18-year-old Mohammed Hasnath decorated London’s East End with pretty stickers with a no-rainbow flag sign and the words ‘Arise and warn and fear Allah. Gay free zone. Verily Allah is severe in punishment.” His punishment? A $328 fine, the approximate price of a very fancy blender. Justice is served?
Apparently, the Crown Prosecution Service charged Hasnath under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, the same section used to prosecute people who repeatedly swear in the street. They didn’t charge him with the much more serious offense of inciting homophobic hatred, something that would have undoubtedly been used against him had he posted stickers saying, “Jew Free Zone” or “Muslim Free Zone.” Why did the CPS water down the charges against him? And what of the sticker manufacturer? Hmmm…
A silver-lining to this horrid little story though: the East End citizens really banded together against the stickers, collectively removing them and replacing them with declarations of love. Some citizens even marched in the streets in defiance of the stickers’ homophobia.
Jae
Whilst the “love” stickers campaign was heartwarming, this didn’t cause the community to “band together”. It split apart with one half wanting a gay pride parade, the other not wanting to upset the local community of East London with something so brash. All in all, it just showed how divided LGBT folk are in responding to hate.
jon
I know they don’t have the freedom of speech in Europe but if he was posting in public posting areas in America I’d defend his right to post them…even so I disagree.
Danny
This just causes millions of people, including moderate and progressive Muslims, to draw pictures of the Prophet Mohammad eating pork sandwiches because people grow tired of the fundie hypocrisy.
Matt_miami
@Jae: Why aren’t you happy that the community banded together to shut this down, it should be commended that this happened, instead the correct action is somehow not good enough because the community failed to have a parade. maybe they didn’t want to spend the money that a parade would cost. A parade would cost a min. of $10,000 in permits, security, insurance etc. maybe they believe in gay rights but they believe in paying their bills more.
fagburn
Usual ill-thought out – poat re-launch – Queerty nonsense.
“Do you even have a brain?”
fagburn
POST!!
Robert in NYC
No. 2 Jon, we also don’t have full freedom of speech in America either. You can’t shout “fire” in a theater and you certainly can’t threaten a U.S. politician, incite someone to kill, nor can one burn the flag as a matter of freedom of expression, without being subject to prosecution. I wouldn’t even defend someone’s right to do just that. Hate speech incites some people to commit violent crimes and often with a fatal outcome, especially when it comes to minorities. LGBT are constantly on the receiving end of hate speech and we all know where that has led. I don’t want to see any more Matthew Sheperd situations as a result of it. Hate speech led to the holocaust.
BDinUK
@Robert in NYC: You know that flag burning isn’t illegal in the US, right? The supreme court has ruled it to be protected by the first amendment more than once.
The parade wasn’t canceled because of money, it lost support because it turned out that the organizer had links to a far-right (i.e. racist/xenophobic) group. http://www.pinknews.co.uk/ has followed the issue closely.
As for the fine… he’s 18. The fact that he took it upon himself to make and distribute hateful signs shows that he’s probably a little off, and may likely be struggling with being gay himself.
dan4
Islam is wholly incompatible with Western Civilization. The sooner we realize that, the better off we’ll all be – especially if we care more about OUR rights than we do about useless political correctness.
Thanks for covering this story, Queerty! Europe is a wake-up call for America, so we need to be aware.
james_from_cambridge
@dan4: I don’t disagree that Islam as practiced by a dangerous minority in Europe is NOT compatible with Democracy but then again, neither is the political Party you belong to, the Republicans, a.k.a. the Party of Christian sharia. Aren’t you being a bit hypocritical, you right-wing tool??
dan4
James, You are (still) an ignorant and ridiculous cunt! When will you hyper-partisan, only-vote-based-on-one-issue RETARDS going to get that truly open-minded and tolerant and intelligent people can be conservative on economic and national security issues without being socially conservative? That there’s a difference between Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians? This is 2011. LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT HOW THIS COUNTRY WORKS and WHO WE ARE! Or shut the fuck up.
I’ll take a Christian conservative any day over a radical Islamist. Smart people (like me) are aware of who wants to cut my head (and YOUR head) off.
james_from_cambridge
@dan4: Ha! Smart people like you? Thanks for the laugh you GoProud douche rag.
Matt_miami
@james_from_cambridge: since we are talking politics. Why are left-wingers prefered over right-wingers. What did the Left-wingers do for you when they controlled both houses of Congress and the White House?
It seems like the left is making empty promise for your continued support.
P.s. I’m a libertarian and am surprised the gay community still blindly supports democrats. $1 trillion spent on the stimulus plan, how much spent on AIDS research?
james_from_cambridge
@Matt_miami: Billions spent on AIDS actually. Educate yourself so you don’t sound like an ignorant fuck. Like Dan above.
Matt_miami
@james_from_cambridge: Since your in Cambridge and Obviously smarter than anyone on this board would you be so kind as to show me a link where actual budget increases into Aids Research as a direct result of the Federal Stimulus Program passed in 2009.
I’ll help you out you ignorant fuck.
From a feb. 2009 article: I called Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the top federal official responsible for AIDS research, and asked him how much of this increase would go to AIDS. Short answer, we don’t know the exact amount at this point, but it should get approximately the same boost as all the other research areas. The current AIDS research budget is $2.9 billion. That could go up by another $1 billion, give or take a couple hundred grand.
Later in the article:Fauci was hopeful that AIDS research would get the approximately one-third increase that other disease groups are hoping for. That would mean about $1 billion more over the next two years.
A hopeful increase of $1 Billion over 2 years, sounds like $500 million a year. That increase was only for short term research, research that could be started and finished within the two year window. No money could be spent on long term clinical research.
“So as each institute director looks at their current and potential grants portfolio for AIDS (there is no AIDS institute, but NIAID does more AIDS research than all the others), they’ll be looking for what they can fund quickly, or within two years. If their AIDS portfolios offer lots of quick funding options, we’ll get our fair share of the new stimulus money.”
So no clinical research means no new drug research, so what did get funded. You got an $800,000 research program to teach African men how to was their dicks after sex.
http://www.disinfo.com/2010/09/800000-of-economic-stimulus-money-spent-on-african-genital-washing-program/
Just because your from Cambridge doesn’t mean you went to Cambridge. Next time YOU do your research so you don’t sound like an ignorant fuck.
james_from_cambridge
@Matt_miami: And your whole point was what you fuck? You want the entire budget spent on AIDS???
Matt_miami
@james_from_cambridge: My point is you bash the right wingers because their against gay marriage and blindly support left-wingers who make empty promises. My point is stop giving left-wingers a free pass just because they give a pro-gay speech. Truth be told the Bush administration more than doubled HIV/Aids research but he is demonized, while Obama has reduced HIV/Aids research and he’s glorified. You’re so polarized in your views that your not watching your own back.
10% of America is Pro-gay rights, 10% is Anti-gay, the other 80% doesn’t really care, they’re to busy raising their families and paying their bills. The majority of the country is right of center and when you blindly attack the right, your attacking the majority of the country, all the while asking that same majority to please accept us as an equal and grant us the same respect and right that hetero Americans have.
My point is that your slavishly following the group of people that have been leading the black population for the last 50 years. Where has that gotten them. High unemployment, higher rate of single parent families, higher teen birth-rate, lower test scores, Higher rate of incarceration etc. If the Democrats had a plan to destroy the black community they could not have done a better job than they have. Since dr. king jr. died the only advancement in black society is the adoption of the term “African American”, Good job Jesse Jackson for creating a term that complete bullshit. Are these the people you have pinned your hopes on. Please tell me that they will do a better job with the gay community. My point is “what has your elected leaders done to deserve your obedience”?
Truth
Muslim is a cancer.
dan4
James-from-Cum-Rag:
What @Matt_miami said. Especially: Just because your from Cambridge doesn’t mean you went to Cambridge. Next time YOU do your research so you don’t sound like an ignorant fuck!
You are seriously an embarrassment to all independent and intelligent members of our community. Your backward party and our DUMB FUCKING PRESIDENT are proud of you.
To the people reading this who are GLBT and think this country is going to hell quickly (budget deficits, 14 TRILLION in debt, illegal immigration, the threat of radical Islam, the BLOATED welfare state, medicaid/medicare/social security that are ponzi schemes, and much more) PLEASE know that you are NOT alone. There are MANY more of us than the Democratic party would want you to believe. (Just like they HATE that there are millions of black Americans who are WAKING UP to what liberal and progressive big government policies have done to them personally and their community.)
Think for yourself. Please! And trust your gut. It is no longer acceptable or defensible to vote on one issue or one set of issues. Gay marriage and civil rights will literally mean NOTHING if this great country fails to exist. And make no mistake: this country will not exist if this president and his allies (foreign and domestic), and the Democratic Party have their way.
robert in NYC
BD8UK, I stand corrected on that one, thank you. However, censorship IS legal on public t.v. channels, not just in speech but for the expression of full frontal nudity according to the FCC and on cable channels, its rare to see full frontal male nudity, almost always female. I don’t think it would be a question of splitting hairs having said that. To challenge Jon’s statement, we do not have full “freedom of speech” or expression. Compared to some countries we do but most certainly not entirely.
Cam
@dan4: said…
” It is no longer acceptable or defensible to vote on one issue or one set of issues. ”
____________________________________
Sorry but when the ONE issue is the difference between one party wanting to have us arrested for even existing, and another party that while far from perfect can be pressured to give us our rights, there is no other issues.
The state of this country is pretty irrelevent to us if we are all sitting in jail, arrested for simply being gay.
This ONE issue isn’t the differnce between us getting a tax free IRA or paying for it out of the withdrawal, this ONE issue has to do with actually being allowed to live free, which, if you will check was pretty much the point of the founding of this country.
Matt_miami
@Cam: IF that one issue is the only issue, than why didn’t the democrats do something when they had the chance. for 2 years they controlled the house and had a super majority in the Senate. Super majority means that the republicans could not stop anything the Dems tried to pass. Obama has veto very few bills while in office. If the democrats were ever going to support the issues of the Gay community, they had 2 years to pass any bill they wanted. By not passing gay marriage into law.
When someone has the chance to do something and they don’t, it can only mean one thing. They’re really not that into you. Keep lying to yourself. Keep supporting the democrats, because they give a better speach but do nothing. Keep hoping and dreaming for the day you’re equal.
The democrats just gave you a curb stomping, baseball bat thumping beating and your going back for more. If you were in a relationship and your lover refused to do the one thing that would truly make you happy, how long would it take before you left.
The democrats new theme song for the GLBT community should be Meatloaf’s “I’ll do anything for love(But I won’t do THAT)”
dancobbb
Muslims are a primitive people. Over the last two generations they have migrated from primitive nations to modern societies in the U.S. and in Europe. Their religion remains primitive –like Christianity in the 13th century. And their religion simply does not permit them to abide the freedoms and open societies found in a Constitutional Republic. Law doesn’t reign. Their religion does. And there’s no talking to a nation of primitive people with zealous religiosity. That’s where Europe is in store for some huge social conflicts. The number of Moslems are so large now that Europeans fear their presence and give them special status outside the laws. Like one commenter wrote: had the sign said “MOSLEM FREE ZONE”… the perpetrator would have definitely be in jail (European method) or dead (Moslem method). The UK fined this man for sticking signs on posts (like grafitti) without consideration of the message. If you’re going to have laws that make it a crime to incite hatred against a group of people, then you better apply it equally. This decision gives Moslems the impression that the government will tolerate hate speech directed against gays, but will not tolerate hate speech against Moslems. So slowly the UK turns into Araby.
robert in NYC
No. 23 dancobbb…I doubt if the UK will turn into “Araby”. I presume you are inferring Sharia law. First of all, Sharia law applies only to certain religious matters pertaining to the muslim community that are deemed not harmful to the pulic at large. British civil and criminal laws apply to EVERYONE, including muslims. Approximately only 15% of the British public profess any religious observance, no matter their denomination and out of that, a far smaller percentage claim they attend religious services regularly, far fewer than in the U.S. If you recall, there have been numerous cases against so called “christian” people who’ve discriminated against gay people in the delivery of services, the hospitality industry as one example. None of them have won and in most cases, have been fined for violating the equalities law. Catholic adoption agencies and charities have also come under the same scrutiny. Not so long ago, a woman of African descent, an employee at a local registrar’s office in Islington in North London lost a case for refusing to administer civil partnerships based on her claim that it was against her personal religious beliefs. She appealed the case but again, lost.
The hate speech law was also applied to white American right wing hate speech commentator, Michael Savage who has called for the annihilation of gay people and whom the UK government deemed inappropriate to the safety and welfare of the British public and has been barred from entry into the country. No legal system in the world is perfect, but the UK does in most cases apply the laws of the land equally even though some do not think so.
ousslander
here i was led to believ it ws the evil white man trying to make it look like mulsims.