Cardinals' sin

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, speaking yesterday in Westminster Cathedral Hall, accused Labour of legislating for intolerance.

In an outspoken attack on equality legislation the Cardinal said "I want to appeal tonight for the freedom to believe and the freedom to serve the common good according to the convictions of our faith. For it is in the nature of who we Christians are to serve society, to be recognised by the sign of love, and to discover for ourselves and lead others to discover the inviolable dignity of every human person."

In the first place it was misleading to say that the Catholic Church teaches about "the inviolable dignity of every human person." It does not. The words were those of a man who summarily dismissed his press aide for being gay. In fact the Catholic Church has a record of persecuting gay men and women, as well as others of whom they disapproved.

So we see that the Catholic Church has a poor record of support for "the inviolable dignity of every human person."

Cardinal Ratzinger, now the Pope, wrote "Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder."

And Ratzinger went on to comment that when homosexual activity is condoned, or when "civil legislation is introduced to protect behavior to which no one has any conceivable right, neither the Church nor society at large should be surprised when other distorted notions and practices gain ground, and irrational and violent reactions increase."

Legislation cannot force Catholics to love gay men and women any more than it can force racists to love all people equally. But it will ensure all people are treated with respect, and that can only be a good thing ... indeed it's something which a fair-mined person should support. If the Cardinal does not support these laws, the public will conclude that it is proof of hypocrisy and intolerance.

All people equal?

On the 200th anniversary of laws abolishing the British slave trade the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, has called on Britain to make a formal apology for the slave trade. In those days the Church largely supported slavery and chuch bells rang out in celebration after an earlier Parliamentary attempt to abolish the trade had been unsuccessful.

A driving force behind abolition was William Wilberforce, a Christian man who believed all people were born equal. Yet when the Archbishop of York spoke last Wednesday in the House of Lords debate it was to support the right to discriminate. At the start of a speech filled with sophistry, skewed logic and special pleading the Archbishop invoked Wilberforce's name to support his position.

It was left to the next speaker, Baroness Howarth of Breckland, to more appropriately associate William Wilberforce's name with equality.

Here are some BBC online news reports relating to the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007:

Cameron to back adoption row law
No exemption from gay rights law
Gay adoption rules 'rail-roaded'
Blair defends gay adoption laws

Contrary to the impression given by those news reports, the legislation discussed in the House of Lords is not a gay rights law, and neither is it a gay adoption law. It is an equality law which applies to heterosexuals as well as lesbian, gay and bisexual people, and its purpose is to make discrimination in the provision of goods and services unlawful.

So why has one BBC news online headline after another failed to give the law a sensible title. Yes true the "Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007" is a bit too long for a catchy headline but given that more details are be included in each news report, why didn't the newsroom just opt for "equality law"?

Why not have these headlines instead of the ones above:

Cameron to back equality law
No exemption from equality law
Equality regulations 'rail-roaded'
Blair defends anti-discrimination laws

Also, notice from the BBC News webstite how much coverage was given to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and his supporters compared to the amount of coverage given to equality supporters. BBC video clips, too, show a strong bias towards opponents of the equality laws. In this report (Realplayer) by Robert Pigott, equality supporters hardly get a look in.

The BBC's Statements of Programme Policy 2007/2008 should be published fairly soon. I've written to Mark Thompson again in the past few days to suggest that it would be a good idea to make a small change to the current wording which was quoted in my blog dated 4 March 2007.

Here is the wording I suggested: The BBC's purpose – largely unchanged in 80 years – is to enrich the life of every person in the UK regardless of age, ability, income, sex, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity with programmes that inform, educate and entertain.

I'm still not sure if Mr Thompson wants to make the change to the SoPP as I've not received a reply from him, possibly because he's against the suggested change and won't give his reasons, or alternatively it could be because thinks he's too important to reply in person. BBC Information has been working overtime on the Director-General's behalf though they haven't managed to shed any light on the answer to my enquiry.

Mr Thompson has been made aware of substantial evidence of deliberate anti-gay discrimination in the Corporation, including examples not written about in this blog. My suggested SoPP wording change sends out a clear message that any future discrimination would be against the BBC's ethos.

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Cyril Husbands has now left the BBC and moved to Berkshire Consultancy. Newsround blog send our best wishes to him for the future.

Blue Peter was in trouble today about a phone competition last November. Like most channels the BBC got found out and came clean. Richard Deverell was interviewed by Jon Snow live on Channel 4 News. But when it comes to phone votes and competitions the BBC is generally a lot more trustworthy and honest than its commercial rivals, and when charities are involved they usually give a much higher percentage of the phone call cost away.

Current developments

On 4 February 2007 I mentioned that there have been some hopeful signs. No changes are yet apparent on the programme or website but the BBC is now looking into the situation from an equality viewpoint.

Newsround's In The News messageboard has carried an interesting debate, now drawing to a close, about gay adoption. Most of the posts have supported equal gay rights.

A draft of the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 has now been published.

The new regulations are due to come into effect late next month. It will then be illegal for organisations to discriminate against anyone because of their sexual orientation. Similar regulations are already in force in Northern Ireland.

The BBC does not have any exemption from the regulations.
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Happy International Women's Day

More teachers' notes

A very worthy subject about the abolition of slavery is covered under the title of People Power.

The Icebreaker section asks: Which are the issues that you would stand up for? And goes on to suggest looking at what Newsround viewers said.

But did any viewers say they would stand up for gay rights? We don't know, of course, because Newsround discriminates against gay people and wouldn't allow messages from fair-minded people who believe in diversity and equal rights.

So if the Newsround was broadcast 200 years ago they might be censoring messages from kids who were against slavery.

Doesn't sound very much like People Power does it?

The importance of diversity and lgbt people

Recently some scientists have been carrying out experiments to find out if there is a biological cause of "gayness." Martina Navratilova drew attention to this when she wrote to Oregon State University pleading for the experiments to cease. Martina wrote: "How can it be that, in the year 2006, a major university would host such homophobic and cruel experiments? ... For the sake of the animals who will die unnecessarily in these experiments and for the many gays and lesbians who stand to be deeply offended by the social implications of these tests, I ask that you please end these studies at once".

I've only covered a tiny fraction of people in a series of short cameos during February for LGBT history month. And the people I mentioned are all definitely from the lgbt community. But what would happen if these studies prove that "gayness" can be removed from sheep, and later a way is found to ensure humans are always heterosexual?

Would parents be allowed to screen out lesbian and gay kids? If the answer is yes, then the it carries an implied message: humans have no intrinsic value - we are here in order to reproduce and continue the human race, but our individual lifetime achievements are irrelevant. People without progeny - Newton, da Vinci and Beethoven - what are they worth.

No one knows for sure whether these people in history were gay, but if humans had always been specially selected for their propensity to procreate it is certain that many important people would never have lived.

The world is already seriously overpopulated and the last thing we need now is to ensure that everyone in future is heterosexual. Long live DIVERSITY.

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The BBC is taking a very long time to reply to my question about the Statements of Programme Policy 2007/2008. I was only asking if the Director-General would mind amending "The Purpose of the BBC" section near the beginning so that in future there is explicit mention of some other minorities. The 2006/2007 version reads:

The BBC’s purpose – largely unchanged in 80 years – is to enrich the life of every person in the UK regardless of age, income, sex, race or religion with programmes that inform, educate and entertain.

If the BBC is really committed to principles of equality and dIvErSiTy then you might think the Director-General would be happy to agree.

James whale was an innovative Hollywood film producer, best known for Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
James Whale (1889 - 1957)
James was born in Dudley, Worcestershire and discovered his theatrical talents while held as a prisoner of war in 1917. After the armistice he returned to Birmingham and embarked on a professional stage career. In 1928 he directed two fringe performances of R. C. Sherriff's then barely known play 'Journey's End,' starring the young Laurence Olivier. The play was very successful and transferred to the West End, and later to Broadway. It was filmed in 1930 with Colin Clive in the leading role as Captain Stanhope.

Whale's two Frankenstein movies made Universal Pictures very successful in the 1930s partly because of their huge box-office receipts. Further, these pictures together with The Invisible Man established the screen careers of Colin Clive, Elsa Lanchester, Boris Karloff and Claude Rains some of whom Whale had known previously in England. He had personally selected them for their roles in his films.

Whale's later life was the subject of a biopic Gods and Monsters starring Sir Ian McKellen as James Whale. The title comes from a line in Bride of Frankenstein spoken by Dr Pretorius.

More about James Whale

We are over half way through LGBT history month now, and we arrive today at the centenary of the birth of one of the greatest modern English poets W.H Auden.

W H Auden (1907-1973)
Wystan Hugh Auden was born in York, where his father George Auden was a doctor and archaeologist. W.H. was the youngest of three sons.

Auden was always interested in science, and had expected to become a mining engineer until he was 15. In 1922 his schoolfriend Robert Medley first suggested that he should write poetry and the same year he lost his Christian faith. His first poems appeared in the Gresham's School magazine in 1923. After university Auden made journeys to Spain, Iceland and Germany, and his poetry was influenced by Marx and Freud. He was employed as a schoolmaster until the war, when he left England for the United States with Isherwood. In America he came under the influence of Christianity once again.

Auden's poem "funeral blues" was made famous by the funeral oration scene in "Four Weddings and a Funeral," but it was originally from a black comedy "The Ascent of F6," written by Auden and his friend Christopher Isherwood, which was dedicated to Auden's geologist brother John who explored and mapped the high Himalayas and K2.

More about W.H. Auden

Martina Navratilova was born in Řevnice, a small town south west of Prague, in 1956. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest women tennis players and has won the women's title at Wimbledon a record 9 times.

Martina Navratilova (b.1956)
She was born Martina Šubertová, but her parents divorced when she was 3 and when her mother remarried she took her stepfather's name. Her stepfather was also her first tennis coach, and left-handed Martina went on to win her first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon in 1978.

In 1981, shortly after being granted U.S. citizenship, Navratilova "came out" publicly, and from 1983 to 1991 she had a long-term relationship with married author Judy Nelson which ended acrimoniously.

Martina has been very active in charities benefiting underprivileged children, gay rights and animal rights. In 2000 she won the National Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign, America's largest lesbian/gay activist group. She said:- "People often ask me, 'Now that I've come out, what more can I do?' My answer to that would be, 'Encourage others to come out.' and to be active, supportive members of our community, which in turn, helps contribute positive change and ultimately to fair and equal opportunities for us all."

More about Martina Navratilova

Empowering kids - Part 1

The true measure of a nation’s standing is how well it attends to its children – their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialization, and their sense of being loved, valued, and included in the families and societies into which they are born.

Those words are taken from the beginning of UNICEF's report - Child poverty in perspective: An overview of child well-being in rich countries.

The Report claims to be a comprehensive assessment of the lives and well-being of children and adolescents in 21 economically advanced nations. Its purpose is to encourage monitoring, to permit comparison, and to stimulate the discussion and development of policies to improve children’s lives.

The top ranking country for subjective well-being was the Netherlands, and the UK was ranked lowest. Newsround reported UK kids 'could have happier life'.

In part 2 of this blog we'll be comparing some aspects of kids' tv in the UK and in the Netherlands, and we'll see that tv over there isn't just about giving kids a voice. It's about empowerment through real participation in the programme making process.

For now though, have a look at Tim Levell's latest blog - this time it's not about banning anyone or anything, and there are some interesting readers' comments too.

Carefully note the bit where Tim says "we have a crucial role in giving children aged six to 12 a voice," as I might have more to say about it in a future blog.

Happy Valentine's Day

Back to LGBT history month, and the reason this person is history is because he was a victim of homophobia and eventually committed suicide. Even today very few sports personalities are prepared to risk their careers by coming out. This is especially true of male players in team sports. But Justin Fashanu came out in 1990 with tragic consequences.

Justin Fashanu (1961-1998)
Following their parents splitting up, Justin and younger brother John went into care at Barnardo's home in Barkingside. About three years later they were adopted by a married couple living in Attleborough, near Norwich.

Justin played for Norwich City between 1979 and 1981 when he transferred to Nottingham Forest for an almost unprecedented £1m. Soon afterwards Nottingham's manager, Brian Clough, heard rumours about Justin being gay, but instead of being supportive Clough continually taunted him about it, which dented his confidence resulting in a sharp decline in his skills.

Having been demoralised by years of homophobia his personality began to change and when, in 1990, he came out to The Sun much of his story was fabricated. John, his brother, was horrified that Justin had come out and wanted nothing more to do with him. In 1998 after allegations of impropriety, Justin, with nowhere to turn, committed suicide by hanging himself in a London garage.

More about Justin Fashanu
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Last week the Football Association announced that, as with racist abuse, homophobic abuse is to be explicitly banned from football stadiums. That would have been an appropriate story for Newsround to report - at least on its website or on Sportsround. But as I expected there was nothing.

It's almost a year since Tottenham launched a campaign to stamp out homophobic chanting at their White Hart Lane ground. That wasn't reported either. In fact Newsround continues to discriminate against lgbt people by invisibilising them, and it also remains silent about news to combat prejudice against them. You might be fooled into thinking it's still 1961, the year Justin Fashanu was born, and the year Victim appeared in British cinemas.

So at last we know the Justin Timberlake story about dressing up for charity was wrong (see blog 8 February 2007), and that Newsround's "Celeb Gossip" page is simply about tabloid rumour, and not necessarily true. Well I follow a lot of this tabloid stuff so I might be able to help out Newsround with their Celeb Gossip page. This was one of the Celeb Gossip stories as it appeared on Monday 15 Jan 2007:

New man?

Britney's been spotted hanging out in Las Vegas with a new man. The singer, who split from husband Kevin Federline last year, is reported to be dating the actor and model Isaac Cohen.

Click here to find out about Britney

But that was last month. Now here's my more up-to-date Celeb Gossip page suggestion based on the tabloids -

New woman?

Britney is rumoured to have broken up with Isaac Cohen and loads of people are saying it's because she prefers being with women.

Click here to find out about Britney

What do you think? Should I apply for a job on Newsround's editorial team?

I know this is LGBT history month, but man of the moment must be the former NBA basketball player, John Amaechi.

John Amaechi (b.1970)
John was born the son of a Nigerian father and English mother and spent his early years in Britain before moving to the USA, where basketball is a national sport.

After a successful basketball career in America, he played for the England national basketball team in the Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne last year, in which the England team won a bronze medal.

Apart from his television commentary work in Britain John is involved in promoting basketball and sport in general as a healthy activity. He also donated a sum of money towards building the Amaechi Basketball Centre in Manchester. His autobiography Man in the Middle came out this week, as did John himself.

Incidentally, the BBC has made a children's drama concentrating on the members a wheelchair basketball team, the Desperados.

More about John Amaechi

I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog that Tim Levell confirmed on Monday that the Justin Timberlake gossip story was incorrect, as I had suspected (blog 28 December 2006). He apologised and said that, at the time, their information was that this was a genuine charity and that money was going to the Salvation Army. He also mentioned that it was in the "Celeb Goss" page, and the point of the page is that it is sometimes tabloid rumour and not fact.

BBC commitment to equality

With all the recent talk of equality, I'm interested to see if the BBC is really committed, or if the people in charge would prefer a kind of special "BBC opt-out" as befits the organisation's unique status.

I'm waiting to hear back about this, and also the situation regarding Newsround.

Today's LGBT person, Nadia Almada was born the eldest of six brothers, and brought up as a boy in Madeira, an island owned by Portugal. She was christened Jorge, but always thought of herself as different to her brothers. As she grew up she preferred to dress as a woman and wear makeup. She became attracted to men, but she wanted to be seen as a woman to them.

Nadia Almada (b.1977)
Nadia came to the UK when she was 19, and worked as a cashier before entering the Big Brother 5 competition which she won in 2004. She was very popular with audiences and had been the overwhelming favourite to win weeks before the final.

The housemates that year in Big Brother were generally split into two groups, diametrically opposite in many ways, the "Jungle Cats" and the "Lip-gloss Bitches." These could be characterised as "masculine" and "feminine" with Nadia becoming the Lip-gloss Bitches' Icon. Nadia is a chain smoker.

More about Nadia Almada