke to ban the extremist cleric Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi from entering Britain. The cleric is due to speak at a conference at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on 7 August.

Dr Qaradawi’s last visit to Britain was in October 2004, when he received a warm welcome from London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone at City Hall. This was met with strenuous protest from a coalition of gay organisations including GALHA itself, OutRage!, the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement and School’s Out!, as well as Jewish, Hindu and Sikh organisations.

GALHA’s secretary, George Broadhead, said: “As well as supporting extremist positions on many sensitive issues, notably suicide bombing, Dr Qaradawi is virulently homophobic. He is not the sort of person who should be welcomed here at any time, let alone at a time when the country is reeling from the kind of extreme violence that is spawned by his religion. We are particularly concerned about the incitement to violence and hatred that his preaching brings. There should be no room for bigots like him in our pluralist society.”

In his letter to Charles Clarke, Mr Broadhead pointed out that a thorough research has been made of Dr Qaradawi’s extremist pronouncements in his speeches and books, and via his website. From these it is clear that he supports the killing of homosexuals to “keep society pure”, the killing of Israelis (including civilians), the killing of apostates, and the mutilation of women’s genitals. The letter draws Mr Clarke’s attention to http://www.galha.org/briefing/qaradawi.html on GALHA’s website for details of this research.

The letter reminds Mr Clarke that Dr Qaradawi is already banned from entering the United States because of his pronouncements on suicide bombings and his links with the Muslim Brotherhood, Islam’s oldest fundamentalist organisation.

GALHA says that it hopes other gay groups and organisations concerned with human rights will support its protest.