Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 16:28:27 +0100 Subject: Bank of Scotland zapped at Ideal Home Exhibition From: OW-jgh At 2:50 today, Saturday, 10th April, 8 gay activists from OutRage! descended upon the Bank of Scotland stand at London's Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition, challenging staff to explain the massive joint business venture with the notorious US right-wing fundamentalist Pat Robertson, handing out leaflets to exhibition visitors, and displaying placards with the slogans: ¨ Bank of Scotland in Bed with American Fascist ¨ Stop Bank funding anti-women evangelist ¨ No credit to bank that joins racist Robertson ¨ Stop multi-billion deal with American homophobe Under the deal, announced by the Bank of Scotland on 2nd March, a new direct banking subsidiary of the Bank of Scotland will be set up in the United States, 65% owned by the Bank of Scotland, and 25% owned by Robertson. Robertson, founder of an organisation which calls itself the Christian Coalition, (which he describes as "people of faith working together to become the unified voice of families with children in middle-class America"), is on record as opposing almost every other group: women, Moslems, Hindus, gay men and lesbians, … Twenty-five percent of the profits of the new subsidiary will go straight to the campaign coffers of his fundamentalist fanatics. The Bank acknowledge that "Robertson is well known for his personal views, particularly on abortion and homosexuality", but initially attempted to maintain that "these views do not reflect in any way on our continuing commitment to providing the highest levels of service to all members of the community". However, BoS Treasurer Gavin Masterton conceded in the Scottish Sunday Herald, 28th March, that profits from Robertson's involvement in the venture will end up funding his ultra-right-wing campaigns. The Church of Scotland has condemned the deal in very strong terms; and Action for Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS), representing nearly all Scotland's 1.5 million church members and including all main denominations, has advised all member churches to withdraw accounts. Edinburgh City Council has passed a censure motion; and other Scottish local authorities, including Shetland Islands and East Lothian are expected to follow. Despite this well-documented background, which led to £1 billion being wiped off BoS share values last month, staff at the stand denied all details of the scandal. Robertson has shown in the past that he has little respect for regulations. His Christian Broadcasting Network was fined a large sum last year by the U.S. tax authorities for illegally funding his U.S. Presidential bid to the tune of 8.5 million dollars. "People should know what their money is funding. Robertson is a politician who actively promotes racism, sexism and homophobia in a national political campaign", said Gordon Lee, one of the protesters. PRESS COPY: Simon Bebbington 0378-30.76.36 (Images sans Frontieres) PHOTOS OF PROTEST: Jack Bagha 0370-48.29.09 (Images sans Frontieres) Photos will appear in due course at: http://www.OutRage.cygnet.co.uk/BScot99.htm -- You may leave this list automatically by sending a message to list-processor@diversity.org.uk, containing a line that says unsubscribe outrage-world The 'lists' command will give information about other services