Humanists Slam Religious Homophobia

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) has called on other gay and lesbian groups to recognise the serious threat of religious homophobia and the need to counter it.

At its AGM held on 11 September in the Bertrand Russell Room of London’s Conway Hall Humanist Centre, the group passed a motion deploring the recent upsurge of religious homophobia “notably from Christian peers in the House of Lords who opposed the Commons’ decision on the gay age of consent, and from the vast majority of Anglican bishops at the Lambeth Conference”. The motion called on other lesbian and gay groups, including the Equality Alliance and Stonewall, to recognise that religion is the major source of homophobia and to emulate GALHA in combating this whenever and wherever it appears.

GALHA Secretary George Broadhead commented: “Other lesbian and gay organisations seem loath to recognise that religions, including Christianity, Orthodox Judaism and Islam, pose a major threat to our lifestyle. Perhaps, in some cases, this is because of their reluctance to upset Tony Blair and other supposedly sympathetic Christian Socialists in the Labour Government. However, it is only when the continued moral influence and political clout of religious institutions decline that lesbians and gays will enjoy greater freedom from prejudice and discrimination.”