Islamophobia or homophobia?

I would like to thank the residential gangs of Bow for showing me their olympic spirit. Their homophobic attack two weeks ago has left olympic rings of black, blue, yellow, green, and red around my eyes. The fireworks display of flashing lights when they were punching and kicking my head in was the best I've ever seen. Unlike my boyfriend who was knocked unconscious with the soles of your shoes imprinted into his head and given what resembles an olympic torch growing out of his skull, I will forever remember the cheers "Faggot, Queer, Battyman!". Tower Hamlets must be so proud having such prize fighters training on their streets. It's so reassuring that your community if ready to welcome the diversity of the olympics this coming summer. With the physical and metally distress you're able to offer, it will surely be an unforgettable experience.
-Daniel

I have enough of this aswell. We have fought and fought for years to get where we are, and now, in London in 2012, I have experienced more homophobia than ever! from Black Cristians and Muslims, and no-one is prepared to discuss it. I was walking down the street the other day, yes, in the daytime, and a 'black'man, I say 'black' as I beleive this to be significant in what I am saying, it's not becuase I am racist, far from it. he came to me shouting 'gay, gay, gay' 'homosexual' 'homosexual etc. I can't beleive it. I can safely say, that all the homphobia i have suffered recently, has been by non-whites. I have had it, with muslims saying I am 'wrong' and a 'sinner' etc etc. I will not tolerate this any more, and beleive it really is time to fight back, we are not 2nd class citizens in our own country. And now your wondering why the EDL are getting more support. If this situation isn't addressed soon, and properly, I supect that thier number will rise and rise. I myself, am thinking I have had it with London now, it's not safe for gay people any more, and will be moving back up north in the near future.

The point that should be made is that these stat finders are only looking for stats that SUPPORT their half of the whole story. They look specifically for what they want and they don't go looking for the stats that support the other side of an argument.

Stats like : the gay community has the HIGHEST rate of mental illness among special interest groups. Gays in prison are the most violent and anti social people in the prison system. They don't even report, properly, that gay on straight crimes don't go reported because of many factors like stigma, unknowing of criminals sexual preference, no requirements to note these stats in police reports, and so on.

On a personal note, it has always been the experiences of dealing with hostile heterophobic gay and lesbians, criminally insane transgendered, and mentally unstable bisexuals that shaped my unwillingness to support a special interest group that, from my personal experiences, are hostile in nature and want to subjegate the rest of the world to their narrowminded POV. Sound familiar?

Among those I have known, no one should DARE bring up any topic unless it was ONLY about the community itself. And the only lesbian who accepted me as family even though I was a male, was killed by her lover in a fit of jealous rage because I was involved as a friend and this jealous lover could not stand being nice to a straight male.

So in conclusion, the gay community is just as bad, if not worse, about being hostile towards any other community that they don't agree with.

Forcing me to accept something that I have experienced as something hostile and negative, is no way to win me over. Keep making hostile and argumentative acts will only cement my opinion against you. When you want love from Christians but you feel like you can get away with hating them, can you really expect a level-headed person to agree with those terms?

I know I can't love someone who hates me. That's like forcing me to allow someone to abuse me, but I can't fight back.

The contortions the left manage to deny reality is startling.

There is a homophobic streak in the Muslim community. This is not news, its dogma.

As much as one might wish it were whit men from the EDL doing some false flag stuff, it just ain't so. Why are you so racist Bella that you think only white people are capable of doing wrong?

qdj6eqi dbtfdkn rxo7c18 is4nx2j c60ivrn.

http://nonameasofyet.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/an-open-letter-to-london-pride-and-other-groups-and-individuals-who-supported-east-end-gay-pride/

We have been vindicated Paul and at least one of the organisers was a founding member (no less) of the EDL. Any comments?

Thanks CeCe.Disco. Safra Project's statement was brought to my attention only this morning and Imaan is only just out. I completely understand where all the criticisms are coming from, really I do, but the splintering only serves to bolster the EDL - Imaan have got it right, this sounds like a way through:

"We join the call for a fully inclusive and community-led demonstration of unity in the face of these homophobic crimes. An event along the lines of a fully community-inclusive local Gay Pride event would be one such welcome response."

For your Information, and please don't pretend to read as you seem to have done with all the other criticisms of eegp.
http://www.imaan.org.uk/

http://www.safraproject.org/

Swell the ranks with normal people please! And brown gays! And go easy on the sauce, even (dare I say it) laying off the moody squash until half-two!!! And - I've honestly never considered this before - I wonder whether a pink union jack is appropriate on this occasion? Pink ain't my colour. When was rainbow never good enough? Please remember on the day that it's everyone's neighbourhood.

It looks like this march is going to happen now. As such, can I suggest a strategy? It sometimes works for me (but not always):

Throw love at a situation to make it go away.

Gay Sikh, you are the first non-white gay voice I've heard since that being sucked in by Facebook some days ago... all the way from Brighton! Have we heard yet from Imaan, Naz, local Tower Hamlets voluntary orgs, including those that are Bengali-led? This is turning into an 'us' and 'them' fiasco of the highest order... and in my humble opinion, those organisations and individual who have criticised and boycotted are complicit. Fancy Out East (i.e. Hackney forerunners) being the first to boycott! It’s put up an illusory wall between the two boroughs.

I will be at the march to ensure that there's at least one brown face there - an onlooker (maybe they’re Bengali too?) may take inspiration from that and not feel LGBTQness is totally at odds with how they may want to live their lives. I would encourage everyone to get their straight mates and their families out too. I will not be scared at the possibility of EDL marching beside me, the police will surely look after us? We can all sing along to something with the London Gay Mens chorus.

Any pride - anywhere in the UK - for me (i.e. since 1996) has been perfectly safe and never threatening. EDL marched (practically) past my house in Brighton last year, I blew a kiss at one of them. But only once – I wasn’t that cheeky!

Apologies for reposting, but after several names which have been thrown at me, I felt one or two clarifications were necessary:
1. A few statistics from London Metropolitan Police http://www.met.police.uk/crimefigures/datatable.php?borough=ht&period=year
This year, Tower Hamlets has had 73 homophobic crimes as against 358 racist hate crimes. There has been a rise of 2, from 71 to 73. Which is bad and needs combating. But it is hardly a state of siege on the queer community, OR an emergency situation requiring an emergency march.
2. In response to my 'thinly veiled homophobia', I am a queer woman, happily civil partnered and have felt overwhelming fear while fighting for gay rights in India where homophobia is still illegal.
3. Related to 2, is my appeal to all to focus on what is written on this blog, not on what the 'hidden' agendas and identities of the writers might be.
4. Could the moderators kindly weed out the name-calling where people are accused on being one thing or the other, not their opinions? This is an important distinction for all debate to not descend into a cat-fight of name calling.

An 18 year old Asian man was arrested with those 'Gay Free Zone' stickers.

www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/03/11/man-arrested-released-over-east-end-anti-gay-stickers/

Bella - you can argue day and night that it wasnt Muslims who were responsible for those stickers and it was far right groups and some niave (very niave) people may agree with you BUT you CANNOT disagree with Homophobic attacks by Muslims on the LGBT community - they happened - its documented etc - unless of course the victims were EDL making it up (yawn) - mind you you are silly enough to say that the new Mayor has no extreme views so who knows?
Why this attack on Paul? why are you demanding he answers questions when there are far bigger issues that you ignore - you accuse him of deleting your comments and then accuse of him not caring as he gets his 'pay cheque' - get real - this bloke has the guts to bring about a discussion that WE ALL except a few lefties know needs discussing and all you do is disrupt it and take it off course - how can anyone discuss things with you - your hate stands out a mile - hey maybe YOU are a far right extremist trying to cause division between us gays lol

Whoever you are - it isent working - this issue needs discussing- openly and without fear - ITS REAL - ITS HAPPENING so get over yourself and your leftie views and accept it and try to be part of a solution instead of adding to the problem!!!

a second message of mine that will not be published.

http://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2011/03/12/gay-groups-divided-over-east-end-pride-march/

moderation on again I see.

I'm not a 'troll' paul s. If anything the trolls are the ones that are putting left groups (who are by their very nature for equality for all people) and far right groups (who are by their very nature aggressively hostile to LGBTQ people) in the same category.

Are Rainbow Hamlets, Out East, UEL LGBT society, and other East London LGBTQ groups and individuals - who want nothing to do with the deeply suspect people who are organising this march and the deeply nasty rhetoric of journalists like Paul Burston who are supporting the march - also trolls?

Obviously the way forward is to enter into dialogue with groups and build solidarity, not to point fingers at whole communities, not to pretend that certain boroughs are rife with homophobia and hate when that is not in fact the case, not to make up nonsense statistics to fit your narrative, and not to continually bait people who are already being baited every day in the mainstream media.

When Richard Peppiatt resigned from the daily star as he had had enough of the paper's constant Islamophobia and publicly told Richard Desmond where to stick his job, people were overjoyed and were sending him so many messages of support on Twitter. The Guardian writer who reported on it said it was his most tweeted article ever. And do you know why? It is because people have had enough of hatemongering against Muslims in the mainstream and welcome this sort of refreshingly brave act from someone in the media. It is normally unheard of. Journalists are not known for holding up their hands and admitting that they have been part of something so pernicious as the vilification of an entire community which emboldens the far-right and leads to attacks and rampages against Muslims and Asian people and communities up and down the country.

Stop pointing the finger at Muslims and get off this right-wing bandwagon Paul. Homophobia is rife everwhere - in the mainstream media which you are a part of, in government, in every part of the establishment, in pubs and clubs and work places up and down the country. Perhaps it reassures some to pretend that it is Muslims that are 'the problem' but that is just classic scapegoating tactics.

http://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2011/03/12/gay-groups-divided-over-east-end-pride-march/

don't feed the troll, paul.

Reporting on homophobic attacks and abuses is not "pitting oppressed communities against each other". What a ridiculous suggestion. Why are you so determined to deny the reality of what many gay and lesbian have experienced in Tower Hamlets? I'm bewildered. Seriously.

When I was attacked in Shoreditch, the attackers were young Bangladeshis. Now, can you answer any of the questions I put to you earlier, Bella? Or are you just going to keep making wild accusations? What do you think should be done about the homophobic attacks and abuses many people have reported in Tower Hamlets?

Actually Paul that's kind of ironic considering it's you who is pitting oppressed communites against each other. And you are doing it based on false stats and by insinuating that Muslims were responsible for a number of homophobic attacks that you suffered. You refuse to answer whether this is in fact the case, which leads me to believe that it wasn't Muslims at all. And so yes, this is the definition of gutter journalism.

Your readers should read the Out East statement in its entirety.

I knew it was only a matter of time before those who deny there is an issue and play the old racist card start hurling insults. Given how utterly fallible their "argument" is this is not surprising. Ludicrous, if their comments were not so deeply insulting - and dangerous.

And what about that other "vulnerable community", Bella? You know, the ones being attacked on the streets and in homophobic flyers and literature handed out in Tower Hamlets? I know they don't rank as highly in your "hierarchies of oppression" view of the world, but aren't they at least worthy of some consideration?
Until you are willing to address the very real problem of homophobia in Tower Hamlets, and show at least a modicum of sympathy for those on the receiving end, instead of denying the problem or blaming the victims, I don't think you're in any position to lecture me on personal ethics.
Oh, and personal insults really are "the lowest depths possible".

I don't moderate comments here. I posted one myself which still hasn't appeared.

I wrote a comment yesterday and the 'moderation' setting was on. It was never printed. I was expecting that.

And simply repeating your assertion that I'm "baiting an already vulnerable community and accusing them of being collectively guitly of homophobia" doesn't make it any less untrue.

Nowhere did I say that any community is "collectively guilty of homophobia". My point was that people seem unwilling to talk openly about homophobic attacks in the East End for fear of upsetting other communities/political factions - something you keep on proving every time you post here. So please, carry on.

And personal attacks really are "the lowest depths possible".
But what else would I expect from someone who refuses to acknowledge the very real problem of homophobia in Tower Hamlets, and insists on playing this familiar old "hierarchies of oppression" game?
Nice and easy, Bella.

I haven't banned anyone's comments, Bella.

When people are asking difficult questions - ban their comments. Nice and easy Paul. You know you've sunk to the lowest depths possible but as long as you're enjoying your pay cheques then that's all that matters to you. Not the fact you're baiting an already vulnerable community and accusing them of being collectively guitly of homophobia. Thank god for groups like Out East.

Allow me to illustrate the 'white liberal gay guilt' position. A press release from Out East LGBT group about East End Gay Pride -

"Out East refuses that LGBTQ rights or pride demonstrations are used to promote islamophobia even if not intentionally".

And what about Pride events that highlight, say, homophobia - "even if not intentionally? FFS!

Statement from East End Gay Pride

http://www.eastendgaypride.com/Statement.html

"Why, then, are gay people being asked to justify their existence in Tower Hamlets? "

They are not Paul. There were a few posters put up by a handful of stirrers/hatemongers - exactly who was behind them we do not know. And now we have another round of 'bash the Muslim community' articles in the mainstream.

An utter joke to say you are not tainting a whole community as that is *exactly* what you are doing - and you know it. You also say that if Muslims were being attacked they would not put up with it and there would be an outcry which is highly ironic, and reveals your (wilful) blinkers and ignorance. The Muslim community are the butt of newspaper and government bile day in and day out. Your article is the gazillionth anti-Muslim article to be written. (So on top of the hatemongering, you also show what a terrible lack of imagination you have.)

Conveniently you do not answer the questions I asked you several times - who dished out the homophobic abuse to you? Why single out Tower Hamlets when gay hate crimes are higher in other boroughs? Why not talk about the racism that is rife in the gay community? Or in fact attacks on Muslims as a result of anti-Muslim propaganda? Does that topic not interest you as much?

You know you cannot answer these questions as that would involve admitting things you do not want to admit to. At the very least answer the first question - but then that would reveal how that you are perfectly happy to let people assume all this homophia came from Muslims, when this is not in fact the case, at all.

And by lumping the SWP and EDL in the same group you reveal yourself to be someone not concerned with equality, whatsoever. In fact I am sure you are a whole lot less concered about the racist thugs in the EDL than the anti-racist socialists in the SWP.

I agree with the person who said this whole article should be reported. Take a leaf out of Richard Peppiatt's book and stop bashing Muslims for a living. "The lies of a newspaper in London can get a bloke's head caved in down an alley in Bradford." Stop the hatemonger Paul.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/mar/04/daily-star-reporter-letter-full

On the subject of the pink jack, the Association of British Muslims has a logo which incorporates the union jack in its original red, white and blue colours, so why a pink version should be seen as offensive l've no idea.

But I agree that the East End Gay Pride event should be as inclusive as possible. Which is why it's good that the organisers have rejected approaches from both the EDL and the SWP, neither of whom speak for the vast majority of LGBT people.

"Islamophobia" is the west's biggest misnomer. A phobia is an irrational fear. To fear the takeover of the west and implementation of Sharia is quite rational. When England is part of the caliphate, we'll see how "tolerant" the new Islamic overlords are of the LGBT community. I have a sneaking suspicion they won't be celebrating diversity.

Interesting comments. Enlightening. It's worth remembering that any community is a microcosm of the world, and unfortunately most people in the world don't like us gay people. FACT. So are you really surprised there are homophobic attacks in such a diverse community? It doesn't surprise me in the least. I'm quite pleased not to be in east London any-more, not because of 'homophobia' or 'Islam' but just because it was rough as arse-holes and people are constantly being beaten up, harassed etc regardless of their faith or sexual orientation.

It's a tough town! Always has been.

You all still live there. You should know. You think that by holding a big gay parade it's suddenly going to become 'munchkin-land?' - Good luck with that.
It's East London. Someone will always be harassed or mugged etc - I don't like it, but that's the way it is.

Greetings from somewhere sunny and warm and hassle free!!! x

the biggest threat to homosexuals/lesbians
comes from islam & its lefty enablers.
why aren t peter tatchell & co, rushing to for example to :-
protest mosques?,
arrest imams?
forcing media attn outside islamic schools that teach fascist hatred of homosexuals & jews, under the guise, of R.E.?
it still mandates death for homosexuals, & works to instill in its young this abhorrent "ethic"
i thought gay protest was about bravery?
well....nows the time

I'm not a native to London. I'm from Wales.
Nor is my partner. He's from Brazil.
I don't think this is about "invading foreign cretins".
But I don't think you do either.

The question is, of course, why YOU, the NATIVE, need to put up with these invading foreign cretins?

Disgusting. Your politicians should all be run out of town on a rail for allowing all these vile barbarians into your lands.

Is this the same TimeOut that devoted an issue a couple of years back to "celebrating" what a joyous place an Islamified London would be?

Careful what you wish for, trendies!

Britain will soon be a Gay, Jew, Darwin and Buddhist Free Zone: http://seanrobsville.blogspot.com/2011/03/buddhist-jew-darwin-and-gay-free-zones.html

My letter was posted by Simon on this discussion, so my opinions on the march are stated below.
There are problems with homophobia and hate crime in the East End, as there are in many localities and they do need to be tackled. But I do not think marching on the streets waving pink union jacks in a show of numbers is any way to initiate dialogue or address prejudice. I am in agreement with Gay Sikh and I really hope that as a LGBT community we can find some alternative event to replace this march that will allow us to discuss and think about strategies that are not antagonistic and divisive. we are not expected to 'do nothing' but i believe that we should use the many forms of privilege that we have to find ways to engage rather than antagonise.
I think Uditi's is a sophisticated analysis of the discourse of this article and i don't see any reason why Alex would read her repsonse as homophobic.
Simon - thanks for your support and you are welcome to reference my letter or paraphrase but please do not post my letter in such a way without my consent .

Bravo for Paul's comments - its what most of us think - and in fact is very balanced compared to many many opinions and thoughts

Bella really is living in a dream world- I too worked for TH and the PC culture is rife - I have read your comments with at first amusement and then horror as I really do think you believe what you have written!! your comment 'The Mayor has no links to 'extremists' - has to be the best fiction I have read for years - watch the ch4 documentary - you need to wake up and re-adjust to the real world we live in!!!!

To Gay Sikh I would ask have the local mosques given anything to the George and Dragon?

and to Uditi I would say I have read your comments three times and am none the wiser what you are saying - its nonsense and side stepping the real issue

And as for Terry - what you write oozes bitterness and thats all can be said about that

If there were recorded incidents of gays attacking Asians in Tower Hamlets;
If there were Islamophobic speakers at gay community centres, inciting hatred against Muslims;
If there were gay people seen handing out flyers full of Islamophobia;
If there were stickers posted in the area, declaring it a 'Muslim Free Zone';
If all this were true, would local Muslims be expected to put and shut up? No, there'd be an outcry. And rightly so.
Why, then, are gay people being asked to justify their existence in Tower Hamlets?
Why are gay victims of hate crime accused of 'hatemongering' and 'pointing the finger'?
Why are we expected to do nothing, for fear of upsetting community relations? When gay people are being attacked or told that Tower Hamlets is a 'Gay Free Zone', community relations are in pretty poor shape.
I did not say that 'all Muslims are homophobic'. Nowhere in my article does it say that.
But there is a problem with homophobia in the area.
The local mosque does have a history of inviting homophobic preachers to speak.
There are even reports of homophobic abuse of a local gay councillor inside the council chamber.
That's why I wrote this piece. And that's why I stand by it.

As usual, what started as a brave attempt to initiate a much needed debate as been ruined by the usual excuses and accusations of racism.

Gay Sikh - you speak of the "ignorance" of the gay community, yet you fail to address the ignorance of those who consistently deny that there is an issue with homophobia within certain segments of the Muslim community. Your implication that the attack on The George and Dragon was some how justified is utterly disgusting. Do you seriously believe that a small, independent pub has sufficient profits to donate to the wider community? It is a ludicrous suggestion. The whole concept of a community is that people look after their own first and foremost. You seem to be suggesting that it is gay fuelled gentifrication of the area that has led to this violence. It is the same lame reasoning that I have heard people use to justify homophobic attacks in Brighton. Get off the fence and support your community...

Uditi Sen - I have read your comment several times and I am still no closer to understanding it. At what stage does Paul Burston state that ALL of Islam and ALL Muslims are homophobic? You are very keen on the use of the word "assume," yet you have clearly come to his article with your own set of blinkered views. In your terrifyingly limited world view all who dare question the actions of another minority are little more than racist. What a puerile and archaic notion this is. Your agenda, to any intelligent reader, is shamefully transparent - hiding behind the cloak of racism to vent your own inherently homophobic doctrine.

What a sad state of affairs that we are incapable of having a reasoned and adult debate.

It's certainly an interesting article, although it does seem to ignore the fact that there is ignorance on the gay scene about other belief systems. The current campaign by GMFA shows the work that is being done to counter this - http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/02/25/move-to-tackle-racism-on-the-gay-scene

The ignorance of other ways of life is leading to the tensions between people who go to gay venues in an area and the people who live in that area. Vauxhall has done very well in allowing the gay scene to flourish in an area where it happily co-exists with the local community. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening in the East End scene due to a number of reasons.

Although Allah is being referred to on the stickers in question, it is more likely that this is the frustrations of some young people from the local Bengali community coming through and manifesting itself in physical attacks. Have the George and Dragon tried to work with the local community? Have they donated any of their profits towards local initiatives? What is the contribution made by the Gay Scene to the local area and community?

Until the gay scene and the local community can work together and co-exist, these frustrations will remain.

I hasten to add that I am not excusing the violence in any way whatsoever. I am merely trying to look for the root causes for it, and it is not necessarily homophobia or religious beliefs per se.

This page has a 'report abuse' option on comments. I would like to 'report abuse' on the entire article. Let me explain why. And before I move any further, lets get the name-calling out of the way. NO, I do not think the author is Racist. And NO, I am not a 'left-wing apologist'.
You claim this is a balanced piece, yet this entire piece is built on firstly, false impressions and secondly, several simplistic assumptions and oversimplifications which make it possible to hate an entire community and entire faith on the basis of the actions of a few.
1) You assume that all those who harass and abuse you are a) Muslims b) the root of their intolerance is their faith. Because if you do not, then how does this article jump from petty harassment to the mosque? What is the link? It is clear that you believe that there is a link, but what, other than prejudice against Islam as a faith is your belief based on?
2) The clever suggestion that despite everything that the director of the East London Mosque is saying, he is somehow, not really being honest. Again, what is this suggestion based on other than prejudice?
3) This talk of storming mosques (aren't we great that we do not do it? Gay people, stand up and take a bow for being oh so tolerant!) If you do make a distinction between fundamentalism and Islam, then why do you even mention this? Storming a house of faith, or even suggesting it is insulting to all believers of that faith. It potentially alienates all people belonging to that faith and certainly makes it very difficult for a queer Muslim, who has surely fought homophobia from Islamic fundamentalism all his/her life, to stand next to you in your fight. Or is that just an inconvenience which can be overlooked in your zeal for discarding useless 'political correctness'?
The opposition between Islamophobia and Homophobia is a false opposition. It is by making unfounded accusations of homophobia against ALL of Islam and ALL Muslims that this article falls into the trap of nurturing Islamophobia even as it fights homophobia. This is politically naive. This is dangerous. I would like to report this article for being misinformed, naive and insulting.

Are any of the people attacking this article Muslim? Or are they, as I suspect, white athiest/agnostics? It seems to me that the homophobia inherent in quarters of Christianity is fine to be discussed - in particular the cases of the bed and breakfast owners in Cornwall. However, why as LGBT people are we expected to ignore it when it comes from Islamic quarters? It's not about singling out Islam - if I'm not mistaken, Time Out writes very regularly on homophobia in all quarters of society. To not report on it when it happens in Islam because we assume the perpetrators to be Asian is racist in itself and incredibly patronising. Muslim people can speak for themselves. I'd like to hear their views on how their religion treats homosexuality. I've done alot fo work raising awareness and money for Iraqi gay muslims, and these kinds of articles are welcome. Islamic homophobia is very real, just as Christian homophobia is. There are Muslims, like the British Progessive Muslims, who as Muslims are working to eradicate homophobia and sexism within Islam. The type of responses here - which suggests that anyone who acknowledges this form of homophobia (just as as we challenge all forms of homophobia) - suggests that these Muslims are Islamophobic! It is gay muslims who are the major victims in this and need our support. I understand that people like EDL and BNP are manipulating Islam for their own racist means, but I resent the implication that gay people who are speaking out for their safety, such as this article does, are closet racists. It's very simplistic and quite ignorant, and usually comes from people who know absolutely nothing about the situation that gay muslims are in whatsoever.

If anyone doubted whether this piece needed to be written, Paul, the bizarre responses that it elicited show just how timely and important this is. Everyone knows that antigay violence is up in the East End. The recent campaign to create a "gay-free zone" is just another side to the islamist violence being visited on gay men's bodies by fagbashing thugs in the East End. Denying what local residents and the police know about the tide of violence is an ugly tactic and the posters who've attacked you have shown their true colours: first, they deny that there is antigay violence, and say that there are no problems; then they go on to attack the victims of violence ("never happy unless pointing fingers") or even trying to smear gay rights and antiviolence campaigners as EDL rightwingers. It's a good thing that East End Gay Pride will be held next month to show that the East End truly is a GAY-FRIENDLY ZONE where violence against gay people has no place and where gay people have the right to walk down the street without being harassed, beaten, maimed or stabbed. The idea of a "gay-free zone" has no place in London or any other civilised city.

Fantastic piece Paul brave inciteful and on the money. Of course anyone daring to say that there is an element of unacceptable homophobia in the Muslim community (and I do say element) will of course be accused of racism. Where were the accusations of racism or the words of indignation when the gay community quite rightly rallied against the Pope's visit and his unacceptable views on homosexuality?? All haters and homophobes should be treated the same whether they are Bush Baptists, atheists or Muslims, but unfortunately I don't think they are. There is a fear in the wider community to even talk about this issue for fear of being called 'racist'. The oh so ridiculous irony is the gay community is despised by the radical right, they loathe us as much as they loathe any non-caucasian how can we possibly be accused of pandering to the EDL who see us as just as dangerous. The real danger here is to be too scared to discuss or address a problem for fear of being controversial, once you have areas of homophobia where the aggressor is the protected party we really are in trouble. This is an issue, it is something we need to discuss bless you Paul for doing so, if we as a community cannot talk openly and honestly about this, how can we expect the right wing mainstream press to do so?

Great comment Terry - I await Paul's response to you too. If only media writers would discover a conscience a la Richard Peppiatt and stop all the hatemongering.