h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Very short notice email I received this afternoon:

'Emergency Demonstration - Friday 19th October


On the 2nd October two young men in the Saudi Arabian city of Al-Bahah were convicted of 'sodomy' and sentenced to 7,000 lashes. The lashes were carried out in stages over the course of three weeks and the sentence has now been carried out. In Saudi Arabia being gay, lesbian or bisexual is illegal and the maximum penalty is death.

This year NUS LGBT Campaign is campaigning for 'Love without Borders'. Around the world, LGBT people are persecuted, imprisoned and even murdered in state-sponsored homophobia. We live in a global community and no longer can we stand by while LGBT people are persecuted. Now is the time to use our freedom to fight for the rights of others across the globe. When abuses of human rights take place we must not be silent.

To this end NUS LGBT campaign, working with partnership organisations, will be organising an emergency demonstration outside the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, 30 Charles Street, London, W1J 5DZ at 1.30pm on Friday 19th October. We call on individuals and groups, LGBT or otherwise to protest against the continued criminalisation, imprisonment, torture and murder of LGBT people in Saudi Arabia. We will be handing a letter of protest to the Saudi Ambassador, HRH Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf, calling on his Government to respect the human rights of its own LGBT citizens.

Please join us in the struggle for Love without Borders - LGBT rights around the world - and make your views known to the Saudi Ambassador on Friday.'

Oops! Wrong date in the subject line.

Wrong something else by the look of things Roymondo

Hmmm, that's a tad odd.

Righty: a snyopsis.

Demonstration outside the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, 30 Charles Street, London, W1J 5DZ on Friday 19/10/07 at 13.30.

Protest is being held because Saudi Arabia recently sentenced two men to 7,000 lashes and continue to be a state that sanctions violent homphobia.


I trust nobody wioth their finger on theyikes button thinks that state sanctioned violent homphobia should be allowed to pass without protest!

I can now see why it may have been hidden. Shame that someones objected to that though

I yikes'd when I saw this... not the post but the actions! How disgusting that some leaders in this world think that way! Its no wonder things are the state they are.
Surely they have many, many more important things to worry about out there!??

Do you mean that there are better things to worry about than innocent (gay) people being tortured (lashing) and/or murdered (hanging) by the state?

Or that the leaders shouldn't be wasting their time persecuting gay people because there are more important issues?

Reading your post again (and knowing you, albeit in an online way!) I reckon it's the latter, but your post isn't too clear.

Bear in mind that there are very deep seated and cultural reasons for these nations to act the way they do: they see homosexuality as contrary to, and a threat to, their understanding of the way the world should be. Their leaders, who probably do know better, are playing to the populace and thereby reinforcing the prejudice.

It being Saudi Arabia I think be quite sure that the leader get up to a great many things that they're wouldn't approve of their subject doing or know that their subject are to entrenched in their "beliefs" to accept.

*starts stop watch*

I do definitely mean that there are more important things to do than worrying about the actions of two consenting adults. Definitely the latter of the options you highlighted and I apologise for not being clear.

>>>Bear in mind that there are very deep seated and cultural reasons for these nations to act the way they do: they see homosexuality as contrary to, and a threat to, their understanding of the way the world should be. Their leaders, who probably do know better, are playing to the populace and thereby reinforcing the prejudice.<<<<


I see children with guns fighting wars, innocent people being tortured, starvation while country leaders live in the lap of luxury as a threat and contradiction to the way the world should be, and yet apparently, the values that a lot of us have in believing things like that are wrong seem to be ignored by a large majority of world leaders. Im sure the populace would like many other things to enhance their lives, things that can be provided. At the end of the day, lashing and/or murdering gay folks doesn't make the problem go away, it just makes it a little less obvious and possibly increases the number of suicides. But there will always be gay people, no matter how much you beat us, there will be more in future generations.

Surely, even to the most sensible of people, your fellow countrymen starving, or living in abominable conditions earning like £100 a year is a bigger threat to the sensibilities than love? Then again, I think I am rather biased in thinking that people should be able to live and love who they wish without persecution.

How did this go? If anyone was there?

I couldn't get along, but there's this (very minimal) report on UKInymedia:

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/10/384164.html

There's vidoeo footage there but I can't watch it on the work PC so have no idea what it is.

I can't find any coverage of this at all in the regular media.

ing Dumbledore stole all the thunder at the weekend.