Islamophobia Watch

Britain's most senior Muslim leader last night condemned civil partnerships and described homosexual behaviour as harmful. Speaking on the PM programme on BBC Radio 4, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, head of the Muslim Council of Britain, underlined the importance of tolerance but said same-sex relationships risked damaging the foundations of society. He added that homosexuality spreads disease. Peter Tatchell of the gay rights group Outrage! said: "It is tragic for one minority to attack another."

Times, 4 January 2006

Postscript:  In fact there's a further quotation from Tatchell that is even more jaw-droppingly hypocritical: "Both the Muslim and gay communities suffer prejudice and discrimination. We should stand together to fight Islamophobia and homophobia."

BBC News, 3 January 2006 and Outrage! press release, 4 January 2006

Basically, Tatchell's position is that, so long as mainstream Muslim organisations refuse to take a progressive stand on gay rights, he will refuse to co-operate with them in opposing anti-Muslim bigotry – indeed, he feels entitled to form a bloc with the Right in whipping up Islamophobia. Needless to say, in the case of other religions he doesn't apply the same stringent criteria in building alliances. He is quite happy to form a bloc against Robert Mugabe with Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, whose views on homosexuality, we strongly suspect, are hardly more progressive than Iqbal Sacranie's.