Johann Hari: Violence Against Gay People Can – and Must – Be Stopped
THE INDEPENDENT: The answer lies in changing the culture of two institutions - schools and the police

The fight to win legal equality for gay people is almost won in Britain – yet the taste of champagne has been tainted by an unexpected dash of blood. In the past few years, gay people have finally begun to exercise the same rights as their straight siblings, yet there has been a sharp surge in violence against us.

In London, recorded homophobic attacks are up by 20 per cent. In Glasgow it's 32 per cent; in Liverpool it's 40 per cent; in Greater Manchester it's 63 per cent. James Parks is only the latest face to be kicked in by this trend: last week, the off-duty police officer left a club in Liverpool with his boyfriend and was lynched by a group of 20 teenagers who smashed his skull and left him close to death.

In a recession, violence always rises, and violence against minorities rises more. Attacks on Muslims, Jews, and black people are also spiking across Britain. But recorded violence against gay people has shown the most extreme rise. Last year, an 18 year-old hairdresser in Liverpool called Michael Causer was sleeping on a friend's sofa after a party when he was woken up. A witness testified that a group of teenagers yelled, "You little queer faggot!" They said they were going to cut out his body-piercings with a knife, and started burning his legs with a lighter. He was found bleeding to death later, dumped in the road outside, after having his head smashed in with a hardback book.

At the trial, one of the 19-year-olds tried for the murder said he was acting "in self-defence" – against a smaller, seven-and-a-half stone boy with no history of violent behaviour. A witness said that during the attack, he had yelled: "He's a little queer, he deserves it!" Yet the jury found him not guilty.

What can we do to stop this surge? The answer does not lie in new laws; these attacks are already highly illegal. It lies in changing the culture of two core British institutions that are still tolerating anti-gay bigotry – our schools, and our police service. >>> Johann Hari | Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Full of God’s Love and Compassion, the Westboro Baptist Church Intends to Invade the UK with Its Homophobic Hatred!
THE TELEGRAPH: The fundamentalist US church notorious for picketing the funerals of dead soldiers plans to carry out its first protest in Britain this week, it has emerged.

Followers of the virulently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church have threatened to picket a sixth form college in Basingstoke, Hampshire during a staging of The Laramie Project, a play about an American youth murdered because of his sexuality.

The church from Topeka, Kansas is mainly composed of relatives of the founder, pastor Fred Phelps, who style themselves "the most hated family in America".

Their core belief – that God will punish the West for its acceptance of homosexuality – has seen them protest at dozens of servicemen's funerals brandishing garish placards stating "God hates the USA" and "Thank God for dead soldiers".

Details of the church's first picket in Britain was posted on their website with the slogan "God Hates England; Your Queen Is A W----".

"Some of the best Bible preaching in the history of the world came out of that dark dismal land, but now it is full of all abominations," the notice read. Westboro Baptist Church Announces First Anti-homosexuality Picket in Britain >>> By Matthew Moore | Monday, February 16, 2009

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