Results 1-17 of 17 for gay speaker:Lord Avebury

Asylum Seekers: Iran (18 Mar 2008)

Lord Avebury: ...of Origin Information Service report on Iran, published by the Home Office, is deficient in many respects? Does he know that it omits quite a few public domain references to the persecution of gays in Iran, including in particular the execution of Makwan Mouloudzadeh, a teenager who was executed for a homosexual offence allegedly committed when he was 13? Will the noble Lord make sure that...

Asylum: Mehdi Kazemi (11 Mar 2008)

Lord Avebury: My Lords, do the Government think that it is safe to return to Iran anyone who is a known gay, including not only the individual whom we are talking about but Miss Pegah Emambakhsh, whose case was also reported in the Independent the other day? Does not the noble Lord think that it would be a good example to generalise the policy followed by the Netherlands and Germany and put a moratorium on...

Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill (5 Mar 2008)

Lord Avebury: ...place. I hope that he may feel inclined to contribute to our discussion before we dispose of the amendment. The Minister said that the last successful prosecution for blasphemy in England was the Gay News case 30 years ago and that the arguments for abolishing the offence were helpfully set out in the Law Commission's working paper, published in 1981, followed by its paper, Offences...

Immigration and Asylum (14 Dec 2006)

Lord Avebury: ...to me saying that she would suggest that the country information on Jamaica be reviewed at the next meeting of the advisory panel in March 2007. That is an inadequate response to the evidence that gays are at risk of persecution and physical harm in Jamaica, and the Home Office should act to remove them from the NSA list. On Report of the IAN Bill in February, we moved an amendment with...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Asylum Claims: Jamaica (9 Jan 2006)

Lord Avebury: asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether they will ensure that gay Jamaican asylum seekers are allowed a right of appeal against any application to enter or remain in the United Kingdom on Refugee Convention or Human Rights Act grounds; and, if so, how.

Asylum (Designated States) (No. 2)Order 2005 (24 Nov 2005)

Lord Avebury: ..., no one is asking the Minister to give a decision off the cuff, as it were, but I did ask him whether the Secretary of State would agree to refer the question of partial designation in respect of gays, in particular in the case of Jamaica, to the advisory panel. Clearly, the advisory panel had advised the Secretary of State that men should be singled out in the case of Ghana and Nigeria,...

Asylum (Designated States) (No. 2)Order 2005 (24 Nov 2005)

Lord Avebury: ...the Secretary of State believes appropriate—has been considered in relation to other characteristics apart from gender. The obvious example is sexual orientation, since it is well known that gays are targeted for harassment and violence in Jamaica, in particular. Stonewall and the National Secular Society have both expressed concern to me on that subject and asked me to raise it this...

Racial and Religious Hatred Bill (8 Nov 2005)

Lord Avebury: ...to make up their mind. It is the Government whom we have to convince to take this matter forward after today's debate. The last time there was a prosecution for blasphemy in England was the Gay News case of 1976, when the editor of that newspaper was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment, subsequently lifted on appeal, for a poem that appeared in the paper. The arguments for abolishing...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Sierra Leone Police: UK Training and Assistance (20 Oct 2004)

Lord Avebury: asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether, in the course of training and mentoring the Sierra Leone police, British police officers are giving advice on the equal treatment of gay and lesbian citizens; and whether they will offer assistance to the police in apprehending the criminals who raped and murdered Ms Fanny Ann Eddy, founder of the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association.

Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill (27 Apr 2004)

Lord Avebury: ...on his possession of that characteristic? I gave the example of a Muslim who was to be returned to a country where Islam was the religion but whose reason for his seeking asylum was that he was gay. In new subsection (5B) the only condition that has to be satisfied is that the Secretary of State must be sure that he is within that description and that he is entitled to reside in "the State...

Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill (27 Apr 2004)

Lord Avebury: ...belongs to a religion considered immune from persecution in a particular state. The Secretary of State might say that it is perfectly safe to send a Muslim back to Saudi Arabia, but what if he is gay? The problem with the whole formula is that it does not catch only the persons who base their claims on the characteristics in the description of person to whom the order applies. The...

Religious Offences (22 Apr 2004)

Lord Avebury: ...going on ever since Lord Coleridge laid down in the case of Ramsay and Foote in 1883 that it was lawful to attack the fundamentals of religion. The developments which have taken place up to the Gay News case in 1979 were thoroughly rehearsed in the Law Commission's Working Paper No 79 of 1981 and its survey of Offences Against Religion and Public Worship of 1985. The Select Committee...

European Communities (Definition of Treaties) (Euro–Mediterranean Agreement establishing an Association between the European Communities and their Member States and the Republic of Lebanon) Order 2003 (17 Dec 2003)

Lord Avebury: ...Tahsin Khayat on 5th December on the orders of a military prosecutor is an ominous sign, and there were arrests is September, also by the military prosecutor, of two journalists associated with a gay website. The treatment of thousands of Palestinian refugees in refugee camps is also discriminatory and the European Parliament, in the resolution it passed accompanying its consent to this...

Criminal Justice Bill (5 Nov 2003)

Lord Avebury: ...review of hate crime, which is due to start only this month. The Government, as an afterthought, have created in their amendment a new statutory offence applicable to crimes motivated by hatred of gay and disabled people. Although I join the noble Viscount, Lord Colville, in applauding the idea, I take issue with the manner in which the legislation has been framed. The Select Committee...

Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 (17 Jun 2003)

Lord Avebury: ...on the Benches opposite have listened to what the noble Lord, Lord Alli, has said and would put principle above party. This is not a party matter; it is a fundamental question of the freedom of gay people in our community. I am sorry that the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Hendon, has been illogical about this. First, she condemned these regulations on the grounds that they will cause...

Religious Offences Bill [HL] (30 Jan 2002)

Lord Avebury: ...-General use his power to take the case over and then offer no evidence? In 1976 there was still a great deal of homophobia, and Mary Whitehouse was a highly motivated and effective campaigner. The Gay News case should be seen as an aberration, without which we could now be looking back on 80 years without any court proceedings on blasphemy charges. Subsection (2) of Clause 1 repeals all...

Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Bill (28 Nov 2001)

Lord Avebury: ...narrowed over the three centuries of their history. The working definition is that which is contained in Stephen's Digest of Criminal Law, which was used almost verbatim by the trial judge in the Gay News case in 1979. For the benefit of those who think that there will be a great restriction on people's ability to criticise other religions, the denial of any of the doctrines of...