Monday, March 11, 2013

“Media reports are wrong. The Queen has NOT expressed support for LGBT equality. The Commonwealth Charter that she’s signing includes no pledge on LGBT rights. LGBT rights were deliberately excluded. In 61 years as Queen, she has never publicly uttered the words lesbian or gay. She is a patron of hundreds of charities but none of them are gay ones. Not once has she visited or supported a gay charity. For the last four years, I’ve been pressing Buckingham Palace over the Queen’s failure to acknowledge the existence of LGBT people - and got nowhere.

“The Commonwealth Charter does not include any specific rejection of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. This was vetoed by the homophobic majority of member states. They blocked its inclusion in the charter. This makes the Queen’s signing of the charter even less of a big deal. It is certainly not the breakthrough for LGBT rights that some people are claiming.”

“

—	British activist Peter Tatchell, posting on his Facebook page.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

UK: Queen To Sign New Charter Backing Gay Rights[?]

The Telegraph reports:

In a special ceremony to mark Commonwealth Day on Sunday, she will also give a speech endorsing the new agreement which states signatories oppose “all forms of discrimination, whether rooted in gender, race, colour, creed, political belief or other grounds”.The words “other grounds” are said to refer to sexuality however any specific references to gay people are not included to avoid antagonising Commonwealth countries that retain laws against homosexuals, according to the Mail on Sunday.The charter is the first time the Commonwealth has had a single document setting out the “core values of the organisation and the aspiration of its members”.The document includes affirmations on democracy, human rights, international peace and security as well as freedom of expression. It also contains a commitment to “gender equality” and “women’s empowerment”.The charter was agreed by all Commonwealth heads of government in December.It will be signed by the Queen in a televised ceremony at Marlborough House on London’s Pall Mall, the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat.David Davies, the Conservative MP for Monmouth told the Mail on Sunday: “I fail to see why the Queen needs to make a special statement on this country’s opposition to discrimination against gays and women. It is a statement of the blindingly obvious.“My worry is that the politically correct brigade will use it to silence legitimate debate about issues like gay marriage. One can’t help wondering what Prince Philip’s view would be.”Forty-one of the Commonwealth’s 54 nations retain legislation against homosexual acts. In parts of Nigeria and Pakistan those found to have taken part in gay sex can receive the death penalty, in Trinidad and Tobago it can incur 25 years in jail and life imprisonment in Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Bangladesh and Guyana.Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of the gay and lesbian rights group Stonewall, described the Monarch as a “feminist icon”.He said: “This is the first time that the Queen has publicly acknowledged the importance of the six per cent of her subjects who are gay”.

I know this is a huge step, but doesn’t she needs to say the word “gay” first to fully acknowledge our rights? Just saying.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Obama Fumbles Toast To Queen

Thursday, April 21, 2011

HM Queen Elizabeth II Turns 85

As the world prepares for the Royal Wedding, a first celebration must be acknowledge: The Queen of England turns 85 years old today.

For those who ignore it, she’s not just the Head of State of the United Kingdom (which includes four countries: England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland) but also is the Constitutional Monarch of sixteen independent sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: Canada (I should know, she’s on the $20 bills), Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica,Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. In addition, as Head of the Commonwealth, she is the figurehead of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations and, as the British monarch, she is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

For many, this symbolic influence is a reason to be worried about, and perhaps not because of Her Majesty directly, but because of what the Britain’s Monarchy System represents (given that it is founded on the principles of the values of Henry VIII). In the United Kingdom, both Royalists and Republicans (and by Republicans, I mean it in the British context and not in the American, these Republicans, they do read other books beside the Bible) I’m sure wish The Queen a longer life as nobody waits with excitement the Coronation of the next in line to the Throne: Prince Charles. Christopher Hitchens explains why:

For Prince William at least it was decided on the day of his birth what he should do: Find a presentable wife, father a male heir (and preferably a male “spare” as well), and keep the show on the road. By yet another exercise of that notorious “magic,” it is now doubly and triply important that he does this simple thing right, because only his supposed charisma can save the country from what monarchists dread and republicans ought to hope for: King Charles III. (Monarchy, you see, is a hereditary disease that can only be cured by fresh outbreaks of itself.) An even longer life for the present queen is generally hoped for: failing that a palace maneuver that skips a generation and saves the British from a man who—like the fruit of the medlar—went rotten before he turned ripe.

So, there’s nothing else we can hope for Her Majesty but: Long live The Queen!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

HM The Queen Elizabeth II Sends Save-The-Date FAX For Royal Wedding

The Huffington Post:

Queen Elizabeth II sent out the save-the-dates for Prince William and Kate’s wedding to Europe’s sovereigns…by ye olde facsimile machine, the Daily Mail reports. A Buckingham Palace courtier told the British newspaper, “Faxes have been used before for large-scale events. They are an efficient and polite way to inform people as quickly as possible.”
But it’s not totally the dark ages over in London. Of note: the Royal Engagement was announced on Twitter and the Queen has both Facebook and Flickr pages.
Gold-embossed and handwritten invitations will be sent out to the 1,800 guests next month, according to the Mail, but thanks to the fax, some attendees are already confirmed for the nuptials of the year — like Greece’s King Constantine, his wife Queen Anne-Marie and their eldest son Crown Prince Pavlov, Serbia’s Crown Prince Alexander and his wife Crown Princess Katherine and members of the Romanian monarchy.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Queen meets Barbra Streisand. (I might have written it the other way around, but I don’t care)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Royal Wedding! (Royally Screwed?)

Savage Love reports:

Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton—his long-time girlfriend, and the first commoner to marry an heir to the English throne since the 17th Century—last weekend. The engagement ring? The same blue sapphire and diamond ring that William’s father presented to William’s mother, Princess Diana, back in 1981.That ring seems kinda jinxy to me. It’s the Hope Diamond of engagement rings—beautiful, but cursed.But, hey! Royal wedding!

I’d be worry if carrying that ring… but, hey, it’s mom’s ring, so it could work out the other way around, right?

Friday, September 17, 2010

A Pope & A Queen In The Same Island.

God Save…the Children!

The lider of the largest web of pederasts in the word is in British soil. The Pope Benedict XVI made it’s very anticipated visit to the United Kingdom. He was received by leaders of the Catholic Church of England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland (all members of The United Kingdom) and by The Queen Elizabeth II herself.

Britain– or at least Scotland – welcomed the Pope with open arms.

Tens of thousands turned out in Edinburgh and Glasgow to greet him on a day of celebration – and some significance. Despite all thevenomous hatred from the likes of the quiz show host Stephen Fry (whose remarks, surprise surprise, coincide with the much-publicised launch of his latest book!), the crowds welcomed the Holy Father and put to oneside any justifiable concerns about the lamentable way he has handled the paedophilia scandal. Benedict XVI was greeted by the Queen this morning with the full honours due to a world leader, hours after the senior cardinal who made the provocative remarks was dropped from his entourage.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, who accused Britain of harbouring aggressive atheism and discriminating against Christians, was condemned as racist by secular protesters determined to disrupt the Papal trip, the first to Britain for 28 years. The 77-year-old Cardinal had told a German magazine: ‘When you land at Heathrow you think at times you have landed in a Third World country.’ Such ill-judged comments from Benedict’s close circle were a gift to the collection of celebrities and Left-wing atheists mobilising against his visit. (you gotta take whatever is thrown at you, right?)

Yesterday a group of 55, including Stephen Fry, author Terry Pratchett and academic Richard Dawkins, claimed it introduced overtones of racism into the controversy. Gay campaigner and anti-Papal demonstrator Peter Tatchell said: ‘This is another own goal from the Vatican. It shows just how out of touch the Pope and his entourage are. Most Catholics will be appalled by the remarks.

Scientist Richard Dawkins (right) and author Christopher Hitchens (left), both atheist, asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church. The pair believedthey could exploit the same legal principle used to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, when he visited Britain in 1998, or more recently, Tzipi Livni, Israel’s former foreign minister and current opposition leader, who staunchly defends Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, had to cancel her trip to the UK because of the same kind of charges issued by Palestinian activists.

The Pope’s visit thou, have had no (penal) consequences (yet). But the atmosphere of controversy - and sometimes outright hostility - is likely to persist throughout the four-day visit. Protesters will be in attendance wherever the Pope goes, and Benedict himself will anger anti-clerical critics on Friday when he delivers a speech in Westminster Hall.