Dear friends,
There have been lots of letters about Bishop Devine’s comments, in the Scotsman and Herald – see links below. If you wrote, thank you!
Three MSPs have submitted motions in the Scottish Parliament about the Bishop’s comments: Patrick Harvie, George Foulkes and Iain Smith. You can read the motions at the end of this email.
It is important that as many MSPs as possible support these motions. Would you please consider taking a few minutes to contact your MSPs?
We need to let MSPs know that the majority in Scotland disagree with the Bishop!
Everyone in Scotland has one constituency MSP and seven regional MSPs. Please consider emailing your MSPs to ask them to support one or more of the three motions – motion 1563, 1565 or 1572.
You can find out who your MSPs are by entering your postcode here:
www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/membersPages/msplocator.htm
By clicking on each MSP’s name, you can then click on ‘Contact details’.
You can use the supplied email address to email in the normal way, or fill in the direct email form provided (which is slow!). In either case, you need to give your address and postcode, so that the MSP knows that you live in their constituency/region.
Thank you for taking the time to consider this!
Here are the letters in the Herald and Scotsman:
Yours for equality,
Tim Hopkins
Equality Network, 30 Bernard St, Edinburgh, EH6 6PR
Email sent to: zowie.davy@ntlworld.com
The three Parliamentary motions are:
S3M-1563 Patrick Harvie: Homophobia Has No Place in Scottish Society - That the Parliament notes with weary dismay the most recent remarks made by Bishop Joseph Devine which suggest that LGBT communities should not be present at Holocaust memorial events; recognises in particular that many thousands of gay men were arrested, imprisoned and killed by the Nazi regime and that many of these were later rounded up and re-imprisoned by the allies, being seen at the time as "legitimate" targets; welcomes the significant progress which has since been made across Europe toward recognising the equal dignity and worth of all people regardless of sexual orientation or transgender identity; is concerned at further remarks by the Bishop which appear to encourage parents not to tolerate their gay, lesbian or bisexual children; believes that such remarks are homophobic and deeply harmful to society and to young LGBT people who are contemplating coming out to their families, and commits itself to continuing to work toward a society in which prejudice and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and transgender identity are a thing of the past.
Supported by: Ian McKee, Marlyn Glen, Shirley-Anne Somerville, Elaine Smith, George Foulkes, Bashir Ahmad
S3M-1565 George Foulkes: Un-Christian Remarks of Bishop Devine - That the Parliament expresses concern at the hurt which will be caused to gay people, and gay Catholics in particular, by the unfortunate, outdated and un-Christian remarks of Bishop Devine; believes that all enlightened Catholics reject all forms of prejudice including racism, sectarianism and homophobia, and acknowledges that we must all remember and learn from the past in order to equip ourselves with the tools to tackle prejudice in all its forms which includes acknowledging the rights of the LGBT community to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
Supported by: Marlyn Glen, Margaret Smith, Patrick Harvie, Rhona Brankin, Iain Gray, Elaine Murray, Mr Frank McAveety
S3M-1572 Iain Smith: Dignity and Integrity for All - That the Parliament notes the lecture given by the Rt Rev Joseph Devine, Bishop of Motherwell, at St Aloysius’ College on Tuesday 11 March 2008; condemns his claim that homosexuals were not persecuted during the holocaust and his suggestion that the imprisonment of Oscar Wilde and other homosexuals was appropriate; observes that according to figures of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, 100,000 men were arrested as homosexuals by the Third Reich between 1933 and 1945 and that it is estimated that over 10,000 homosexuals died as a result of the Holocaust; further notes that in many countries homosexuality is today punishable by death or imprisonment, and urges all churches to defend the dignity and integrity of every individual regardless of sexual orientation.
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