Sacranie, UK Muslim Nutjob

Ah, the week wouldn't be complete without some loudmouthbreather bitching about fags taking over the world.

Gays & Muslim groups hit back at slur
Ben Townley, GAY.COM, Friday 6 Jan 2006

Representatives of both gay and Muslim groups have hit back at the leader of the Muslim Council of Britain's Sir Iqbal Sacranie's claims that homosexuality was "unacceptable" and civil partnerships were "harmful".

In the United States, we do not accept titles of royalty. (Constitution I,9) Why a man who protests Holocaust remembrance ceremonies and demanding the death of Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses was knighted in the first place certainly escapes me.

Members of Stonewall, Outrage and the Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights (LCLGR) have called on Sir Iqbal to apologise for the comments, while Muslim commentators have questioned his leadership of the MCB.

[snip]

Yasmin Alibhai[-]Brown, the writer and well respected commentator on Muslim issues, wrote in the Evening Standard last night that Sir Iqbal does not speak for the majority of Muslims and urged those who disagree with him to make their voices heard.

According to Stonewall's Ben Summerskill, many have already done so. "What's been hugely reassuring is that we've been contacted by people - not just lesbian and gay Muslims, but other Muslims saying they deeply regret what he said," he told GAY.COM today. He added that many are questioning whether "he should be setting him up as a community leader".

Summerskill will be appearing with Sir Iqbal at a Fabian Society conference next weekend to discuss education, at which he says he would be "pretty surprised if the issue doesn't come up". However, he warned against the demonisation of all Muslim people because of Sir Iqbal's "noisy" comments.

It's important to not allow Muslims to be demonised by extreme views, no matter what they are. Regrettably what happens with some religious commentators is that it's the noisy ones who get heard, while the more measured responses are lost. We've been reassured by the response of so many Muslims to this.

Sir Iqbal is yet to comment on the furore surrounding his words on BBC Radio 4's PM programme earlier this week.

As well as slamming civil partnerships and homosexuality, he also drew links between public health and gay people and called for faith groups to join together to criticise the government's pro-gay laws.

And it wasn't just hen. Sacranie what demands these things; he's found common cause with Christian leaders all over the UK, including a prominent and outspoken Scottish cleric.

Hate crosses all boundaries, I'm sad to discover.