KENILWORTH, 20 JULY 2006 — Christians who have complained about an advertisement from the Gay Police Association (GPA) indicating a rise in religion-inspired homophobic crimes are trying to make the victims of these crimes into the villains of the piece, says the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).
In a letter of support to the GPA, GALHA’s secretary, George Broadhead, said: “It is outrageous that Christians should suggest that complaints about their homophobia amount to an attack on their ‘religious freedom’. It increasingly appears that ‘religious freedom’ amounts to a freedom to attack and insult gay people. The Government’s granting of exemptions from equality legislation to allow religious groups to go on discriminating against gay people is an example of this. Under the new goods and services discrimination regulations, which are expected to come into effect in October, it will be illegal to discriminate against gay people in the provision of goods and services from that date, but religious groups are pressing for exemptions that would allow them, uniquely, to continue to do so. How religious people can claim that their faith is not homophobic is incomprehensible.”
The letter urges the GPA to “stick to its guns” and not back down on its claims under pressure from religionists.