Harry’s Place has already covered this story here and here. As someone watching this story from a distance, I’ve found it difficult to triangulate a ‘correct’ response. Whereas the planned pride march at first seemed a positive step, it did seem tainted by connections with the EDL, for example.
Peter Tatchell has consistently struck a thoughtful balance between expressing anxiety about the offensive and intimidating posters and concern for potential victims of Islamophobia, awareness of the dangers of scapegoating an entire community.
So his recent statements seem worth taking seriously. It seems as though the police have let down both the gay community and the Muslim community, the former by failing to do everything possible to protect them, the latter by (unintentionally) whipping up more rather than less distrust and hostility against them, playing into the hands of the EDL in fact. There’s a long piece by Julie Bindel on the issue here, which is followed by many interesting comments.
Police then claimed that it was the EDL that put up the stickers in order to unfairly malign the Muslim community and stir up further divisions and hatred in the East End. Having failed to take definitive action against homophobic Islamists in the past, police turned its attention away from the real perpetrators altogether, as it has since been revealed that the EDL were not involved in the sticker incidents. Further, according to gay human rights activist Peter Tatchell, the police have known all along that it was instigated by homophobic Muslim youths.
When Tatchell spoke at an event hosted by The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association recently he was asked how he thought that conflicts between the LGBT and Muslim community in the wake of the sticker incident could be resolved.
The audience was visibly shocked as he revealed that the police knew that an Asian youth was responsible for this homophobic act weeks ago. He stated that the police had CCTV footage of the youth being handed these stickers by extremists outside The East London Mosque. Furthermore, Tatchell revealed that the groups Out East and Rainbow Hamlets also knew that this youth was responsible. It had been revealed to them in a public meeting and they had been sworn to secrecy for fear of upsetting the Muslim community. There were cries of “shame” and “disgraceful” from the audience.
Once again, as I began to read the comments, I started feeling torn, as I was drawn to those commenters who pointed out that they found the atmosphere of fear described in her piece exaggerated. This man for example.
Even more aneddotal evidence for you. I moved into the East End in 1989 and have lived here ever since. Not only that, but I work in the East End. I don’t have a car and I don’t even ride a bike so I walk everywhere night and day. And I do not live in a nice middle class street. I live on a big housing estate. Added to this, I teach in a college in the East End and most of those who I teach are Muslim. I’ve taught there for about 9 years now and in that time, I have not encountered a single expression or act of hatred towards me on account of being gay from a Muslim student or member of staff. I’m really not making this up. I even occasionally include representations of gay and lesbian people into the materials I use in class to get some discussion going.
I am definitely not discounting other people’s experiences of homophobia in the East End, but I am not able to recognise emotive language like tidal waves, tsunamis, surges or epidemics of homophobia and even more offesnsively, Islamic homophobia.
The vast majority of Mulsim people I believe are just like the vast majority of other people, they want to get on with their lives and live as peacefully as possible with their neighbours, whoever they may be
I suppose the most positive outcome would be that people like him can agree that the posters business seems to have been mishandled, and acknowledge the way those responsible may have had their homophobia reinforced by hateful preachers, and yet still articulate their own good experiences, their awareness that Muslims are not a monolithic bloc, their suspicions of the way even just causes can get hijacked by those with unpleasant agendas. That would seem to be a good way of countering the dangers of extremism from both sides.
hat tip: Lamia in the comments
