LONDON MOSQUE BREAKS PROMISE ON ANTI-GAY SPEAKERS

A London mosque has been accused of breaking its promise to no longer allow anti-gay clerics to speak at the venue.

According to The Telegraph’s Andrew Gilligan, the East London Mosque & London Muslim Centre waiting just eight days after pledging to bar extremist preachers before again allowing an anti-gay organisation on its premises.

Gilligan noted that Yusuf Patel, the director of the Sex and Relationship Education Islamic (SRE Islamic) organisation, which asserts “the unacceptability of homosexuality”, will be speaking at the Mosque today.

Patel is accused of also being a member of Hizb ut Tahrir, described as a racist, extremist and anti-democracy group that has previously called for the execution of gay people.

British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell commented: “It is outrageous that after pledging to crack down on homophobia, the director of the East London Mosque, Dilowar Khan, will host and share a platform with Yusuf Patel of Hizb ut-Tahrir.”

He added: “The meeting is about sex and relationship education. Hizb ut-Tahrir campaigns against the acceptability of homosexuality.”

The East London Mosque, however, countered that Patel is no longer a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir and complained that it was being unfairly targeted as some Christian groups were also opposed to homosexuality.

In related news, a new poll in the UK claims to have found that British Muslims appear to be much more tolerant towards homosexuality than commonly believed.

Conducted by think tank Demos, the poll found that four out of five Muslims surveyed agreed with the statement: ‘I am proud of how Britain treats gay people’.