Decision time

It seems to me that any member of our LGBT communities that could consider voting for a movement that oppresses us, historically and presently, must have a destuctive streak! Gordons terrible blunder in Rochdale certainly was destructive and he know's that. But last nights debate felt like the debate the country had been waiting for - when the choices facing voters came to life. The prime minister pleaded with the country not to entrust government with his rivals, warning about the effect of Tory plans to cut spending now and about what he called the immorality of their proposals to cut inheritance tax while limiting tax credits.

David Cameron simply refused to engage with Mr Brown, scarcely glancing in his direction and dismissing his attacks as desperate stuff from a dseperate man. He attacked Labour's record but turned his real fire on Nick Clegg - on his party's policies on immigration, the euro and welfare reform.

It was, perhaps, the greatest of all compliments to the Liberal Democrat leader, who once again tried to tap into public frustration with the performance of both big parties. The polls called this debate for Mr Cameron. He has a week to do the one thing that has eluded him these past four years - in his own phrase, to "seal the deal". However battles can still be fought, mistakes made and the struggle won!

Holiday time

Well not for some Marie, our Matron of Dishonour was supposed to be in Cyprus for a family holiday that had previously become unstuck with the demise of Globspan! So no holiday but a break away to join me in Austwick! I figured if Marie has lingered in Dunfermline sooner rather than later she would have ended in the constituancy office working hard for the Labour cause!
Yesterday after a visit to Settle for the Tuesday Market we sent to Colne and guess where? As you can see it was not a wasted journey! We are now proud owners of a new fairy, one which resides at the family plot, thanks to Marie!

Mad Granny in the attic

The Gay Liberation Front is the mad granny in the attic to every major LGBT activist development since the 1970s in the UK. Without her blood, few of our current venerable organisations would exist. We don't talk about her much, a lot of her descendants feel vaguely embarrassed by her, but there are some bloody good stories to tell of her mad youth and she has a lot of children to feel proud of.

GLF was born in New York on June 27th 1969 and brought to London the following October by Bob Mellors and Aubrey Walters. It wasn't the first gay organisation in Britain. Others, such as the Homosexual Law Reform Society, had achieved partial decriminalisation for gay men and Arena 3 discreetly supported gay women. But the Gay Liberation Front wasn't, like them, reformist. GLF was revolutionary, part of the late 60s flowering of the counter-culture, full of students, hippies, artists and activists. It was born of a riot against a police raid on a bar, the Stonewall Inn. In London, its weekly meetings were the riot, the place to be for anyone lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender who wanted to change the world and change their lives. GLF organised the first and the best gay demonstrations; they invented gay nuns, Gay Days, gay communes; they made demands instead of requests; and they improvised the first London Gay Pride, marching along Oxford Street in radical drag with the police running after them in confusion.

GLF signalled the start of the end of shame for being gay. People from GLF went on to found the first gay newspaper, Gay Times. Pride descends in a direct line, of course. It may hold fancy high-ticket receptions in the Paramount these days for the New Tories, but Pride was born out of anarchy and anger and, well, pride.

GLF were the first to understand the central importance of schools sex education, to demand the right to show affection in public and to claim equality before the law. But the most important thing about GLF was that equality wasn't enough. Their aim was not to imitate anyone else's lifestyle, but to discover their own. In a 21st Century of civil partnerships, gays in the government and Equality as an industry, GLF still has relevant questions to ask. "Equal? Equal to what?"

There are two things that money can't buy in the Pink Pound consumerism of the 21st Century; ideals and self-respect. GLF had both in spades, and modern LGBT people, immersed in reformism and respectability, have much that we could learn from its wild, brief flowering forty years ago. This year, we celebrate our mad granny, who bequeathed us so much. It's a heritage worth exploring and the GLF Manifesto demands still remain relevant.

Ro's open letter

Father Ross K Bell
Tinkerbell Towers
5/4 Colonsay Close
Edinburgh
EH5 1BT

Dear Sir

I grew up in Fife struggling with my sexuality because there were so few support services or positive messages for me as a young gay man. It was in the age of Thatcher and her hate ridden policies, such as Section 28 of the Local Gov’t Act.

Therefore, as a gay man I am horrified when I hear young, and not so young, Lesbian, Gay Bisexual Transgendered and Queer folks suggest they may vote Tory.

Only the Labour party has a major commitment to supporting LGBTQ Communities and a proven track record of UK wide delivery. This gives a message of hope to young people who are growing up gay in the more isolated areas of Scotland.

Labour came to power in 1997 promising to change the law and change attitudes to towards the LGBTQ communitIES. Outdated prejudice for too long held back gay couples from enjoying the same rights as their straight counterparts and prejudice and misinformation made life hard for young people understanding their own sexuality and that of their friends.

The Government has made tackling bullying in schools a key priority, including homophobic bullying. They abolished “section 28” which inhibited teachers explaining homosexuality and protecting children from homophobic bullying. “The Safe to learn” package of guidance also includes specialist advice on cyberbullying, homophobic bullying and bullying involving children with special educational needs and disabilities and it makes clear to schools their duty to have strong anti-bullying policies and what tools the law gives them to deliver on this. Schools are required to have a clear and firm policy on tackling bullying – which includes homophobic and other bullying. This guidance was extended to cover preventing and responding to sexist, sexual and transphobic bullying.

In 2001, the national strategy for sexual health and HIV was a major milestone which placed sexual health and HIV firmly on the national agenda and set out an ambitious 10-year programme to tackle sexual ill-health and modernise sexual health services in England, we in Scotland need to follow.

The Labour Gov't have developed new ways of delivering cross cutting advise and support on sexual health including bringing social workers, youth workers, and others together to help provide advice and support.

The Equality Bill makes strides towards a life fairer for lesbian, gay, bisexual,transgendered and queer people by putting a new duty on public bodies which will mean public bodies need to think about the needs of everyone who uses their services or works for them. For example, a residential care home would have to consider the needs of same sex couples. It is to the Churches' and other faith communities' shame that they sidestepped being covered by this legislation.

The Labour record speaks for itself:

Introduced civil partnerships in 2004 which has to date benefited nearly 35,000 same sex couples;

Brought in a consistent age of consent (16) for both Lesbian, Gay and bisexual people and for heterosexual people.

Repealed Clause 28 of the Local Government Act 1988.

Lifted the ban on lesbians and gay men serving in the armed forces;

Outlawed discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in the workplace in 2003 and banned discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in goods, facilities, services and public functions in 2007;

Created a new offence making it unlawful to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation through the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.

Strengthened the law to protect transsexual people from discrimination The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 which made it easier for lesbian couples to access IVF and ensure that same sex couples can be both recognised as the legal parents of their children in the same way as heterosexual people.

The Tory Leader has not condemned the homophobia of Shadow Cabinet member Chris Grayling and has been less than vocal of his support of our LGBTQ communities. Even the founder of the LGBTory group, Anastasia Beaumont-Bott, has announced she cannot support the hypocrisy of the Tories and has stated she will be voting Labour.

All other members of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered and Queer communities should be following her example.

yours aye

Fr Ross K Bell

Alan King Hamilton

It is generally accepted, if an unwritten rule, that those on the bench in a court of law are to keep personal opinions to themselves. They exist purely to preside over proceedings and ensure that any trial does not descend into farce. Alan King-
Hamilton was famous for taking a somewhat different approach to his role as an Old Bailey judge. It was not uncommon for him to offer his point of view at the culmination of a trial, or even to temporarily halt proceedings to announce the score line of the current Test match. He will be remembered not only for his solid, succinct style, but also for his more maverick tendencies.
King Hamilton was the judge on some of the biggest and most famous cases at the Old Bailey in the 1960s and 70s. He also created some of the Old Bailey's most memorable moments.

In addition to frequently stopping mid-trial to talk cricket scores, in 1970 he halted a defence lawyer in his tracks by informing him that his client should have pleaded guilty. Actions that were later described in the court of appeal as "wholly improper". He also sent flowers to a female juror, and advised the jury of a five-month long trial to "get flu jabs".

He was a renowned moralist who had a tendency to impose sentences that others would consider to be somewhat harsh. In the 1976 Bank of America safe-break case, he ruled that the defendant serve 23 years behind bars to ensure that he would never benefit from his crime.

In the case of Emil Savundra fraud trial in 1968, King-Hamilton decreed an eight-year prison term but followed this up in his memoirs by describing Savundra thus: "What a man. How could one not admire his spirit?" He named him alongside Cleopatra in his perfect dinner party guest list.

In 1973, while presiding over the Janie Jones case, King-Hamilton, in no way adverse to a theatrical turn of phrase, described the defendant as "the most evil woman he had ever met", although Jones recalls his words slightly differently claiming he actually said "of all the women I've ever tried, you are the most evil. I thought one woman was really evil, but you leave that woman in the shade."

He handed her a seven-year sentence for procuring women in to prostitution, blackmail and perverting the course of justice. The length of her sentence was based partially on her crimes and partially because King-Hamilton had taken exception to her apparently flawed moral values.

Possibly his most high-profile case came in the Gay News trial. Denis Lemon, the editor, had published a poem, The Love that Dares to Speak its Name , on 3 June, 1976. The poem is the description of a Roman centurion having sex with Jesus post-crucifixion, while making claims that Jesus was more than a little promiscuous.Mary Whitehouse took the issue to court and the result was a £1,000 fine for Gay News and a £500 fine and two-year suspended sentence for its editor. King-Hamilton described his decision on whether or not to send Lemon to gaol as "touch and go".

In his final case at the Old Bailey in 1979, King-Hamilton signed off in typical style. The case had ended and the jury had reached its decision and acquitted four alleged anarchists. The charges of conspiracy to rob and various firearms offences had been quashed and King-Hamilton was, for want of a better word, furious. Fourteen arduous weeks had passed with not a single conviction, which led the outspoken judge to state that he felt the jury had been "remarkably merciful in the face of the evidence" followed by "I hope to God none of you will ever have occasion to regret it".

In his time as an Old Bailey judge, King-Hamilton divided opinion and sparked controversy. He also built a reputation as an eccentric, witty and entertaining member of the bench. He was a fan of corporal punishment, a staunch advocate of using stocks and public humiliation as methods of rehabilitation and firmly believed that the reintroduction of National Service would be the best way to steer youths away from criminal activity.

Alan King-Hamilton died on 23 March , 2010, aged 105. His wife Rosalind died in 1991 and he is survived by their two daughters. British justice it would seem is better off without the Alan King Hamilton's of the world!

Tories discriminate

In spite of legislative change the Tories don't seemed to understand just how much society has changed!
The comments, made by Chris Grayling last week to a leading centre-right thinktank, drew an angry response from gay groups and other parties, which said they were evidence that senior figures in David Cameron's party still tolerate prejudice.
In a recording of the meeting of the Centre for Policy Studies, obtained by the Observer, Grayling makes clear he has always believed that those who run B&Bs should be free to turn away guests.

"I think we need to allow people to have their own consciences," he said. "I personally always took the view that, if you look at the case of should a Christian hotel owner have the right to exclude a gay couple from a hotel, I took the view that if it's a question of somebody who's doing a B&B in their own home, that individual should have the right to decide who does and who doesn't come into their own home."

He draws a distinction, however, with hotels, which he says should admit gay couples. "If they are running a hotel on the high street, I really don't think that it is right in this day and age that a gay couple should walk into a hotel and be turned away because they are a gay couple, and I think that is where the dividing line comes."

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay rights group Stonewall, said the comments would be "very alarming to a lot of gay people who may have been thinking of voting Conservative".

He added: "The legal position is perfectly clear. If you are going to offer the public a commercial service – and B&Bs are a commercial service – then people cannot be refused that service on the grounds of sexuality. No one is obliged to run a B&B, but people who do so have to obey the law. "I don't think anyone, including the Tories, wants to go back to the days where there is a sign outside saying: 'No gays, no blacks, no Irish.'"

Labour said that Grayling's comments ran contrary to the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007, which state that no one should be refused goods or services on the grounds of their sexuality.

Grayling voted in favour of the regulations, which apply to the provision of "accommodation in a hotel, boarding house or similar establishment".

Last month, a Christian B&B owner in Cookham, Berkshire, was reported to the police for refusing to take in a gay couple as guests. Susanne Wilkinson said she had expected a man and woman, but when two men turned up she did not feel she could accommodate them because to do so was "against her convictions". The couple said they were considering suing, not for money, but "for a principle".

Chris Bryant, the Europe minister, who last weekend became the first gay MP to be married in the Commons, said from his honeymoon in Edinburgh: "Anybody who thinks that the Tory party has changed should think what it would be like to have Chris Grayling as home secretary. It is impossible to draw a distinction between bed and breakfasts and hotels. It is very clear that very senior Tories have not realised that the world has moved on."