Jim Davidson was axed from Celebrity Hell's Kitchen for branding Brian Dowling a 'shirt-lifter'
Posted on 10/08/2007 11:16:26 AM PDT by Stoat
The Government is to make it a crime to incite hatred against gay people, Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced tonight.
The move to outlaw inciting homophobic hatred comes after ministers moved to criminalise such activity on religious grounds earlier this year.
Today's announcement could cause a row over free speech, as the Government experienced over the religious hate crime measures.
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Jim Davidson was axed from Celebrity Hell's Kitchen for branding Brian Dowling a 'shirt-lifter'
Mr Straw said: "It is a measure of how far we have come as a society in the last 10 years that we are now appalled by hatred and invective directed at people on the basis of their sexuality.
"It is time for the law to recognise this."
He said it would cover gay men, lesbians and bisexual people.
The move comes a month after Comedian Jim Davidson was axed from ITV's celebrity cooking show Hell's Kitchen for insulting homosexuals.
The 53-year-old controversial entertainer was asked to leave by programme-makers for homophobic comments, which saw him brand gay men "shirtlifters".
Davidson left the nightly reality show after a series of rows with former Big Brother winner Brian Dowling, who is openly gay.
And earlier this week a group of firemen who shone their torches at four men engaged in illegal 'dogging' were demoted and fined £1,000 by their bosses after being accused of being homophobic.
Today Jack Straw said he would listen to views on whether the incitement offence should be further extended to cover hatred against disabled and transgendered people, and would proceed "if a case can be made".
Jack Straw: It is a measure of how far we have come as a society
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "The presumption will be that the authorities will disclose information if they consider that an offender presents a risk of serious harm to a child."
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: "We are committed to protecting children from sexual predators and the proposals being laid out today will strengthen that protection.
"The UK already has the strongest restrictions on child sex offenders and these proposals which follow on from the publication of the Child Sex Offenders Review earlier this year will help us to continue doing all we can to protect them."
Mr Straw told MPs the moves would be made as amendments to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill.
In a further amendment, criminals on the sex offenders register will be required to provide extra information to the police, including information about email addresses, about new relationships with any woman who has children, and whether they are living in the same house as anyone under 18.
The law against inciting religious hatred came into force at the start of this month.
It closed a gap in race legislation that meant only Jews and Sikhs, who were deemed by the courts to be racial groups, were protected.
Other groups like Muslims and Christians were considered to be religious rather than racial so were thought not to have the same protection under the law.
Anyone convicted of the offence, which follows the introduction of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act, faces up to seven years in jail.
The penalties for inciting sexual hatred are likely to be the same.
When first proposed the religious hate crime legislation was heavily criticised by some groups who believed it could outlaw people such as comedians making jokes at religion's expense.
Blackadder and Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson was among those who warned that such measures risked undermining the freedom of satirists, comedians and writers, and legitimate discussion about religion and religious practices.
There were two attempts by the Government to introduce it, first in 2001 and then later with the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act. They faltered because of the concerns.
But ministers pressed for the law a third time because it was seen as an important counter-balance to anti-terror laws which can be seen to disproportionately target Britain's Muslim population.
On the new anti-homophobia move, a Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "The new law would not prohibit criticism of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, but it would protect them from incitement to hatred against them because of their sexual orientation."
Gay equality group Stonewall welcomed the news.
The organisation's chief executive, Ben Summerskill, said: "We're delighted.
"We've worked tirelessly over the last six months, seeking to persuade Ministers to match existing race incitement laws with identical protections for sexual orientation.
"A new offence will help deter extremists who stir up hatred against lesbian and gay people.
"These protections aren't about preventing people expressing their religious views in a temperate way.
"However, we refuse to accept any longer that there's no connection between extreme rap lyrics calling for gay people to be attacked or fundamentalist claims that all gay people are paedophiles, and the epidemic of anti-gay violence disfiguring Britain's streets.
"We anticipate, as always, a tough battle with our traditional opponents in the House of Lords but remain determined to secure complete equality in the criminal law."
Exactly how is a euphemism "inciting hatred"? It may show poor etiquette, sure, but hate?!
In other words, we'll never stop, and we'll never consider any proposal as "going too far". Great precedent to make for other categories of crime. Dolts.
From now on instead of calling them “shirtlifters” they will be referred to as “butt buddies.”
Certain countries will be punished more harshly than others when “The Punishment” comes, after “The Warning”. Certain FReepers will know that of which I speak.
Anti-christian comments will get you a job at the BBC.
Want to bet this NEVER gets enforced against any member of the
“Religion of Pieces”?
How did we get to this point? And also, are gays only 3-4% or is it much higher; I ask because there seem to so many in positions of power and so many sympathizers. Seems way high and out of proportion.
That’s gay.
Yes, yes! Let’s celebrate evil and imprison the morally decent people with the courage to speak out against it.
Surely a good recipe for civilization, huh?
Another push to have hell now instead of having to wait till you die.
“Will Heterophobic commentary bring similar punishments?”
Not at the moment, but wait until there’s a backlash if this stuff goes too far. A system of government that can legislate special rights for favored groups (such as homosexuals) will have the legal means to persecute them when they fall out of favor. A Social Democrat government gave rise to Hitler when times got bad.
Don't be too certain. Many of Dolphie's boys men were rumored to have "issues". Probably all "tops".
Rule #1 - “ NO POOFTAS!”
The Left’s affinity for the protection of “Gay Rights”, in puzzling
The Leftists are essentially the same folks who are opposed to the war against militant Islam — whose goal is to execute gays.
Go figure...
It’s also disturbing to see the attempt by the left to outlaw one’s personal contempt for another...
It is NOT the Government’s role to prevent folks from being insulted or disliked by private citizens.
At least - I can’t find that role in the Constitution.
Are we headed for a Stalinist environment where we are no longer allowed to exercise our freedoms of religion or speech when it comes to speaking out against perverts, rapists, racists, politicians, etc...?
see all the rules:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqgnExSiS0s
Quoted without comment.
Actually, there’s a website called the Pink Swastika at
http://www.abidingtruth.com/pfrc/books/pinkswastika/html/the_pinkswastika_4th_edition_-_final.htm
where the author contends that the Nazi party was full of homosexuals. How much truth there is to it I don’t know, but I also don’t know how much truth there is to the contention that Leonardo and Abraham Lincoln were homosexuals either. Sigh. I’d rather just get on with my life.
Poor Great Britain. Morality cannot be legislated. Nobody is pure enough to do it.
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