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Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans re-arrested on new indecent assault allegations
The MP strenuously denies the claims. A Lancashire Constabulary spokesperson said: He will be interviewed about these allegations at a police station in Lancashire during the course of the day. We take all allegations of a sexual nature extremely seriously and understand how difficult it can be for victims to have the confidence to come forward.
As a Constabulary, we are committed to investigating sexual offences sensitively but robustly recognising the impact that these types of crimes have on victims. We would encourage anyone who has experienced sexual abuse, or who has information about it, to have the confidence to report it to us knowing that we will take it seriously, deal with it sensitively and investigate it thoroughly. Mr Evans, Conservative MP for Ribble Valley since 1992, has been excused from his parliamentary duties while inquiries continue.
The original rape and sexual assault allegations are said to have happened in Pendleton between July 2009 and March 2013.
The new indecent assault allegations are claimed to have occurred in Blackpool and London between 2003 and 2011.
For legal reasons, we do not allow comments on this news story.
Continue readingHumanist weddings and equal marriage pension rights to be debated by peers
Attorney General Dominic Grieve warned that it would fall foul of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as any belief organisation would be able to claim they were being discriminated against if they weren t able to perform marriages. Mr Grieve said: I am highlighting that there is a serious defect in the amendment that has been presented to this House, because it would have the consequence which I think is quite obvious when you look at it that because of the discriminatory nature of the favour it gives to humanists, as opposed to other secular organisations, that it would have the consequence of making it incompatible with the ECHR rights. At the moment, anyone taking part in a humanist ceremony in England and Wales must still have their marriage made legal through a register office.
However, Humanist ceremonies have been a fully legal form of marriage in Scotland since 2005. Writing for the Labour Lords website, Baroness Thornton, Labour s Shadow Equalities Minister in the Lords said: I have been a humanist all my life, and it seems very unfair that if either of my children had wished to have been married at a Humanist wedding service they would have to go to Scotland, Sweden, the US or Australia. To be married at home however, they would have had to have a civic ceremony followed by a humanist ceremony, with the spirituality and commitment that marriage ceremonies encompass to make it the most special day.
She added: It strikes me that the Coalition government s red tape challenge and its stated commitments to both competition and equality should lead us to conclude that this area is one where there is an injustice and unfairness in need of a remedy. So I hope today we get a positive response from ministers. And bearing in mind it is 19 years since the last marriage bill, one can t blame Humanists for thinking it unreasonable to have to wait another 19 before this anachronism is addressed.
Pension rights for those in same-sex marriages will also be discussed by peers. In May, Conservative MP Mike Freer criticised the same-sex marriage bill for failing to address pension inequalities and tabled an amendment. The bill in its current form will allow pension providers to discriminate against gay married couples as well as those in civil partnerships, by ensuring they receive far less survivor benefits than their straight counterparts.
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Continue readingAustralian Senator Cory Bernardi: I was right to warn that equal marriage could lead to polygamy
Is having three people that love each other should they be able to enter into a permanent union endorsed by society, or four people? he said at the time. There are even some creepy people out there, who say that it s ok to have consensual sexual relations between humans and animals.
Will that be a future step? Speaking to The Age on Monday, Mr Bernardi said: If we go back to what I suggested in the Parliament when the same-sex marriage debate came up, there is actually now a petition being put together for the Parliament by green activists to recognise multi-member unions, he said. Now I said that would happen.
It s happening. We haven t even taken the first step. I think there should be alarm.
If you re going to redefine a word to satisfy demands of a minority then you are going to face continuing demands in that space. The petition he refers to, from the Polyaction Amory Lobby, reportedly has about 25 signatures. Mr Bernardi admitted linking same-sex marriage to bestiality was extreme but said the Greens agenda endorsed the abhorrent and disgusting act.
Whether people agree with it or want to interpret it incorrectly, what I said was correct. It may have offended some people and it wasn t intended to offend people but people drew inferences from it that they should never have done, he said. Australia s Green Party has described Mr Bernardi s remarks as disgusting .
Mr Bernardi also attacked Australia s former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for changing his position on equal marriage, saying he was a conviction politician of convenience who used to deliver doorstep interviews outside a church. The current Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, remains opposed to equal marriage. In April, Australia s Liberal Party leader, Tony Abbott, said he opposed proposals to hold a public vote on equal marriage during September s federal election.
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Continue readingAnti-equal marriage opponent Lord Dear withdraws bill amendments
US: Russian gay people urge boycott of 2014 Russian Winter Olympics
If they feel strongly about human rights they should boycott the Olympics in Sochi. We really want the LGBT community to know it s unsafe to travel there, she continued. Long did say that a statement from the International Olympics Committee (IOC), which expressed its commitment to nondiscrimination against Olympic Athletes, did not ease her concerns.
It said that athletes of all orientations will be welcome at the Games. Long commented on the statement, saying: They have to put up the statement like that, otherwise it s an international scandal, but it s a lie it s just to make it hush-hush and nice on some international level. RUSA LGBT, which has several hundred members, plan a march, and to hand out flyers with information on the boycott.
The march will take place on June 30 at the annual New York Gay Pride parade, which is to feature a Russian float for the first time. Speaking to Ria Novosti, Ivan Savvine, an art curator from St Petersburg, sought asylum in the US because he is gay. It became really dangerous for me to live there.
There was quite a bit of violence that I was faced with, and unfortunately there are no longer isolated instances of persecution. It s definitely escalated, he said. In London last August, a protest took place at an exhibition in London promoting Russia s Winter Olympics, after Pride House events celebrating gay inclusion in sport were banned.
A homosexual propaganda bill, recently, which was given final approval in the Russian State Duma two weeks ago, could make the public display of homosexuality a criminal offence, punishable through imprisonment. The Gay Football Supporters Network has also expressed anxieties that the bill s passing could be used as a way to discriminate fans at the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup. The organisation states that those attending could be persecuted or arrested simply for carrying a rainbow flag.
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Continue readingFour Different Ways of Looking at How Things Fall Apart
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Continue readingDespite strong intolerance of gays, Pakistan leads in world for gay porn searches
In a recent Pew Research Centre survey of 39 countries, which asked the question of whether society should accept homosexuality , in which the UK, the US and Western Europe answered mainly yes , only 2% of those in Pakistan said they thought the same. Gay sex is currently illegal in Pakistan, and is punishable by lengthy jail terms. For gross indecency between persons of the same sex , someone in Pakistan could be sentenced to between 2 and 10 years in prison, and for buggery , life imprisonment can be applied.
Religious extremism is at a height today, said Farahnaz Ispahan, an expert in Pakistani minorities at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a former member of Pakistan s parliament. Speaking to Mother Jones, he continued Hindus are being forced to convert, Christians are being burned alive there s very little personal safety for those seen as the other. So what do gay Pakistanis do?
They turn to pornography because they can t live their lives openly. A survey of porn search habits published in March revealed similar results, and that, in some of the countries with the most adamantly homophobic laws, the word gay comes up more often than countries without them. In Pakistan, indian gay sex video was number one, while search term gay came up again at number three, and number ten of the top ten.
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Continue reading(Scotsman) Michael Kelly: Little charity shown to the religious
No other conclusion can be drawn from the decision of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) that the St Margaret s Children and Family Care Society fails the charit ...
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