The Accidental Stepford

Stepford - n. a married person who submits to their partner's will and is preoccupied by domestic concerns.

Gay church ‘marriages’ set to get the go-ahead

Ministers are expected to publish plans to enable same-sex couples to “marry” in church, the BBC has learned.

Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone is to propose lifting the ban on civil partnerships taking place in religious settings in England and Wales.

There are no plans to compel religious organisations to hold ceremonies and the Church of England has said it would not allow its churches to be used.

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said the change was “long overdue”.

Civil partnership ceremonies are currently entirely secular.

It is not clear whether the proposals will suggest that civil ceremonies in religious surroundings could incorporate elements such as hymns or Bible readings or be formally described as marriages.

It is thought this might be part of a consultation process.

Equality Act

Marriage between people of the same gender is not legal in the UK but civil partnerships were introduced in 2005 to give couples the same legal protection as if they were wed.

The proposals were welcomed by gay rights campaigners but may raise the ire of many churchgoers.

Mr Tatchell said: “Permitting faith organisations to make their own decision on whether to conduct same-sex civil partnerships is the democratic and decent thing to do.

"The current law prevents them from doing so, even if they want to. No religious institution will be forced to perform civil partnerships if they do not wish to do so.”

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, gave the news a guarded welcome.

He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that he “believes in a liberal democracy, and actually wants equality with everybody”.

A Church of England spokesman said: “Given the Church’s view on the nature of marriage, the House of Bishops has consistently been clear that the Church of England should not provide services of blessing for those who register civil partnerships.”

He added the worry was that any changes could “lead to inconsistencies with civil marriage, have unexplored impacts, and lead to confusion, with a number of difficult and unintended consequences for churches and faiths”.

“Any change could therefore only be brought after proper and careful consideration of all the issues involved, to ensure that the intended freedom for all denominations over these matters is genuinely secured,” he said.

The Sunday Telegraph claims the decision to push ahead with the legislation is a victory for Mrs Featherstone and her fellow Liberal Democrats.

The Roman Catholic Church has long held that homosexuality is a “deviation” and is not expected to agree to same-sex ceremonies.

The legislation would also cover synagogues and mosques although homosexual relationships are forbidden under Islam and Orthodox Judaism.

But Quakers, Unitarians, and liberal Jews are thought to be more sympathetic to the idea, says the newspaper.

In February last year several senior Anglican clergymen wrote to The Times calling for the law to be changed.

The group of clerics, which includes the Bishop of Salisbury, the Dean of Southwark and five former bishops, said: “Straight couples have the choice between civil marriage and religious marriage. Gay couples are denied a similar choice.”

The move follows an amendment to the Equality Act by Lord Alli, a Labour peer.

That amendment, which would not force religious venues to accept gay couples, has not yet been implemented and would require a standing order.

The BBC understands Mrs Featherstone has been consulting with gay and lesbian groups and churches about this issue and is expected to make an announcement within the next few weeks.

According to reports, the government plans would also see straight couples being allowed to become civil partners.

On Friday, the Protection of Freedoms Bill included plans to lift a ban on night-time weddings and also gave gay men the right to clear their name by removing out-of-date convictions for consensual acts.

A Home Office spokesman said: “The government is currently considering what the next stage should be for civil partnerships, including how some religious organisations can allow same-sex couples to register their relationship in a religious setting if they wish to do so.

"Ministers have met a range of people and organisations to hear their views on this issue. An announcement will be made in due course.”

The Office Of National Statistics reported in May 2010 that 26,000 same-sex couples had undergone civil partnerships.

(Source: BBC)

Lessons on gay history cut homophobic bullying in north London school

From yesterday’s Guardian newspaper:

A north London school which has developed lessons on gay historical figures who suffered persecution claims to have succeeded in “more or less eliminating homophobic bullying” in its classrooms and playgrounds over the last five years.

The life story of the wartime code-breaker Alan Turing is among those being used to tackle homophobia. Authors Oscar Wilde and James Baldwin and artist Andy Warhol also feature.

Now Stoke Newington secondary plans to share the lessons with hundreds of primary and secondary school teachers. By the summer, it will have trained more than a hundred teachers in how to “educate and celebrate” being gay.

Turing, a mathematician who cracked German codes in the second world war, was prosecuted in 1952 for his homosexuality, which was then a crime. He was forced to decide between prison and taking female hormones to reduce his libido, and chose the latter. An inquest into his death – two years after his prosecution – returned a verdict of suicide.

Last year, Gordon Brown offered a posthumous government apology for the way Turing had been treated for being gay.

Elly Barnes, a music teacher, devised the lesson plans and training course with the help of colleagues. Her concern began when she heard a pupil say their “pen was so gay” when it snapped in two. Barnes’s aim is to “eradicate homophobia from all schools” by giving staff the confidence and resources required to tackle the prejudice.

Earlier this month, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission published a report, How Fair is Britain?, which found two-thirds of lesbian, gay and transgender students had suffered homophobic bullying, and 17% had received death threats.

Nearly half of secondary school teachers in England believe homophobic bullying is common. Only one in six believes their school is active in promoting the rights of gay pupils, the commission found.

“Many schools haven’t even begun to deal with homophobia,” Barnes said. “Some still think being gay is illegal in parts of the country.”

She believes one problem is that teachers dread taking lessons on homosexuality. “Many are scared of celebrating LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] as they are worried pupils will judge them and will assume they are gay. In fact, to them, we are just a blob giving them information. Over the five years, I’ve only had three pupils ask whether I am gay.”

A week ago, a group of 10 and 11 year olds trooped into Barnes’s classroom and she played them a clip from the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which is about three drag queens travelling across the Australian outback. The pupils appeared happy to discuss transvestites and transsexuals.

“There is a man at my auntie’s work who wears a skirt and has really hairy legs,” said one. “Criss-cross is where you like both men and women,” offered another.

Florence, aged 12, told the class about the first wedding she went to. “It was a gay wedding and they were called Andrew and Eric, and I wanted to be a bridesmaid, but I had only known them for two years.”

Josiah, aged 11, said: “The pope opposes homosexuality, but I don’t know why, as I think everyone should have free will.”

Occasionally, the lessons do not go to plan. One of Barnes’s colleagues, Anna Gluckstein, was teaching about Turing when a boy at the back of the class got up and chanted “batty man, batty man” – a Jamaican term for a gay man.

A poll of 1,145 pupils in 2007 by the charity Stonewall found 65% of lesbian, gay and bisexual students had experienced homophobic bullying. Some 98% said the word “gay” was used as a synonym for “rubbish”.

“By looking at famous LGBT people in history, we’ve changed opinions and we have had a number of pupils come out,” Barnes said. “We have also changed the language used in the school. I used to hear the word gay used all the time as a derogatory term. Now we hardly hear it.”

(Source: Guardian)

That’s So Gay

[I originally contributed this hurried article for the November 2009 issue of an online student magazine called The Tribe, but thought in the light of recent events in America it was worth re-posting here.]

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The recent Stonewall poster campaign ran with the words: ‘Some people are gay. Get over it!’ 

Britain desperately needs to. 

When Stephen Gately tragically died recently, the majority of the media focus was on his sexuality. Whether it was the thinly veiled prejudice of Jan Moir’s article, or a rehashing of his coming out in 1999, the British press concentrated on the fact that he was gay. Admittedly Gately’s decision to come out was a bold move, but surely there was more to say about his life than this? Then there is the attention that Donal Og Cusak, a famous goalkeeper in the world of Irish Hurling, received for joining those out of the closet. He of course deserves to be praised for taking this brave step, but his admission only further emphasises the lack of openly gay men in sport (however that is a whole other issue). If recent events have taught us anything it is that being gay is still considered a big deal. 

Something that should be considered a big deal is homophobia. Despite being a relatively gay-friendly town, homophobic abuse occurs in St Andrews - from the random drunken insult (bizarrely even in the Gay Bop last year) to a beer mat being thrown at a lesbian couple out on a date. However these instances of homophobia are on such a small scale when compared to some of the incidents that occur nationally, many of which go unreported. A recent example is the violent assault on Police trainee James Parkes, who was attacked by a gang of around 20 people outside of a club in the city centre of Liverpool. The attack was reportedly unprovoked and motivated solely by the fact that Parkes was gay. 

How does such a horrific thing still happen in Britain today? Perhaps the answer lies in how homophobia is tackled in schools. Speaking to a teacher at a Greater London primary school I was shocked by how she was told to deal with homophobia at her school. If a pupil is heard making a racist comment by a member of staff then the incident goes on the child’s record and is reported to (and potentially investigated by) the local governing body. A similar protocol is in place for anti-Semitism and other prejudice relating to religious beliefs. There is no such protocol for homophobia. If a teacher hears a student calling a member of their peer group “faggot” or “dyke”, the teacher would not be obligated to do anything about it. 

In Britain there seems to be an insincere attitude of tolerance towards the homosexual community; Gays can adopt, can have civil partnerships, are allowed in the military… However actually witnessing the results of this tolerance, such as seeing two people of the same sex kissing in public, still provokes a negative reaction from a surprising number of people. The prevailing attitude in Britain seems to be that people are free to be gay so long as they don’t flaunt it - conferring equality without actually wanting to confront what it would mean for society. Is this not a pretty shoddy way to treat at least 6% of the population?

(Source: thetribeonline.com)