KENILWORTH, 28 OCTOBER 2008 — The gay humanist charity the Pink Triangle Trust (PTT) has written to the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, requesting that the homophobic Muslim cleric Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi be included in the list of hate preachers who will be banned from entering the country.
Al-Qaradawi is the cleric who was so warmly welcomed by former London mayor Ken Livingstone to City Hall in 2005 – a welcome which caused a storm of protest from gay groups including the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA), OutRage! and Schools Out. GALHA subsequently called on the then Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, to ban the cleric.
In its letter the PTT writes:
“It is reported that the Government is to introduce tough new measures to prevent those who foster extremism from ever entering the country and that it will name and shame hate preachers and share their exclusion with other countries.
The Pink Triangle Trust (registered charity number 1015629) requests that Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi be included in this naming and shaming list.
In his own words, Al-Qaradawi supports:
The killing of homosexuals to keep society pure.
The killing of apostates – those who have rejected Islam.
The killing of all Israelis – including civilians.
The mutilation of women’s genitals.”
PTT secretary George Broadhead, who is also a GALHA vice-president, said: “This frightful homophobe should never have been allowed into the country in the first place, let alone hugged by Ken Livingstone who absurdly claimed that the cleric was ‘a moderate’. He is one of the worst examples of Islamic extremism.”