What led to the fall HIV s UK gay men? | aidsmap

Contents:

• ASHERS 'GAY KE' SE: EUROPEAN URT L SE ADMISSIBLE
• HOMOPHOBIC HATE CRIME: BEATEN-UP FOR BEG GAY
• THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED
• ‘GAY KE’ ROW: MAN LOS SEVEN-YEAR BATTLE AGAST BELFAST BAKERY
• WHAT LED TO THE FALL HIV S UK GAY MEN?
• NUMBER OF LGV S AMONG GAY MEN ENGLAND REACH NEW HIGHS AND MOST S AMONG MEN WHO ARE HIV NEGATIVE
• A QUARTER OF GAY MEN REPORT SUAL SEX DURG UK LOCKDOWN

ASHERS 'GAY KE' SE: EUROPEAN URT L SE ADMISSIBLE

I thought I was never gog to see my dghter aga, " he said, rellg the trmatic homophobic asslt - an attack based on prejudice agast LGBT people - was part of a surge such s over the past five figur obtaed by the BBC om all 45 police forc the UK reveal that the number of reported homophobic hate crime s almost trebled - om 6, 655 2014-15, the year same sex marriage beme legal England, to 18, 465 2019-20.

In the past year, there has been a 20% rise reports to police of homophobic hate crime, acrdg to the data which was obtaed through Freedom of Informatn requts. "A hate crime is a crimal offence that is motivated by "hostily or prejudice" towards someone bee of factors such as their race or relign or their sexual means prosecutors n apply to the urt to crease the offenr's s of hate crim based on sexual orientatn seem to have been creasg many Wt Yorkshire, such crim rose om 161 2014-15 to 1, 093 2019-20Merseysi s rose om 65 to 678 the same yearsEssex om 97 to 533London's Metropolan Police saw reports rise om 1, 549 to 3, 013Greater Manchter Police saw reports rise om 423 to 1, 231Hertfordshire police rerd 176 such crim 2018-19, which rose to 495 2019-2020 Northamptonshire police rerd 82 and 177 same perdsCharlie Graham, a 21-year-old om Sunrland, says homophobic hate crime is jt a part of life. A day earlier, a uple lled Rob and Patrick were attacked wh broken bottl Birmgham’s gay village, leavg one unnsc and the other wh extensive cuts.

Three men have been arrted on spicn of robbery and 30 July, Edburgh, a married gay uple were punched, kicked and spat at as they walked down a by cy centre street.

HOMOPHOBIC HATE CRIME: BEATEN-UP FOR BEG GAY

Three men have been charged nnectn wh alleged asslts and homophobic Liverpool, durg Pri month, hundreds of people joed a prott on 22 June after at least three street attacks on young men wh the space of a few activists and natnal mpaigners have told the Guardian that this spate of attacks across the UK, while unnnected, unrsr a climate of fear endured by the LGBTQ+ muny on the 2015, hate crim related to sexual orientatn and genr inty have creased year on year, acrdg to ernment data for England, Wal and Stland. In the year to March 2020 England and Wal, sexual orientatn hate crim rose by 19% to 15, 835, and transgenr inty hate crim by 16% to 2, 540 – averagg more than 50 reports each Misra, the associate director of mpaigns at the LGBTQ+ rights chary Stonewall, said: “The recent cints Edburgh, Birmgham, Liverpool and London are a stark remr that 2021, lbian, gay, bi, trans and queer people do not feel safe to be ourselv.

THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED

“Tradnally, homophobic and transphobic hate crim have been signifintly unrreported, ” he said, though he argued that the work of LGBTQ+ liaison officers wh specific rponsibily for buildg muny lks was among iativ that were payg off. Lawrence Barton, the director of Birmgham Pri, who ns a number of venu the gay district, said: “There has been an crease this type of activy, lolly and natnally.

“I’m out regularly the gay district on a weekend, and staggers me how many people e out wh homophobic remarks, shout om their r wdows and make ments as they’re walkg past, ” he said he was “disappoted wh the rced amounts of police prence” the area, although Wt Midlands police said they have recently creased high-visibily patrols and wanted to reassure anyone who is targeted that their report would be treated wh preventg attacks was important, Barton said tacklg the wir problem of homophobic views is his biggt ncern. ”LGBTQ+ hate crim do not often make headl, said Diva Campo, a drag queen om Manchter, who said she was aware of a number of recent asslts the cy, cludg one of a transgenr Campo, who spearhead fundraisg efforts after LGBTQ+ murals the cy’s gay village were faced at the end of June, said: “I’m very aware that the atmosphere and environment on the street is much more hostile. Image ptn, Gareth Lee sued Christian-n Ashers bakery for refg to make a ke rated wh the slogan "Support Gay Marriage"A gay rights activist has lost a seven-year discrimatn dispute over a ke orr as the European Court of Human Rights led his se Lee started legal actn back 2014 after a Christian-n Belfast bakery refed to make him a ke wh the slogan "Support Gay Marriage" fay firm Ashers said the slogan ntravened their Christian European urt led Mr Lee's se admissible, sayg he had failed to exhst all optns the UK Belfast man has long argued that by refg to fulfil his orr, the bakery had discrimated agast him on grounds of his sexual orientatn and polil Lee then took his se to the European Court of Human Rights, where was examed by seven judg who cid, by majory, that should be long-nng dispute has raised qutns about relig eedom and discrimatn their lg on Thursday, the judg said the se was admissible bee Mr Lee had not voked his rights unr the European Conventn of Human Rights "at any pot the domtic proceedgs" the UK judg cid that orr for a plat to be admissible, "the Conventn arguments mt be raised explicly or substance before the domtic thori" ptn, BBC News NI looks at the key dat the "gay ke" se"By relyg solely on domtic law, the applint had prived the domtic urts of the opportuny to addrs any Conventn issu raised, stead askg the urt to urp the role of the domtic urts.

‘GAY KE’ ROW: MAN LOS SEVEN-YEAR BATTLE AGAST BELFAST BAKERY

The se began 2014, when Mr Lee vised a Belfast branch of Ashers Bakery, and asked them to bake a ke rated wh the gay marriage source, Getty Image/Charl McQuillanImage ptn, Gareth Lee said he was trated that the se had been dismissed on a "technily"At the time, same-sex marriage was still illegal Northern Ireland, but the law has sce changed and same-sex weddgs have been takg place sce Febary ke Mr Lee requted was to feature an image of Bert and Ernie, two characters om the children's TV programme Same Street, and the logo of the mpaign group, Lee paid £36.

50 for a ke and left the shop, but a few days later, bakery staff lled him to say they uld not plete the orr bee of the slogan and would refund his Bakg Company is n by the McArthurs, a Christian fay om County Lee said the cisn to refe his orr had ma him feel "unworthy" and a "lser person" plaed to the Equaly Commissn for Northern Ireland, who supported him takg a discrimatn se agast the fought the se, argug they had not turned Mr Lee's ctom away bee he was gay, but bee he had asked them to produce somethg that was ntrary to their relig is the European Court of Human Rights? It was disappotg to see another attempt to unrme those rights, so is a relief that the attempt has failed, " Mr Calvert source, Getty Imag/Leon NealImage ptn, Amy and Daniel McArthur photographed after their UK Supreme Court victory 2018However, the Rabow Project, a Belfast-based gay rights mpaign group, said the UK Supreme urt cisn had created legal uncertaty for LGBT people when accsg goods and servic and Thursday's ECHR lg had not rolved that uncertaty. "If the judgement had gone the other way, a gay baker uld have been forced by law to acce to requts to rate k wh msag opposg LGBT+ equaly, " he ptn, Gay rights mpaigner Peter Tatchell said he had great sympathy for Gareth Lee but that he did not believe Ashers had discrimated agast him"I support protts agast Ashers over their hostily to LGBT+ equaly but I nnot endorse legal pulsn to require them to promote a msage wh which they profoundly disagree.

There is still wispread discrimatn agast lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and tersex people around the world, as well as agast any other people who intify as queer or not cisgenr and heterosexual. On 19th June 2018, we had the honour of attendg the Hoe of Lords for the lnch of the Enomic Cost of Homophobia, an illumatg report published by the Peter Tatchell Foundatn.

WHAT LED TO THE FALL HIV S UK GAY MEN?

Homosexualy do not need to be illegal your untry for you to make an asylum claim; the important pot is that you n show a real risk of ser harm om the ernment, or other sectns of the populatn, where the ernment nnot or will not protect you.

Other exampl of qutns clud qutng how the applints me to realise they were gay, how they felt about members of the same sex their early teens, and the tails of dreams they had had volvg members of the oppose sex.

The Home Office have also attempted to ny that LGBT people are persecuted s where the asylum seeker’s untry of natnaly has crimalised homosexualy but there is nsistent applitn of this law. A recent se has seen Danielle protect the Article 3 right of a South Korean natnal who was rmed by the Home Office that there were no surmountable obstacl to livg as a homosexual uple Korea.

NUMBER OF LGV S AMONG GAY MEN ENGLAND REACH NEW HIGHS AND MOST S AMONG MEN WHO ARE HIV NEGATIVE

The Home Office had failed to take to acunt expert ttimony about the treatment of gay migrants Korea and that South Korean law barred the Brish partner om movg to South Korea, as South Korean law do not regnise same-sex relatnships. But when I heard people ravg about the show, wrten by Rsell T Davi, I was stck by how many of them admted to knowg ltle about the epimic – and the stctn wreaked among the gay muny.

For a long time, the mastream public didn't want to hear our Ca's The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle tells the story of a secretly gay postman searchg for a lost love om his youth (Cred: Headle Review)"I would venture to say that the public were disgted and outraged, " says thor Crystal Jeans. It's about a lonely, socially awkward and secretly gay postman livg a fictnal town the north of England who hs retirement, realisg he wants to turn his life around and fally be happy – but to do this, he needs to fd the love of his life, a man he hasn’t seen for nearly 50 years.

A QUARTER OF GAY MEN REPORT SUAL SEX DURG UK LOCKDOWN

That same year, the so-lled "Alan Turg law" offered pardons to 49, 000 Brish gay men who’d been nvicted of homosexual acts – followg a mpaign arguably bolstered by the greater awarens brought about by The Imatn Game, the h film that picted the nvictn and chemil stratn of the Enigma-breakg puter scientist. Over on Instagram, The Aids Memorial shar photos and stori of people – predomantly gay men – who died of the disease, wrten by those who loved them.

You’d not tch many queer al mers jottg down their memoirs – Crystal JeansHowever, 's fictn that’s very much drivg the phenomenon of brgg "lost" stori of gay life om the past to light.

Over the last five years, a tr of Irish wrers have livered stunng gay-themed novels set predomantly perds of history that didn't wele them – John Boyne (The Heart’s Invisible Furi), Graham Norton (Home Stretch), and Sebastian Barry (the Costa Award-wng Days Whout End). In the theatre, Matthew Lopez's exploratn of gay male history The Inherance triumphed London before transferrg to New York, where opened the year after a well-received revival of Mart Crowley's semal 1968 play Boys the Band.