The Homowerkgroep of the Dutch Humanist League has demonstrated its opposition to the anti-gay section in the British Local Government Act by sending a telex message to British and Dutch politicians among others.
The message drafted by the Homowerkgroep (the Dutch equivalent of GALHA) is signed by prominent Dutch and Belgian humanists, including Professor Rob Tielman, head of the Homostudies Department at Utrecht University which monitors discrimination against lesbians and gays in Europe.
The signatories say that they wish to express their “deep concern” about Section 28 and draw attention to its violation of the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and resolutions 576(81) and 444(87) of the European Parliament which were signed by the British government.
The message has been sent to Margaret Thatcher, Neil Kinnock, the Dutch Foreign Minister, the Dutch Parliamentary Committee of Foreign Affairs, Amnesty International, and HM Ambassador in the Netherlands, as well as the major press agencies, the British press and private individuals.
For its part GALHA has contacted the International Humanist and Ethical Union’s Commissioner for Human Rights about the new law. The Commissioner, who gave practical assistance to Gay’s the Word bookshop in its confrontation with HM Customs a few years ago and is in close touch with the Homostudies Department at Utrecht, has promised to give legal advice to victims of the new legislation.