Reading about the Stonewall Riots on its fiftieth anniversary makes me feel a mixture of emotions. It’s great that something life-changing for so many people, Gay Liberation, came out of a moment when a smallish group of young put-upon homosexuals thought enough is enough and then turned their fury on a clearly homophobic police force. Bravo! It was great that it didn’t just clear the air for a brief moment, it truly made a difference and led to the foundation of Gay Liberation and the many Gay Pride Parades that are held at this time all around the world. Bravo!

Those events had a direct influence on the liberalisation of sexual politics and attitudes all across North America and Western Europe – bravo! It is a reminder, maybe a painful one, that for social change to happen, people have usually had to take to the streets and, yes, at times, riot. It made a difference fifty years ago. Shame on the Western world though, that it had to be thus, before ideas about same-sex equality could fight its way into the statute books. Bravo though for the many changes that have taken place since then. Let’s hope that this progress will continue until gender, in all its manifestations, ceases to be a matter of censure, scorn and the less than discrete rolling of eyes. But, bravo! progress is progress.

If only it was the same story in the 72 countries where homosexuality is still illegal – and where the old, old story of prejudice, hatred and violence is a daily horror for many people who still share the pre-Stonewall world.

These are the countries that still prosecute homosexuals – it is a list of shame:

Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda

Bangladesh
Barbados
Brunei
Burundi

Cameroon
Comoros

Dominica

Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia

Gambia
Ghana
Grenada
Guinea
Guyana

Indonesia
Iran

Jamaica

Malaysia
Maldives
Myanmar

Kenya
Kiribati
Kuwait

Liberia
Libya
Lebanon

Malawi
Mauritania
Mauritius
Morocco

Namibia
Nigeria

Oman

Pakistan
Palestine
Papua New Guinea

Qatar

Samoa
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Solomon Islands

Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
Sri Lanka
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Syria
Swaziland

Tanzania
Togo
Tonga
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu

The post 50 years after the Stonewall riots – sometimes actions speak louder than words. appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

I do realize that people should be free to practise their own religion no matter how wackey it is – well maybe drawing the line around human sacrifice and a couple of other things – so I have never gone along with the form of criticism that tells, say, the Roman Catholic church to get with it over certain social issues, like contraception and abortion and to change its centuries old traditional theology just because almost everyone else disagrees with them. After-all if they ditch their beliefs just to stay popular, they might as well give up the whole thing. It is sad for those Roman Catholics, and there are a lot of them, who disagree with the official line but, maybe, they need to find their own church.

It isn’t just contraception and abortion that is causing all the trouble between the church and ordinary decent people these days, it is the question of homosexuality too and with homosexual marriage in particular as the new burning issue. I am not talking about Africa or parts of Asia of course, acceptance there seems centuries away, but mostly, certainly in the USA and Europe, this is the latest non-issue. Homosexuality exists, human love exists, people who are in love often want to live together and some of them, the more traditionally-minded ones,  even want to get married. Well, the overwhelming majority thinks, that’s just fine because it is, cheers!

Here in Britain, even our Conservative Party is in agreement and new legislation will soon make gay marriage legal much to the anguish of the Church of England. If it is socially acceptable to our most reactionary political party then it is pretty well a no-brainer as far as the rest of the country is concerned. So what’s all the problem about then in the Church of England?

I can understand the Pope taking a dim view of such things, he likes to keep things complex and theologically strict in his particular reading of the holy scripts,  but the good old Church of England was born out of compromise and mostly survives without getting too laden by theology. You can mostly believe what you want as an Anglican as long as you support the village fete. That’s why we were all so fond of it. It is a shame then that homosexual issues have got all those clerical robes into such a twist because it isn’t a problem for the rest of us, honestly.

The sad truth of it all is that the great  institution that was the Church of England has been haemorrhaging congregations for decades now because, as in its attitude to the gay marriage question, it is not seen as relevant any more to most people. The current gay debate only demonstrates how far the English have moved away from their church. That should be fine though too, it is fine as far as i’m concerned. If the clergy are not happy about gay marriages,they should get on with being unhappy about it,  people don’t need to go to their churches any more. Gay Christians, and there are a lot of them, should, just like the early Christians, find a religion that isn’t sinking under its own prejudices. Christians, even Anglicans could survive without Gothic architecture, Hymns Ancient & Modern, the Cranmer Prayer Book and even fancy cassocks, beautiful as they are, the old order should be left to die in peace mumbling prayers in their desserted churches (until it is time for us to reclaim them)  whilst the rest of the country celebrates this welcome and inevitable forward step in social equality. No wonder the Archbishop of Canterbury has just announced his retirement – he was a decent man in the wrong job.

Personally, I would like to see the liberalisation of our society move beyond the institution of marriage too with its emphasis on property rights and possessions but that, I suspect, is an argument for another century.

Meanwhile, I’m getting into gear for the imminent publication (in October)  of my novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

STEPHEN DEARSLEY’S SUMMER OF LOVE BY COLIN BELL

My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published  on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

It is now available as a paperback or on Kindle (go to your region’s Amazon site for Kindle orders)

You can order the book from the publishers, Ward Wood Publishing:

http://wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-colin-bell-stephen-dearsleys-summer-of-love.htm 

…or from Book Depository:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Stephen-Dearsleys-Summer-Love-Colin-Bell/9781908742070

…or from Amazon:

The post The gay marriage question could finally sink the Church of England – do we care? appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.