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

Gay Pride march splits East End community over EDL link

The man who set up next month’s Gay Pride march through the East End has quit the project over his links with the English Defence League

Raymond Berry has stepped down from East End Gay Pride which was set up to organise the march on April 2, over his dealings with the Far Right group. It comes at the end of a day of controversy which has split the East End’s gay community.

An open letter was sent to police and Tower Hamlets council from Out East, part of the Rainbow Hamlets umbrella organisation representing LGBT groups—lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans—calling on the march to be scrapped. It is boycotting the event, claiming other EDL members are still using it to attack Muslims. Berry has accused them of jealousy and “shameful” behaviour.

“The sad reality is that the opposition against us has been from within the LGBT community,” he said. “They have made a simple gay pride event something difficult and unpleasant through sour grapes and jealousy. I find that utterly shameful on their part.”

The march is in response to a wave of ‘hate’ stickers on walls and lamp-posts declaring a ‘gay free’ zone under Allah.

Organisers are going ahead with it—despite the boycott—after accepting Berry’s resignation. East End Gay Pride said in a statement: “Raymond had dealings with the EDL, but has assured us he is no longer has any part of it. He attended marches by the EDL and Unite Against Fascism, but found both too extreme for his beliefs. None of this was previously disclosed to the rest of the team, until it came to light late yesterday evening.”

But Out East remained adamant tonight that the boycott continues. It’s co-ordinator Terry Stewart told the East London Advertiser: “There are still four more EDL members with the organisers—we want them out. The march is now tainted. EDL is using the march as a smoke-screen to attack the Bangladeshi community.”

Organisers expect 1,000 supporters on April 2 for the march setting off from Shadwell along the Commercial Road to Poplar for a rally with speakers including MP Jim Fitzpatrick.

East London Advertiser

Barton in the Beans and the BNP Baptist Chapel

After a bit of prodding, I’ve received a response from the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) about the recent hosting of the British National Party’s Rev Robert West at Barton in the Beans Baptist Chapel (also known as Barton Fabis Baptist Chapel or Barton Chapel). West’s appearance at this venue was noted on a BNP blog, but specific details were removed after Seismic Shock drew it to wider attention. The FIEC administrator was keen to point out that each church is independent, that the Fellowship does not support any political party, and that it is working to make member churches aware of the dangers posed by political extremists. I was also directed to a related church body called ”Affinity”, of which the FIEC is a member and where further details about the chapel are listed. The specific entry is here; there is no minister listed, just a certain “Mrs C S Meller” given as the administrator. There are apparently regular services, though.

Mrs Meller is Christine Meller, and according to this site she and her husband Derek Meller maintain a museum at the Chapel, which is of historic significance and regarded fondly by British Baptists. There is no evidence that either of these persons support the BNP, but it just so happens that there is also a local BNP councillor named Ian Derek Meller, who is described as a member of the Chapel on the website of the North West Leicestershire District Council.

A site run by Searchlight magazine notes:

[Ian] Meller is a former member of the NF who in August 2000 was fined £400 with £55 costs for possessing an offensive weapon – believed to have been a chair leg. When he was arrested Meller was with a 15 strong contingent of NF members led by Mick Shore who was involved in the KKK and who is now also in the BNP. The gang of NF thugs of which Meller was a part were intent on attacking a Gay Pride march in Leicester.

Meller’s supporters claim he was carrying a flagpole.

West, meanwhile, believes that multiracialism is sinful, and that this is the lesson of the story of the Tower of Babel. He also shares Meller’s distaste for homosexuality, and in 2007 his Christian Council of Britain brought Paul Cameron to the UK.

Bartholomew's Notes on Religion