GenQ - For the not so straight individual

DERRY, Northern Ireland.? Derry's gay community will be strongly represented again this year at the North Ireland's only pride march. As with previous years many will travel with friends and family to what has always been a fun filled, colourful and overall a peaceful event.

The Pride March, held annually in Belfast, is however under threat this year.

Against a background of spiralling hate crimes across Northern Ireland, so called ?Christian? zealots are calling for what is essentially a fun carnival parade to be banned.

It comes as no surprise that religious groups are again trying to enforce the supremacy of their views on others.

This is a pattern of oppression that has been repeated for centuries, often in the most violent and brutal of ways. This current campaign is vile and vitriolic with extremely hateful lies and half-truths being mixed in a sophisticated propaganda campaign designed to mislead.

Whilst the public face of the campaign is friendly you only have to scratch the surface to find underhanded tactics, offensive language, false accusations and blatant lies often disguised as research. All this hurt and harm in the name of God can hardly be described as a Christian approach.

This is not an isolated Northern Ireland problem; it is part of something much more insidious that is happening internationally. Organised anti-pride campaigns have been mounted in Rome, Budapest Warsaw, and Jerusalem to name but a few.

Following outcries by civil libertarians in those countries these campaigns have failed with marches taking place in each of those cities despite the efforts of homophobic groups.

The gay community here is without a doubt a minority. Our rights however are as valid as those of any other citizen.

It attracts large numbers of participants from the North West and across the whole island as well as many foreign visitors.

Thwarting this attack on a minority and its right to express itself is not an issue only for gay people. As demonstrated at the 36th Civil Rights Anniversary March in Derry, challenging prejudice and defending the rights of minorities is an issue for us all.

There can be no return to Victorian hypocrisy and repression based on the views of the religious right, indeed given the harm inflicted by this pseudo Christian approach the gay community would not be out of order in demanding an apology as an act of contrition by those peddling hatred.

It is important to point out that most of the Christians we know, both gay and straight, would aspire to the teachings of Christ rather than sit in judgement.

Following recent media coverage of attacks against gays in Derry, many Christian people have taken the time to contact us, offer support and distance themselves from homophobia, that seems much more like a true Christian response of understanding and love.