KENILWORTH, 11 JULY 2002 — On the 25th anniversary of the conviction of Gay News for blasphemous libel, a group of leading humanists stood on the steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields today and read the banned poem The Love That Dares To Speak Its Name.
Under a hail of abuse from Christian demonstrators, Freethinker editor and GALHA founder member Barry Duke, jazz musician and art critic George Melly, Labour MP Brian Sedgemore, writer and broadcaster Jonathan Meades and others read the poem from beginning to end. Other supporters at the protest included Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.
The police have said they have recorded the reading and are referring it to the Director of Public Prosecutions to decide further action.
Hanne Stinson, Executive Director of the British Humanist Association – and one of the readers – said: “We did this to draw attention to the blasphemy law which is not the dead letter that some would have us believe. It can still result in a prison sentence. It can be revived at any moment and used to curtail free speech. It must be abolished and not extended to other religions, which is what some people want.”
GALHA member Keith Porteous Wood, who is Executive Director of the National Secular Society, said he would be urging the House of Lords Select Committee on Religious Offences, which is considering the future of the blasphemy law, to recommend its abolition. He said: “We would like to see this law abolished as soon as possible, and under no circumstances should it be extended. Nor should its abolition be used as a bargaining tool to introduce something even more draconian in its place.”
GALHA vice-president George Melly commented: “Why should one religion be chosen to be the one allowed to prosecute if offended? We live in a mixed society and the blasphemy law is archaic. Why should one religion be allowed to have the crack of this particularly horrible whip?”