Queen to Sign New Charter Backing Gay Rights
Queen to Sign New Charter Backing Gay Rights
Stephen: Not sure what they gave her during her recent ‘hospitalisation’ – nor am I quite sure how (as this article’s headline says) ‘other grounds’ became gay rights – but this mainstream news story certainly indicates something has been remedied.
The Queen will sign a new Commonwealth charter opposing discrimination suffered by women, gay people and ethnic minorities.
By Robert Watts, Deputy Political Editor, The Telegraph UK – March 09, 2013
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9920238/Queen-to-sign-new-charter-back...
A Palace spokesman said it was “business as usual” for the Queen, who suspended her engagements this week Photo: EPA
In a special ceremony to mark Commonwealth Day on Sunday, she will also give a speech endorsing the new agreement which states signatories oppose “all forms of discrimination, whether rooted in gender, race, colour, creed, political belief or other grounds”.
The words “other grounds” are said to refer to sexuality.
However any specific references to gay people are not included to avoid antagonising Commonwealth countries that retain laws against homosexuals, according to the Mail on Sunday.
The charter is the first time the Commonwealth has had a single document setting out the “core values of the organisation and the aspiration of its members”.
The document includes affirmations on democracy, human rights, international peace and security as well as freedom of expression. It also contains a commitment to “gender equality” and “women’s empowerment”.
The charter was agreed by all Commonwealth heads of government in December.
It will be signed by the Queen in a televised ceremony at Marlborough House on London’s Pall Mall, the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
David Davies, the Conservative MP for Monmouth told the Mail on Sunday: “I fail to see why the Queen needs to make a special statement on this country’s opposition to discrimination against gays and women. It is a statement of the blindingly obvious.
“My worry is that the politically correct brigade will use it to silence legitimate debate about issues like gay marriage. One can’t help wondering what Prince Philip’s view would be.”
Forty-one of the Commonwealth’s 54 nations retain legislation against homosexual acts. In parts of Nigeria and Pakistan those found to have taken part in gay sex can receive the death penalty, in Trinidad and Tobago it can incur 25 years in jail and life imprisonment in Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Bangladesh and Guyana.
Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of the gay and lesbian rights group Stonewall, described the Monarch as a “feminist icon”.
He said: “This is the first time that the Queen has publicly acknowledged the importance of the six per cent of her subjects who are gay.”
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3/10/2013
Queen to Sign New Charter Backing Gay Rights
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