It's THAT placard...

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For all the people who have been in touch to ask if we've got a copy of Peter Tatchell's anti-Griffin placard from Pride last week, yes, we have, and here it is.

BNP leader Nick Griffin to be mocked at Pride London, tomorrow

British National Party leader Nick Griffin will be satirised and mocked at London's Gay Pride parade, tomorrow

British National Party leader Nick Griffin will be satirised and mocked at London's Gay Pride parade, tomorrow. Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell will march at the front of the parade with a placard featuring a doctored image of Nick Griffin with blue eye shadow, red lipstick and pink swastika earrings, captioned with the words: 'Nick Griffin, Queen of Fascism. Homophobe. No to BNP.'

Tatchell is a Patron of Pride London and helped organise Britain's first ever Gay Pride march in 1972. Speaking to PinkPaper.com, he said: "Griffin and the BNP are tin-pot fascists who deserve to be mocked and ridiculed. I'm satirising Griffin to debunk his grand political pretensions and to skewer his claim to respectability and legitimacy. He's a joke and my placard reflects that.

"Griffin has a long history of homophobia. His party is notorious for its racism, anti-Semitism, holocaust denial and Islamophobia. A disturbing number of past and present BNP members have criminal convictions for violence," he added. "The BNP has fought previous general elections on a pledge to outlaw homosexuality, jail gay people and to bring back Section 28. It has described AIDS as 'nature taking revenge' on gay men."

Pink Paper

East End Gay Pride cancelled over EDL claims

A gay pride march in east London has been cancelled following allegations that one of its organisers had links with the English Defence League (EDL)

The march was planned for 2 April but cancelled after organiser Raymond Berry was alleged to have links to the EDL. Mr Berry was unavailable for comment but it has been reported he no longer has links to the far-right group.

The march was organised in response to homophobic stickers that had been put up in the Tower Hamlets area. Stickers warning "arise and warn. Gay free zone. Verily Allah is severe in punishment" appeared near to Tower Hamlets gay pubs and outside a school in Whitechapel, in east London last month.

The Metropolitan Police said it was working with Tower Hamlets council and the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community to investigate who was behind the stickers.

Organisers said the gay pride event had been cancelled because of a "personal vendetta" by local gay campaigners. David Byatt, one of the events organisers, said: "It is with deep regret that the East End Gay Pride team have collectively decided to cancel the march. The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community of east London should be working together to combat hatred of any nature."

He said he found it "shocking" that other gay organisations had "continuously set out to divide the community".

Gay campaigner and co-founder of OutRage Peter Tatchell said he feared the march would "be exploited and hijacked by the far right to create divisions and stir up intolerance against Muslim people".

Rainbow Hamlets' spokesman Jack Gilbert said: "The cancellation is great news. We're sure there will be a Pride event in London this year that will be inclusive of all communities."

BBC

Peter Tatchell confronts BNP's Nick Griffin

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has confronted BNP leader Nick Griffin, calling him a "gutless coward".

Mr. Griffin was emerging from BBC studios at Westminster when Mr. Tatchell approached him and asked him to apologise for what he called the BNP's long history of anti-semitism, homophobia and anti-islamic views.

Two of Mr. Griffin's entourage then grabbed and pushed Mr. Tatchell as the BNP leader left the building.



BBC News

BNP refutes allegations of homophobia and sexism as unions vote to ban its members

The British National Party has denied being homophobic and sexist, following a Trades Union Congress decision to recognise it as such

Delegates at the TUC's annual conference also decided to campaign for a ban on BNP members working in the public sector in professions such as teaching and the civil service.

The party bars black and Asian people from becoming members, although it is currently debating whether to lift this ban in the face of costly legal action. Along with its views on race, the party also believes homosexuality should be kept behind closed doors and should not be "promoted".

Last weekend, the TUC annual conference approved a motion which called for the encouragement of affiliate groups to point out that the BNP is "homophobic and sexist" in any literature about the party. It also pledged to work with Unite Against Fascism, Searchlight and other organisations to "expose BNP homophobia and sexism".

Speaking to PinkNews.co.uk, BNP spokesman Simon Darby denied the party was anti-gay. He said: "That's not true, we're not homophobic. We couldn't care less about people's sexuality, it's a private matter. If people are over 18 years old it's a private matter what they get up to in their bedrooms. But young children should not be exposed to [teaching about] homosexuality. We don't think it's something that five-year-olds should learn about it, which they currently are."

On the accusations of sexism, Darby said: "We do believe in the concept of being a good mother and although young women are encouraged to go and have careers, they are not encouraged to be good mothers. I suppose the one thing where people could accuse us of sexism is that we don't really agree with sending women into the frontlines of battle. It's not a sign of a civilised society when you have women fighting your wars."

Darby also set out the party's views on gay adoption and the legal recognition of gay relationships. On gay adoption, he said: "We believe we have natural views, rather than conservative ones, on parenting. We believe a healthy childhood should have a mother and a father. He added: "There is scope for longstanding [gay] partners to be recognised, so long as it doesn't undermine the sanctity of marriage."

Darby also claimed that activists such as Peter Tatchell were doing gays "a great disservice" and said the gay community was more concerned about the "spread of Islam" than BNP policies.

In May, PinkNews.co.uk exclusively reported that the BNP had drawn up a list of politicians from all three main parties describing a number of gay MPs as "buggers" and "criminals", grouping them with convicted paedophiles.

Pink News

Tatchell urges pink voters to stop BNP

Human Rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and Unite Against Fascism, the national campaign against the British National Party, is urging all people, including lesbian, gay and bisexuals, to utilise their votes at the European Election on 4 June.

The UAF are extremely concerned about the threat of the BNP targeting voters in the North West of England. As a result, the Manchester arm of the organisation is urging everyone to vote against extreme-right political groups.

A spokesperson for UAF spoke of the threat of the BNP, saying: “Recently we have seen the election of the BNP to the London Assembly and currently this fascist party has 55 councillors across the country. Several BNP members have convictions for possession of bomb-making materials. Their leader, Nick Griffin, has a criminal conviction for denying the Holocaust. David Copeland, jailed for bombings in London, said he wanted to start a ‘race war’, with ‘all the white people going out to vote BNP’. They must be stopped, otherwise the progression we have made in recent years could be u-turned.”

Tatchell added: "As we all know, the BNP is a racist and homophobic party. It refuses to allow non-white people to be members and wants to pressure black people to leave the UK. As well as supporting a policy of de facto 'ethnic cleansing,' the BNP has fought previous general elections on a pledge to outlaw homosexuality. It has described Aids as "nature taking revenge" on gay men. It opposed the repeal of Section 28 and the equalisation of the age of consent."

DIVA

Democracy dead In Russia - police and violent neo-Nazis attack Gay Pride march

"I'm not deterred one iota from coming back to protest in Moscow," Peter Tatchell told PinkNews.co.uk from Moscow, just hours after he was attacked by suspected neo-Nazis and then arrested by the Russian riot police the OMON. "

Gay Russians need overseas support to protect them against state and neo-Nazi violence." He was speaking after arrests and violent attacks marred today's attempted Moscow Gay Pride march. The organizer of Moscow Pride, Nikolai Alekseev, is still being detained at Moscow's Tverskoi district police station, together with two prominent members of Russia's Radical and Free Radical parties, Nikolai Khramov and Sergei Konstantinov.

Those who attacked Mr Tatchell are believed to be free, while Mr Alekseev, who took part in a peaceful protest remains in police custodyMr Tatchell told PinkNews.co.uk: "I urge people to protest to the Russian Ambassador and to ask their local MP to send a letter of protest to the Russian embassy.

"He added: "We also need a strong statement of condemnation from the Foreign Office, who have so far been silent. I am a British citizen violently attacked when mounting a lawful protests whilst the Russian police allowed violence to be perpetrated against me.

"A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "We condemn violence in any form, but in this particular case we need to ascertain the full facts before making any further comment."Mr Tatchell told PinkNews.co.uk: "There is no rule of law in Moscow. The right to protest does not exist. This is not a democracy."

"Today's protest was about much more than gay rights. We were defending the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest for all Russians, gay and straight. The ban on Moscow Gay Pride is one aspect of a much wider attack on civil society and human rights. It is evidence of a failed transition from communism to democracy and of a rising trend towards autocracy and authoritarianism," he added.

The arrests and assaults took place in front of and opposite Moscow City Hall, as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) campaigners assembled to hold Moscow's Gay Pride march. The first people arrested were Mr Alekseev and German Green Party Member of Parliament Volker Beck. They were seized as they attempted to deliver a letter to Moscow Mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, at City Hall."

After they were driven away in a police bus, marauding gangs of right-wing extremists infiltrated the Gay Pride crowd and began indiscriminately attacking participants. The Moscow police looked on and did nothing," recounted Mr Tatchell.

After unfurling a characteristic placard declaring "GayRights" in both English and Russian, he was attacked by people he suspects of being right-wing extremists. Mr Tatchell said that Moscow riot police, the OMON, stood by while as these people punched Mr Tatchell in the face, throttled him then dragged him to the ground, and kicked him all over his body. Clutching a bloody eye, he was arrested by the riot police. "They arrested me, but let my attackers walk free."

"The Moscow police gave right-wing extremists a more or less free hand to attack Gay Pride marchers. Despite many of us being battered left, right and centre, the police only arrested a handful of the assailants.

"Instead of protecting us from the violence, some officers seemed to be colluding with the neo-Nazis and ultra-nationalists. I saw them freely talking to each other. It has even been suggested that some of the attackers were, in fact, plain clothes police officers," Mr Tatchell reported.

Following his arrest, Mr Tatchell says he was violently dragged to a police bus, where he was put in the intimidating situation of being detained with three anti-gay demonstrators, who had been arrested for other assaults.

"They forced me to sit together with the neo-Nazis, it was clearly an intimidation tactic by the OMON, riot police, they are the ones who detained me in their bus." Mr Tatchell told PinkNews.co.uk. While in the bus, Mr Tatchell was taunted by members of the riot police. They interrogated him as to whether he was gay. When he answered yes, he says that one of the OMON officers said, "Wait until we get you to the police station. Then we will have some fun with you."

Later Mr Tatchell was transferred to an ambulance and taken to hospital where he was treated for injuries to his right eye. "My face is very sore where I was punched. My right eye is badly bruised, swollen and bloodied." Speaking to PinkNews.co.uk 10 hours after the attack, he said: "it hurts. It happens to be the same eye that was I was punched in by Robert Mugabe's violent henchmen in Brussels six years ago."

Mr Tatchell still suffers from sight and pain problems from the Brussels attack. He was discharged at approximately 3:30 pm, and then detained at the Tverskoi district police station in Moscow. Mr Tatchell filed a complaint with the Moscow police about the assault on him, requesting that officers investigate and arrest the assailants." Despite the appalling behaviour of the riot squad and Moscow police, the officer investigating my complaint was diligent, fair and professional."

At 4:30 pm Mr Tatchell was allowed to leave the police station on the condition that he report back to the Tverskoi district station at 2 pm on Monday, 28 May. At this stage, Mr Tatchell believes he is being treated as a witness to the attack on him, rather than as a suspect.

"As I left the police station with several other released Gay Pride marchers, we were pelted with eggs. Some of us were violently attacked by a man dressed as a Russian Orthodox priest and by several neo-Nazis. The Moscow police initially did nothing, and only arrested two of the assailants under pressure from the Gay Pride marchers and journalists, who had photos and film footage of the attack. "Long after the Moscow Gay Pride protest at City Hall was over, groups of far right nationalists and neo-Nazis roamed the streets, calling each other on cell phones, apparently to organize additional attacks on people they suspected of participating in Moscow's Gay Pride".

Only a handful of far-right extremists were detained. Despite being arrested on charges of assault, most of them were released very quickly—long before the gay marchers were allowed to leave the police station.

"Mr Tatchell had travelled to Moscow at the request of the Moscow GayPride organizers to support the event and the campaign for gay rights in Russia. He was the keynote speaker at the opening session of the Moscow Gay Pride conference on Saturday morning, 26 May 2007 at the Swissotel".

PinkNews.co.uk