KENILWORTH, 7 SEPTEMBER 2004 — A quarter of a century after it was formed as the Gay Humanist Group (GHG) in Brighton in the face of fierce religious hostility, the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) returned to the city last weekend to celebrate its 25th anniversary and to hear warnings that the fight against religious-based hostility is far from won.
Three of the original “gang of six” who founded the group warned GALHA members that, despite enormous gains made by gays and lesbians over the last 25 years, reactionary religious forces were at work, determined to reverse those gains. While it was true that “Christianity had all but withered on the vine” in Britain, Islam was now the country’s fastest-growing religion, and, “with its inherent hatred of western values, and its barbaric attitude towards women and homosexuality, it posed a very real threat to civil liberties in general and the gay and lesbian community in particular”.
GALHA members who gathered for the anniversary event at the Imperial Hotel in Hove were also warned that freedom of speech would be severely curtailed if Home Secretary David Blunkett should succeed in introducing a new incitement to religious hatred law. “If such a law were enacted, fundamentalist religious organisations would be left free to continue their hatemongering, but those opposing them could well face criminal charges of stirring up religious hatred.”
The Gay Humanist Group was officially launched at a conference of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) in Brighton in 1979 to serve the needs of non-religious gays and lesbians, but the idea for such a group had taken root a couple of years earlier in reaction to a private prosecution brought against Gay News by Mary Whitehouse, the self-styled watchdog of the nation’s morals. Roundly condemned for this action, she hit back by saying that she was being attacked by “the humanist/gay lobby”.
No such lobby existed at the time, but a group of gay humanists and atheists thought this was an excellent idea and such a lobby should be formed as quickly as possible. So, during the August bank holiday of 1979, the Gay Humanist Group (later to become the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association) was born.
When it became known that Brighton was to host the CHE conference, a group of evangelical Christians tried, unsuccessfully, to have the conference scrapped, and went as far as to place a half-page advert in the Argus warning that the town was about to be overrun with “perverts” and that local children would be put at risk.
A special prayer meeting was arranged under the auspices of the Elim Pentecostal Church to ask God to deliver Brighton from “the abomination of homosexuality”. The newly-formed GHG immediately mobilised supporters and organised a peaceful picket of the prayer meeting. It was the group’s first public protest. Many more were to follow.
The prayer meeting was held at a historic chapel in the Lanes. It is a delicious irony that the chapel was later to become a popular pub called The Font, which is currently closed for refurbishment.
At this year’s silver jubilee celebrations, the late Mary Whitehouse was given full credit for her part in the establishment of GALHA, and a commemorative T-shirt bearing her image and the words “Born of Mary” was produced to mark the occasion.
At the celebration dinner on Saturday, GALHA chairperson Derek Lennard read out a letter of support from the mayor of Brighton and Hove, Mrs Pat Drake, in which she said: “As Mayor of Brighton and Hove I am honoured to welcome the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association and to express my congratulations on the association’s silver jubilee. I wish you a successful, enjoyable, and memorable gathering in the city where GALHA was born 25 years ago.”
Two resolutions were carried at the group’s Annual General Meeting held during the weekend gathering:
“This AGM congratulates London mayor Ken Livingstone on his staunch support for lesbian and gay rights over many years and, more recently, setting up the London partnership registration scheme for same-sex couples. However, it expresses its dismay and concern at the warm welcome he has accorded the ultra-homophobic Muslim cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi at City Hall. It calls on Mr Livingstone to reconsider his decision to re-invite the cleric in October this year.”
“GALHA strongly supports the recent campaign waged jointly by Peter Tatchell and OutRage! against reggae and hip-hop performers, such as Beenie Man, Elephant Man, and Vybz Kartel, whose lyrics incite violence towards gays. Furthermore, in order to prevent similar incitements of violence towards either individual lesbians, gay men or bisexuals, or towards the whole LGB community, GALHA calls on the Government to enforce legislation criminalising incitement of violence towards lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals because of their sexual orientation.”