Humanist evolution

A couple of weeks ago the folk who encouraged me to get into this blogging lark closed their site. I meant to praise and wish them well for the future at the time, but things got in the way, so I will do it now.

The PTT Blog (see right of page) started a few months before me, and their feisty and … slightly less Marks & Sparks shall we say... attitude to humanism inspired me to have a go too. They had, as we used to say, an attitude, one shared by some of their allies.

They were saying things other humanists weren’t, and that needed saying. They were doing it in a way that was less…well…reverential, less London media village, and oddly enough with a whiff of something I haven’t seen since old school punk fanzines, so I thought I should join in.

So I did, and I was never prouder in the early days than when they noticed, gave me a plug and even offered help if I got stuck with some techno wizzbang thingy or other.

They have now decided to call it a day, and throw their efforts behind the new Pink Triangle Trust website and The Pink Humanist, online magazine of the same organisation ,which is all excellent, and being overseen by the equally energetic and uncompromising Barry Duke (also editor of The Freethinker).

This is all good. This is humanism evolving as it should. So you should check it out (see new link to right), and maybe even play a part in it.

Essential reading

My favourite monthly online reading is now up on the net.
Gay & Lesbian Humanist is published by the Pink Triangle Trust, previously in print form but these days as an e-mag. I dutifully plod through other humanist/atheist publications to check I haven’t missed anything vital, but this and The Freethinker are the ones I actually look to for relevant information - and sheer enjoyment.
This month, while mainstream media meekly kiss the Papal Ring, G&LH reports that:
“The man who has colluded in protecting priests who have abused children, who has been responsible for the deaths of many in Africa and elsewhere who might have benefited from the use of condoms to stave off disease, who has probably contributed to the suicides of many gay people and who wants to dictate to the UK how it should frame its equality laws is to be a guest of honour in the United Kingdom this coming autumn.”
Elsewhere Michael Campbell of Young Freethought explains why he set the site up, and how the hardbitten cynics of militant atheism (no really, the Torygraph, Times and many a bishop say it, so it must be true) got behind a much needed resource for young non-believers.
There’s also coverage of another vital youth issue, homophobia in schools, in a piece on FIT, a film being sent to all UK schools. Sadly, I doubt that includes Manx schools, where pupils still have to tackle the institutional homophobia of the Manx Educational Department rather than relying on their elders to stamp out a prejudice.
Maybe Manx kids could just hook up with another contributor, Arsham Parsi of Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees: after all, both countries are run by profusely whiskered throwbacks with imaginary friends..
Lots more good stuff there too, so go to http://www.gayandlesbianhumanist.org/index.htm for inspiration to kick against the pricks.

Gay humanism's own goal

I have to post an item in support of my fellow freethinkers over at the Pink Triangle Trust blog. Seems they’ve been the victims of censorship – ironically by others in the gay and humanist community.
It seems GALHA (Gay & Lesbian Humanist Association) refused a post to their discussion forum alerting people to the latest edition of the PTT e-magazine ,Gay & Lesbian Humanist. It’s a publication I’ve endorsed, and even written for, just as I’ve endorsed GALHA for years and written a couple of pieces for GHQ (Gay Humanist Quarterly), their now discontinued magazine. I’ve supported both enthusiastically because I consider gay rights to be a good litmus test of contemporary secularism.
The censorship seems to be over a reference to Gaytheist, PTT’s own discussion forum, which itself partly came about because PTT thought setting up another forum, where free speech was a higher priority than GALHA’s, might be useful. Funnily enough, I’ve also blogged on the earlier little censorship battle which led to that!
You can see more on the latest row at http://ptt-blog.blogspot.com/2009/11/censored.html, and as I didn’t previously mention the latest G&LH is out, I’ll also tell you that there’s a direct link to the issue and the Gaytheist forum (equally open to gay or straight contributors alike) from that item.

Will Eurovision do the right thing tonight?

Tonight is the Eurovision Song Contest, and my household were planning on watching. We haven’t the slightest interest in the UK entry winning, but we do love the naff excess and wanted to see if Terry Wogan’s successor, Graham Norton, could equal Tel’s waspishness without sinking to his racism.
Now we have another reason to watch Norton & the show closely, one closer to this blog’s heart, and so do you.
Puzzled?
See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8053181.stm for news on how a gay gathering in Moscow, timed to coincide with both the gay-friendly Eurovision and IDAHO (International day Against Homophobia), has been broken up by police and participants, including Peter Tatchell, arrested. Curious, by the way, that while Moscow Pride was outlawed by Moscow’s notoriously homophobic mayor, a counter-parade of mainstream Nazis and their Christofascist chums wasn’t.
Tatchell has posted a bulletin to UK supporters, which I’ve just picked up on via the PTT Blog (see sidebar), in which he says:

"Between 35 and 40 Russian LGBT activists have been arrested, including British human rights activist Peter Tatchell and Chicago LGBT activist Andy Thayer. Pride organiser Nikolai Alekseev was held down by 5 fully armed riot police and arrested.
European Embassy diplomats who witnessed the violence are said to be planning a joint diplomatic action.
Slavic Pride organisers have called on the artists and performers of Eurovision to boycott tonight’s showpiece event in solidarity with the beaten and arrested protesters.”

As mentioned by Tatchell, one of those arrested has been the energetic and inspiring gay Russian activist Nikolai Alekseev, who said:

“I call upon all of the artists who are due to perform at tonight’s Eurovision to boycott tonight’s event and send a message that Russia’s state oppression of human rights is not acceptable.
The Russian Government is using this years Eurovision in Moscow as a gala showpiece to show the world how far the country has improved since the early 1990’s. However, what was witnessed this afternoon on the streets of Moscow shows the world just how little Russia has travelled when it comes to supporting fundamental human rights.
The police brutality that we witnessed here this afternoon is shocking. We planned a peaceful march to highlight the dire state of LGBT rights in Russia today. The police, given violent legitimacy by the openly homophobic Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, did not hold back with their weapons, despite the world’s media watching.
We were defending the often violated human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Russians. We demand the same legal protection against discrimination and hate crimes that none LGBT people enjoy.
This episode has shamed the Russian Government and Moscow authorities before the world.”

Mike Foxwell, editor of the online Gay & Lesbian Humanist has also contacted Eurovision organisers suggesting that at such a gay-friendly event and with a European audience of countless millions they simply have to make a protest. PTT seem to be posting updates as they can get them for those surfing the web throughout the day.
I tell you what. Let’s see if Norton and the Eurovision crowd do what’s right by a significant number of their audience. And if they don’t, let’s protest ourselves, via any media we can, about fair weather campers who go all M & S instead when it matters.

Gay & Lesbian Humanist online mag is out - read it!

I've been slow to acknowledge a compliment recently paid to me, so want to put that right now.
The November issue of Gay & Lesbian Humanist came out recently and you can find it at http://www.gayandlesbianhumanist.org/. I must admit a special interest - they have a new blogwatch feature, and the first one is very kind about this blog. There - interest declared to appease the critics.
G & LH was always my favourite humanist mag. It actually wasn't being produced for a while because of controversy over a Diesel Balaam article. Now it's back in an online version, bigger and badder than ever.
I read the other humanist mags dutifully but..............................
I don't know, there's always something a bit like Secular Methodism about them. I have a sense of folk who are members of the Rotary Club, drive Volvos, polite middle of the road opinions about most things but don't happen to be religious - if you see what I mean.
I suppose gay humanists are always going to be a bit edgier than that, from necessity,and it shows in the mag. The articles, the subject matter, the opinion, the attention to detail always goes that bit farther.
There's more urgency because, let's face it, it matters more. This isn't some polite academic discussion - the humanist equivalent of theologians arguing over how many angels on the head of a pin. People rarely lose jobs, get beaten up or killed in the UK for not being religious; but if you're openly gay as well as an atheist?
Though I'm not gay I relate to that. I grew up on a council estate in a conformist Midlands town, went to a class-prejudiced grammar school and couldn't wait to get out at 16. In my case the route out and rebellion came through punk - the music, the clothes, the fanzines, the anarchist politics and the attitude. It was a little community of other outsiders - like the gay one -in which we had some respite from a mainstream society whose inability to question or experiment with anything disgusted us.
One of the first punk films was Jubilee, via which I discovered Derek Jarman's writing, and in turn learnt of Outrage and Queer Theory. Actually met Jarman at the premiere of Edward II , which with his mixture of luck and obstinacy was held in a Leeds fleapit, not a flash London venue, and at a time when the effects of his HIV status were very plain. Absolutely magic night, and I'll never forget his mix of wit, charm, principled anger and total refusal to compromise with Thatcherite Britain.
It may sound strange but the gay attitude - and more particularly the queer attitude (there's a difference - think Stonewall and Outrage as rough benchmarks) is an inspiration to someone like me. I'm just trying to get by in a community where everything revolves around the church. I didn't seek arguments with churchgoers, but they don't notice anyone or anything good outside their little world, so I had little choice but to resist.
When I got interested in humanism enough to want to contribute to humanist mags I hesitated - that Secular Methodism again. What had I to say to these folk? When I discovered G&LH that changed. People I could relate to, felt at ease with, who spoke my language.
Look -I can't explain it any better. Just go and read the damn thing. You'll see what I mean, and you won't want to miss an issue - ever!