ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

CAL [1984] – a move review

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Cal is a young man on the fringes of the I.R.A., but he falls in love with a Catholic woman whose husband, a Protestant policeman, has been killed a year earlier by the I.R.A.

Cal (John Lynch), as I have said, loves Marcella (Dame Helen Mirren) and put together such a wonderful performance that Mirren won the award of Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1984.

Two quotes covering this were:

  • Dirk Bogarde was President of the Jury that year and wrote to his friend Kathleen Tynan to say that while he’d seen some ‘pretty crummy movies’, he had also watched ‘a modest, excellent little film about the Irish Business for which, to my delight (and astonishment) Helen Mirren won Best Actress’.
  • Nigel Andrews of the Financial Times stated that ‘Cal is the most moving and convincing portrait of life in Northern Ireland the cinema has yet given us’.

John Lynch – Cal – 1984 | Regis Autographs

JOHN LYNCH, CAL, 1984 Stock Photo - Alamy

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Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022

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police-crime-sentencing-and-courts-act-2022    This article was published in Openly, Reuters:

OPINION: Time to wipe the slate clean: New UK government measures address historical convictions under homophobic laws 

by Paul Johnson, Michael Cashman and Alistair Lexden
Thursday, 28 April 2022 12:30 GMT

The passing of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 means that disregards and pardons are available to any person who was convicted of sexual activity between persons of the same sex, subject to certain conditions

Professor Paul Johnson is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Leeds; Michael Cashman is a former Labour MEP and currently a Labour peer of the House of Lords; Alistair Lexden is a Conservative peer and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.

Martin Luther King Jr said, “We are not makers of history; we are made by history.”  

Dr King’s words have particular resonance for LGBTQ+ people in the UK who lived through the final years of a very long history of homophobic laws that damaged and, in many cases, destroyed lives.

Although the laws that for centuries prevented gay people living full and happy lives have been progressively repealed, such laws continue to have consequences for some people today.

Among the significant consequences are the official records that endure for those convicted of, or cautioned for, offences involving same-sex sexual conduct that would today be entirely lawful. Such records have continued to harm the lives of people who are still living today and are an insult to the memory of those who have died.

Since 2012, the legislatures of the UK have taken action to address the painful history of the persecution of gay people and have introduced “disregard” and “pardon” schemes.

Although there are some differences in the schemes operating in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland their overall effect is to provide a mechanism for those living with a caution or conviction, for same-sex sexual conduct that would today be lawful, to have a caution or conviction disregarded and to be pardoned. In addition, posthumous pardons have been granted to those cautioned or convicted under laws extending back to the 16th century.  

Having a caution or conviction disregarded can be life changing. It means, for example, that a person will be treated for all purposes in law as if that person has not committed the offence. Moreover, the granting of pardons, aside from their legal status, is a strong, symbolic apology to each and every person who has been wronged.

The disregard and pardon schemes are therefore very important. They address individual suffering, and they also send a clear message to people in the UK, and in the wider world, that we have confronted our shameful history and said “never again”. This is particularly important at a time when, around the world, fanatical legislation is being proposed by those who wish to harm LGBTQ+ people.

However, until the passage of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the disregard and pardon schemes in England and Wales were significantly flawed because they encompassed only a small fraction of the offences that, over the decades and centuries, ruined the lives of gay people. Crucially, the schemes did not include the wide range of service discipline offences that allowed members of the UK armed forces to be convicted for same-sex sexual acts long after such acts became legal for civilians – offences that often ruined the careers and lives of service personnel.

For the past six years, the three of us have worked together, with supportive government ministers – particularly Baroness Goldie and Baroness Williams of Trafford – as well as dedicated civil servants, to address the limitations of the disregard and pardon schemes and bring justice to all those who need and deserve it.

We were responsible, for instance, for ensuring that posthumous pardons for Royal Navy personnel were appropriately provided for in the Policing and Crime Act 2017, and we were responsible for provisions in the Armed Forces Act 2021 that extended posthumous pardons to Army and Royal Marines personnel.

Most recently, we worked with the UK government to include provisions in the 2022 Act that change the disregard and pardon schemes in England and Wales to encompass the wide range of repealed criminal and service discipline offences that once regulated same-sex sexual activity that would be lawful today.

The changes made by the 2022 Act to the schemes in England and Wales mean that disregards and pardons are available to any person who was convicted of, or cautioned for, an offence in circumstances where the conduct constituting the offence was sexual activity between persons of the same sex, subject to certain conditions. The key conditions are that: any other person involved in the sexual activity was aged 16 or over; the offence has been repealed or abolished; and the sexual activity would not, if occurring in the same circumstances now, constitute an offence.

To return to Dr King’s wise words, it is the history of generations past that made us want to work to bring about justice for all those mistreated by English law solely because of their sexual orientation. The provisions in the 2022 Act wipe away a terrible stain from our history and, crucially, tender a deep and profound symbolic apology to those who have suffered.

We continue to work towards ensuring that the disregard and pardon schemes in Northern Ireland encompass all the offences that once criminalised same-sex sexual conduct that is lawful today.

Openly is an initiative of the Thomson Reuters Foundation dedicated to impartial coverage of LGBT+ issues from around the world.

 

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Freedom of The Press – Is It Time Stamped?

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Freedom of the Press is something we should cherish, so when the Duchess of Sussex won her case against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over five articles that reproduced parts of a “personal and private” letter to her father in August 2018, Downing Street (which as we all know means the Prime Minister has sanctioned it) has said that ‘A FREE press is “one of the cornerstones of any democracy, and that they (meaning the government) will be looking at the judgement carefully!

Freedom of The PressHowever, in the Guardian dated 24 Jul 2021, Nick Cohen wrote about ‘Who’ll defend our right to a free press? Not the ex-hack in No 10’, and I quote journalists have every right to be fearful of the prime minister’s proposed legislation (the Home Office proposes to “modernise” the Official Secrets Act … it has been decided that there can be no public interest defence for unauthorised disclosure.   An official or ‘reporter’ will not be able to escape jail by saying they had exposed abuse of power…)

This government is very good at spin; if it gets something wrong it either attacks or denigrates the person or organisation who made the claim, or it waits a short while and then gets an apology said as though that will white wash the event (and so far it often has!)

 

 

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The Old Museum Building, Belfast

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The Old Museum Building, Belfast In Belfast in 1991, the first Pride Week took place.  It was a week of events which included our Pride Dander (march).  But what was of equal interest were the events held in so many venues one of which was the Old Museum Building.  I have to say that I did not know of this building until our Pride Committee met and were discussing what events we should try and organise, and then of course where should we try to put them on.

There were so many items put on, including this in the Old Museum Building:

  • Mixtures and Allsorts were in the Old Museum Arts Centre.  It was billed as a cabaret – we were required to bring our own refreshments – so we did! There was a vast range of performance styles

But why has this been brought to mind; in the Belfast Telegraph dated 20 November 2021 there was a lovely article by Louise Finn on how The Old Museum Building had weathered bombs and multiple changes of use, and now due to an exciting regeneration plan it will be returned to its former glory for the public to enjoy once more.

My remembrance of the inside of the building was of the high ceilings, slightly tatty decor, but then money was tight in those days, as it is indeed even today.  There is always (usually) the will to do these projects, but we need money and also careful management of the project to ensure that The Old Museum building returns to its former glory, but equally practically to be of use to our society.  We can ill afford to lose yet another cultural icon of our buildings from our city!

 

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Listen, in life you have to take your time…

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I was reading the Guardian Weekend magazine from the 4th of September and came across a series of articles on grandchild and grandparents.  The basis of the articles was how much do these groups really understand each other?  Each story was interesting in that the individuals from each group seemed to respect and understand each other, but one story stood out for me; that Louis Brow (21) and Bob Smith (80).  They both seemed to love and appreciate each other and to have a deep understanding of where they were, but it is Bob Smith’s response to Louis that I really loved..

 

“Listen, in life you’ve just got to take your time and go slow because if you go too fast you miss the beauty of life” 

and Louis seemed to get the drift, for he said ‘It’s stuck with me, has that’

 

Listen, in life you have to take your time... Listen, in life you have to take your time...

 

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Belfast Pride and Economics

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Belfast Pride and Economics!  Originally, we had Pride Day with a march to show people that we are part of their community and that we had a right to exist.  At this point we were fighting for our lives;  abuse, both physical and mental, was normal, and murder occurred and was usually brushed under the legal table as justified due to overtures or something similar. (Portsmouth Defence)

And again, marches started in large cities like New York and London, and like a spider’s web slowly the marches spread into other cities and links were formed.

In the background to these marches were the fights in court to get us legal recognition and protection (e.g., Jeffrey Dudgeon, MBE).

 

…’Try to will yourself into – or out of – loving someone,  try to will someone into loving you, and you collide with the fundamental fact that we do not choose whom we love.’  …James Baldwin on Love, the illusion of Choice and the Paradox of Freedom

 

Time has passed and so the Pride March has become Pride Month, with a lot of regions or cities now holding the Pride Parade which is almost like a Lord Mayor’s Float Parade!

With a parade comes flamboyance, but why?  To quote i-d-vice.com  in their article the significance of men’s fashion at pride’: 

 

…Queer men have always worn outlandish clothing within the safety of their own spaces but Pride is different; it’s an occasion which allows you to dress however you want, in broad daylight, in the centre of the city. Fashion at Pride is a way of being defiantly visible, satirising the straight world, and experimenting with gender….

 

However, this last year during the covid lockdown we have all seen how shallow the acceptance has been, with an increase in LGBTQ+ attacks, with the homeless of LGBTQ+ increasing and with some countries even reversing (or seeking to reverse) the laws which were fought for to give the LGBTQ+ community acceptance and protection.

I love Belfast Pride, having been one of those few souls who marched on the very first one in 1991 (all 200 of us), and walked past the various vociferous groups protesting us being there and alive.

That first Pride in Belfast was a small affair, but so significant as it allowed the Belfast population going about their normal daily tasks, to see that we were just like them from one end of the spectrum to another, with very flamboyant characters to extremely conservative ones – and that just as other groups have marched for centuries in the belief of their right to exist, so were we.

Today, as I have mentioned above, the Pride Day Parade is a large affair in Belfast, with conservative numbers for those taking part being (55000) and with watchers at least double that.   We have support groups from Trade Unions, the PSNI, local councils, student groups to name but a few.  The detractors have gone down in number, and indeed the local papers generally write in a positive way about the parade.

I welcome this change, but again I caution everyone to remember our roots, there are still those who would seek to have us put back in the closet.

The one thing that is not often mentioned about Gay Pride Parades is the economic benefit that regions, towns, or cities get from them.  I come from a background of finance, and I am also a local community journalist for our community, so I was extremely interested to see if anyone knew what economic benefits were brought into Belfast specifically and for Northern Ireland in general.

There is little available documentation regarding this area, but one that I have read with interest is the Greater London Authority Mayoral Decision for funding for Pride in London for the period 2018-2022.  I would like to share an extract from it: –

…During the past five years, Pride in London has continued to see growth and improved community engagement.  It is the UK’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) event and parade that typically attracts an annual attendance of up to a million people into central London.  Independent audience survey research in 2016 (the most recent data set) showed that additional spend in the local economy from people attending Pride was approximately £26.3m…

Now obviously Belfast figures as I have stated above are nowhere near 1 million (55000 approx.), however, if you conservatively look at the projected spend figures then I would suggest that Belfast economically benefits to the tune of

 

  Attendance Figures Additional Spend Spend per Head Estimated Policing Cost Estimated Cleaning Up Costs Estimated Net Benefit
             
London 1000000 £26.3m £26.30 £1m £1m £24.3m
             
 Brighton 400000 £20.5m  £51.25 £420k* £200k* £19.8
             
             
Belfast 55000 £.825m £15.00 £55k £45k £725k
  55000 £.550m £10.00 £55k £45k £450K
Northern Ireland            
             

 

Now the statistics for Northern Ireland are a lot more obscure as the Northern Ireland Tourist Board does not seem to track increased  figures for the period of Pride Month, and in particular Belfast Pride (FOI Request reply to 3 questions on Belfast Pride and in general N Ireland Pride Festivals dated 25 Jun 2018), but I believe that economically, the events help attract tourist income, stimulate employment, encourage spending, and contribute to public infrastructure development; and in so doing events prove the opportunity to revitalise communities and foster economic development. 

Also, the rural pride events can help members of the LGBTQ+ community to feel supported and accepted by creating visibility about different sexual orientations.

In the last week, we have seen reference to 1991 A Belfast Pride to be remembered!  It is important to realise that Belfast Pride is both a celebration of life and who we are, but also a political statement to show we are here, that we will not be going back and that we will continue to fight for our rights in society.

 

Belfast Pride and Economics

 

 

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Coming to Power by Samois: Writings and Graphics on Lesbian S/M. – a gay book review by Anne Ross

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The interesting and fun things you find when you review older publications of your own are reviews by friends; in this case the review by my friend Anne Ross of the book ‘ Coming to Power: Writings and Graphics on Lesbian S/M.

First and foremost Anne was a dear friend of mine, sadly passed away due to cancer almost too many years to remember.  I remember her from her hard work and support on various committees and groups like Cara Friend, NIGRA, various woman’s support groups, but I also remember her sense of fun like when she moved into her first house and decided to hold a party, and because she had no glasses she coerced me and a few others to go to the local pub and ask if we could borrow some glasses – she also decided to make up a green punch coloured punch which looked hideous but turned out to have a lovely taste but horrible hangover.  I missed her when she moved to London, and now miss her even more as I can never hear her infectious laugher again.

Now to her review:

Coming to PowerComing to Power: Writings and Graphics on Lesbian S/M

By Samois 

Published by Samois initially then by Alyson Publications

Price:  £ – currently unknown as out of print 

Excellent book on Lesbian S/M.  Clears a lot of myths and uneasiness that folk may have conjured up in their minds about S/M.  Basically, the book is made up of various people’s views of and experiences with S/M.  A few chapters deal with practicalities, like when care must be taken and just when to draw the line.

I would advise anyone unsure of their view of S/M to read this; probably at the end, they’ll find they see it differently from what they originally thought.

 

Anne Ross

 

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Homophobia and Terrorism are not limited to Muslims.

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Homophobia and Terrorism

Homophobia and Terrorism are not limited to Muslims, history shows that and often what we do not understand and fear (often irrationally) we throw out words like terrorism, not our people etc.

Andrew Pulver wrote an impassioned article on how journalism in all its forms needs to stop the ‘Toxic portrayals of Muslims’!  I would suggest that we need in the West, and in other cultures, to take a reality check.  The portrayals of terrorists as being only from one side of the world’s population is disingenuous.  All the major maritime powers in Europe sponsored pirates to enact terrorism on their rivals!  Then we have terrorists/freedom fighters, for example,   in 1867 there was the Clerkenwell explosion in London by the Fenians / Irish Republican Brotherhood (proto – IRA), in 1903 there were the Thessaloniki bombings by a Bulgarian group from Veles, mostly young graduates from the Bulgarian Men’s High School of Thessaloniki. Terrorism and Homophobia The list is endless, go and have a look at the Wikipedia article ‘Terrorism in Europe’ as a starting point.

But and it is a large BUT, terrorism by its very nature is subjective; dependent upon where you are with your life, your family, your community, your society, One Man’s Terrorist Is Another Man’s Freedom Fighter

So, therefore, you must ask why am I Interested?  My interest lies in my knowledge of Muslims.  I have been lucky enough to work, live and make friends with Muslims within their society whilst working in the Middle East; I have also been able to have similar experiences in the Far East, Canada, South America, and Europe.  I have always found a welcome within these communities, and I have had many discussions covering all aspects of their and my own society over politics, religion, homosexuality, with these debates has come an understanding of the local fears, even the fear of loss of identity (the Northern Irish are not unique).

In an article published in LGBTQ Nation (commentary by Michael Jensen and Brent Hartinger) it highlighted the position that a few of the local queer Muslim’s had in Turkey, a country which is 97% Muslim and where LGBTQ rights have gone backwards in recent years.  But similar pressure is being placed on LGBTQ freedom in other parts of Europe, e.g., Hungary and Poland.  According to the European Union in 2020 43% of LGBTQ people, last year said they felt discriminated against, up from 37% in 2012.

So, you can from this short overview firstly that terrorism and homophobia are not just related to Muslim society.

We need to educate against toxic rhetoric and politics wherever it is shown.  We need to be vigilant locally and fight against what certain elements among the local politicians will repeatedly roll out – remember throughout history it has always been easy to use a minority as the whipping boy for society wrongs – the Jews when they no longer were willing financiers of the British Crown, and indeed with a number of European monarchies, the travellers, Jews, homosexuals by Nazi Germany, the travellers even today in the United Kingdom, and for certain parties in Northern Ireland politics the LGBTQ+ society.

 

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Virtual Belfast Reception

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Virtual Belfast ReceptionOn July 1st, 2021 the PinkNews, in partnership with Citi and the Rainbow Project, under the title “Virtual Belfast Reception” organised a panel discussion on LGBT+ equality in Northern Ireland.  The Virtual Belfast Reception online meeting involved Doug Beattie, UUP leader, Mary Lou McDonald, president of Sinn Fein, Colm Eastwood, SDLP leader, Naomi Long, Alliance leader and justice minister, and Mal O’Hara, a Green Party councillor in Belfast and the event was moderated by John O’Doherty, director of the Rainbow Project.
 
 
The virtual meeting was conducted through Zoom, with the audience being able to view but not comment except through the messenger facility of the program.  Areas under discussion were:
 
                • Transgender
                • Self ID Laws
                • LGBTQ+ and Education
                • Conversion Therapy

 

Obviously, during 1hr 30min+ discussion, there were sidetracks; the main one being over political parties and LGBTQ+ rights to which Paul Bradley, deputy leader of the DUP, said that in response to a question from Mr O’Doherty about the DUP and its history of negativity on LGBTQ+ issues, 

“I’m not going to defend some of the things that have been said over the years, because they have been absolutely atrocious. They’ve been shocking, so they have.
“I certainly couldn’t stand by many of those comments – in fact, all of those comments.
“Because I know that the hurt they have caused people and I know that fed into the hatred some people have had to endure in their life, and I think that’s absolutely wrong.
“I think the vast majority of those people that made those comments are no longer there, and the ones that are there have said that they have learned their lessons, that their language at times has not been right.
“It’s something I’ve brought up on numerous occasions with my own party because I think not sometimes, all the time, our language very much that we use as elected representatives has an impact in wider society.
“I can certainly say I apologise for what others have said and done in the past because I do think that there has been some very hurtful comments and some language that really should not have been used.”

(A full transcript can be found in the Newsletter link which is at the end of this article)

 

Now, this was a welcome response, however, it was then followed by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson speaking on Sunday, July 5th 2021|:

Mr Donaldson acknowledged past comments by members of the party had been “hurtful” to LGBT people here, before adding it was “not just in the case of the DUP”.

While the DUP leader said it is right “that we say sorry and acknowledge hurt”, Mr Donaldson went on to add: “Equally in time, I hope others will be able to acknowledge that they have caused hurt, for example to people from a strongly held faith perspective.”

This is the politician two shoe shuffle, give on one hand and then take away by blaming it all on someone else.

 

Much as Paul Bradly may wish, and indeed believes, that the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) is making strives to reform, it would seem that its current leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, has more in keeping with the leader he replaced Edwin Poots, or if you go back further Mrs Iris Robinson, a previous MLA and wife of the then First Minister ‘Peter Robinson’,  and ‘her’ psychologist who claimed that he could cure gays (gay conversion therapy).

 

Virtual Belfast Reception

 

 

Whilst I have concnetrated on the DUP during this virtual meeting, the other participants were very clear in the answers and supportive.  Some of the phrases which I have written down are:

  • Even though things have changed, there is ‘always a need to remain alert’.
  • If you ‘Stop pushing forward, then we will move back’
  • Even though we have had ‘Immense change, the lesson is we have to keep gong’
  • ‘Always think about those young people in turmoil’
  • ‘A Safe Place For All Of Our People’

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