From Europe News:
Muslim Man Faces Charges for 'Gay Free Zone' Campaign
English Defence League 19 May 2011
Surprise, surprise - accusations and rumours about the EDL have once again proved to be entirely baseless. After stickers popped up in the heavily Islamised area of Whitechapel in London proclaiming the area to be a ‘gay free zone’, and warning of Allah's fury and of severe punishments, various dim-witted websites blamed the EDL.
This is despite our track record of supporting gay rights and our thriving LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community. The EDL’s respect for sexual freedom is a dramatic contrast to the homophobia that Britain’s Muslim community has a reputation for fostering.
For example, back in 2009 the Guardian reported that 500 out of the 500 British Muslims interviewed in their poll believed homosexuality to be completely morally unacceptable. And this is far from being an isolated statistic. The Times has reported that 32% of Muslim men have no respect for homosexuals as human beings, whilst the think tank Policy Exchange discovered that 61% of British Muslims believe that homosexuality should be illegal and subject to punishment by the law. Of course this pales in comparison to countries ruled by barbaric Sharia Law, in which the penalty for homosexuality is often death.
Unfortunately it seems that these backwards and intolerant views are widespread, even within the Muslim community in Britain. But where is the outrage at this clear desire to suppress individual rights? Imagine the uproar if someone had put up stickers declaring their local community a ‘Muslim-free zone’.
But when the offensive stickers first appeared, co-chair of the LGBT Rainbow Hamlets Forum, Jack Gilbert, quickly declared:
"We have evidence that they were very likely to have been produced by far right sources in order to ferment community tension”
Well, we have news for you Mr Gilbert. Not only is the English Defence League not a far right organisation, but we have no interest in ‘fermenting community tension’ – quite the opposite. Instead of making a prejudiced assumption about a group of people, we like to look at the facts – what have they said, and what do we know for certain? Our mission statement makes clear that our opposition is to radical Islam – in the interests of Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
What we now know for certain in this case is that the perpetrator was an 18 year old youth from Tower Hamlets named Mohammed Hasnath – a Muslim. He appears in court for sentencing on the 1st of June, charged with a section 5 offence relating to harassment, or the causing alarm or distress.
Looks like Mr Gilbert owes us an apology. Perhaps when he referred to "far right sources” he had in mind those dedicated to the highly intolerant and oppressive ideology of Islamofascism. But, of course, it seems far more likely that he instead sought to be an apologist for radical Islam, and picked himself an easy target - in doing so revealing his ignorance of the nature of our organisation, and the overwhelming number of decent people who compose it.
What we should all be able to agree on is that homophobia has no place in the modern world, and that British Muslims need to do more to stamp it out in their communities.
The EDL will continue to stand firm against the discriminatory attacks that the LGBT community finds itself facing on an increasingly regular basis. We will continue to challenge the Muslim world’s intolerance of sexual freedoms, and help to protect the rights of the individual against the threat posed by Islamofascism and from the intolerance taught by radical Islam.
Posted May 19th, 2011 by pk
Muslim Man Faces Charges for 'Gay Free Zone' Campaign
English Defence League 19 May 2011
Surprise, surprise - accusations and rumours about the EDL have once again proved to be entirely baseless. After stickers popped up in the heavily Islamised area of Whitechapel in London proclaiming the area to be a ‘gay free zone’, and warning of Allah's fury and of severe punishments, various dim-witted websites blamed the EDL.
This is despite our track record of supporting gay rights and our thriving LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community. The EDL’s respect for sexual freedom is a dramatic contrast to the homophobia that Britain’s Muslim community has a reputation for fostering.
For example, back in 2009 the Guardian reported that 500 out of the 500 British Muslims interviewed in their poll believed homosexuality to be completely morally unacceptable. And this is far from being an isolated statistic. The Times has reported that 32% of Muslim men have no respect for homosexuals as human beings, whilst the think tank Policy Exchange discovered that 61% of British Muslims believe that homosexuality should be illegal and subject to punishment by the law. Of course this pales in comparison to countries ruled by barbaric Sharia Law, in which the penalty for homosexuality is often death.
Unfortunately it seems that these backwards and intolerant views are widespread, even within the Muslim community in Britain. But where is the outrage at this clear desire to suppress individual rights? Imagine the uproar if someone had put up stickers declaring their local community a ‘Muslim-free zone’.
But when the offensive stickers first appeared, co-chair of the LGBT Rainbow Hamlets Forum, Jack Gilbert, quickly declared:
"We have evidence that they were very likely to have been produced by far right sources in order to ferment community tension”
Well, we have news for you Mr Gilbert. Not only is the English Defence League not a far right organisation, but we have no interest in ‘fermenting community tension’ – quite the opposite. Instead of making a prejudiced assumption about a group of people, we like to look at the facts – what have they said, and what do we know for certain? Our mission statement makes clear that our opposition is to radical Islam – in the interests of Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
What we now know for certain in this case is that the perpetrator was an 18 year old youth from Tower Hamlets named Mohammed Hasnath – a Muslim. He appears in court for sentencing on the 1st of June, charged with a section 5 offence relating to harassment, or the causing alarm or distress.
Looks like Mr Gilbert owes us an apology. Perhaps when he referred to "far right sources” he had in mind those dedicated to the highly intolerant and oppressive ideology of Islamofascism. But, of course, it seems far more likely that he instead sought to be an apologist for radical Islam, and picked himself an easy target - in doing so revealing his ignorance of the nature of our organisation, and the overwhelming number of decent people who compose it.
What we should all be able to agree on is that homophobia has no place in the modern world, and that British Muslims need to do more to stamp it out in their communities.
The EDL will continue to stand firm against the discriminatory attacks that the LGBT community finds itself facing on an increasingly regular basis. We will continue to challenge the Muslim world’s intolerance of sexual freedoms, and help to protect the rights of the individual against the threat posed by Islamofascism and from the intolerance taught by radical Islam.
Posted May 19th, 2011 by pk
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