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."
I won't waste a lot of energy hoping........
ping
They’ll have to outlaw both the Bible and the Koran to be consistent.
Unless of course the moonworshippers object.
So if you called somebody a pillow biter, you could go to jail? Fudge packer? Gerbil jumper? Sissy? Nancy boy? Light in the loafers?
I fully expect Hollywood to come to his defense over this freedom of speech issue.......
Great Britain Firemen demoted and fined for shining torch on gay sex foursome in the bushes
Newsflash, Britian, 2026...
“Anti-Gay thoughts punishable by up to seven years in prison. Great Britian, once the most videoed country in the world, has decided to use its new thought scanners to prevent ‘hateful ideologies’ from spreading.”
Sig Heil!, Brits.
That is the most infantile and stupid thing I have ever heard of. When are the Brits going to get some backbone and knock their government on it’s arse.
When they have been turned over to the Nazis again; the gays will be the first to go to the prison camps.
So if homos make anti-hetero comments they'll be receiving 7 years in the slam also, right Jack? Right?
Yeah, didn't think so.
The natural outcome of big brother, big sister setting the status quo is for devolution into local justice. Britain will turn to tribalism for justice. When the amoral Romans took up hedonistic orgies, tribes moved in and took over. Europe was happy to live under medieval justice and the church for a 1000 years just to have peace of mind.
Somehow I find something funny about sending the “homophobic” to prison.....
So a Brit would have to think twice before he said, “I’m going out to smoke some fags”.
england will soon make homosexuality mandatory.
“Will Heterophobic commentary bring similar punishments?”
Not a pray of a chance of that.
I endured most of my graduate school years, often hearing a gay grad
student nearly spit the term “D-MNED BREEDERS!”
Actually, this exercise of free speech was a good thing.
I realized that the guy was a jerk.
Not because he was gay.
But just because he was a complete and total jerk.
Mr Straw added, "...and if I were a pansy-arsed copper, I would definitely rather tackle a bewildered dog-collared priest for saying unkind things, than take on a hardened thug with a switchblade and ax. A thug will only kill his victim; a name caller can scar an entire community for life!"
Sir, in the past 10 years, your society has come a long way down Regress Street, after taking the wrong exit at the Civilization Traffic Circle. Nothing to be proud of.
actually given Rohlm’s “preferences” the Nazis were the homosexuals. (see “The Pink Swastika”)
Seems once Great Britan lost Rolls Royce, it was a symptom of a larger evaporation.
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