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
Senator Elizabeth Warren Demands Jail for HSBC ‘Money Launderers’
OPPT CONFIRMATION ? VATICAN FORECLOSED ? Vatican Forced to Demand Cash from Tourists as Italy’s Central Bank Blocks Electronic Payments
Published at 12:22 pm EST another synchronicity.
At 17 mins in on this youtube I heard Desmond Grundy mention that the Vatican was foreclosed on
I then found this very revealing article :
Credit cards are no longer welcome in Vatican City.
Published January 07, 2013
Fox News Latino
Tourists looking to purchase museum tickets, souvenirs and other services will now be forced to pay in “cash only” after Italy’s central bank decided to block electronic payments, including credit cards, at the tiny city-state.
Deutsche Bank Italia, which for some 15 years had provided the Vatican with electronic payment services, said that the Bank of Italy had pulled its authorization after Dec. 31.
The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that the Italian central bank took the action because the Holy See has not yet fully complied with European Union safeguards against money laundering. That means Italian banks are not authorized to operate within the Vatican, which is in the process of improving its mechanisms to combat laundering.
The Vatican says it is scrambling to solve the problem for thousands of visitors who flock to its very popular Vatican Museums, which include highlights like the Sistine Chapel. The Holy See had no immediate comment on the Bank of Italy’s reported reasons.
Tourists in the long lines Thursday that snaked around Vatican City walls were not happy about the inconvenience.
“It’s certainly a disadvantage,” said Giuseppe Amoruso, an Italian. “Credit cards provide a useful service, which needs to be accessible to everybody, everywhere.”
“A lot of tourists don’t have cash on them, so they have to get euros and don’t know where to get them,” said Fluger William Hunter, an American tourist.
The central bank said a routine inspection found that Deutsche Bank Italia hadn’t sought authorization when it first started providing services at the Vatican. When it finally did, the Bank of Italy turned it down because the Vatican’s banking norms, including measures to combat money laundering, didn’t meet Italy’s more stringent criteria of recent years, a central bank official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because there was no official statement on the case.
The Vatican has been striving to upgrade its measures to detect and discourage money laundering, hiring a Swiss expert just a few months ago. Last summer, the Holy See passed a key European financial transparency test but received failing grades for its financial watchdog agency and its bank, formally called the Institute for Religious Works.
The museums, with their entrance fees and popular souvenir shops, are a big money-maker for the Vatican. Other Vatican attractions, such as tours of the Vatican’s ancient underground spaces, also charge admission.
Based on reporting by The Associated Press.
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Don’t also forget what is happening with the Vatican with the Pope resigning and the lightning striking their the very same night. Is this what the GFL messages have been saying of late that the interference needs to be removed?
