Date: Tue, 01 Dec 1998 01:12:56 +0000 From: OW-David First Day of Tatchell Easter Protest Trial *** PROSECUTION CONCEDE PROTEST WAS PEACEFUL AND NONVIOLENT *** At 10:00 this morning, (Monday, 30th November), the trial of Peter Tatchell began at Canterbury Magistrates' Court, under Mr. Kelly, a stipendiary magistrate. Tatchell was originally arrested for criminal damage to a piece of wood two inches square: but same afternoon the charge was amended by the CPS, first to violence, and finally to "indecent behaviour" in a church, contrary to Sec. 2 of the 1860 Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act". Mike Mansfield QC was due to represent Tatchell in court: but was prevented from attending by the overrun of the Hyde Park bombing appeal. Peter Tatchell was represented by Mark Guthrie. PROSECUTION Robert Montagu, Principal Crown Prosecutor for Kent, opened the prosecution, referring to the Easter protest in Canterbury Cathedral as "notorious", "inappropriate", "unseemly", and "indecorous"; but conceding that it lasted only 3 minutes, and that there was "no suggestion of any physical violence". Five prosecution witnesses appeared; and a statement from a sixth witness was read. Two police witnesses, (Superindent John Grace and Special Constable Peter Pilbeam), confirmed that there was no physical contact between Tatchell and Carey, and no physical menace. A confused account by the Archbishop's verger, Mark Punton, conflicted with that of other prosecution witnesses on the action of the protestors. He then quoted Dr. Carey as saying to the congregation after the protest: "I am not worried. There is no need for anyone else to worry." Carey then called for a few moments of silence, before continuing with his sermon on the need for love and compassion in Northern Ireland. Geoffrey Ash, a church steward, admitted assaulting Tatchell, jumping up from beneath the pulpit and hitting him on the fingers "4 or 5 times". DEFENCE Mark Guthrie opened the case for the defence, stating that the facts of the case were not being contended, and pointing out that this was not a personal attack on Dr. Carey, but on his stance advocating discrimination against L/G/B/T people. [The Court then adjourned for lunch.] After lunch, Peter Tatchell gave evidence. He explained that OutRage! employed similar methods to those of the Suffragettes, Mohatma Gandhi, and the U.S. Black Civil Rights movement; and that the Canterbury protest was directed at Carey's 8-year-plus antigay stance, e.g. against an equal age of consent and against lesbian and gay foster parents. (The Church of England Children's Society, of which Carey is President, is the _only_ major U.K. adoption agency to discriminate on sexuality.) Stating "Human rights are more important than the ceremony of the Church", he went on to compare Carey with the pro-apartheid leaders of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. Another of the OutRage! protesters, John Hunt, then gave evidence. After questioning about events in the cathedral, he explained that OutRage! had conducted protests in other cathedrals (both CoE and RC) over the years without any previous arrests: even at the retirement ceremony in July 1995 of the Bishop of St. Albans, where the cathedral was filled with senior Anglican clerics from all over the world. Hunt also pointed out that, thoroughout the 1950's and 60's, the then Archbishops of both Canterbury and York had advocated reform of the antigay laws: and that as early as 1954 the CoE Moral Welfare Council had called for an _equal_ age of consent: unlike Carey 44 years later. He maintained that a 2-minute interruption of Carey's sermon was hardly comparable with Carey's interference in the lives of half a million L/G/B/T people in the U.K., and millions more in Anglican countries overseas. [The magistrate did not allow him to proceed to remark that on 20.8.98 the "Guardian" leaked a internal CoE memo which described the CoE as "currently light years behind the rest of society".] A character reference from the Rev. Richard Holloway was then read: after which the magistrate adjourned at 3:15 until 10:00 tomorrow, when MP's Tony Benn and Dr. Evan Harris will appear as character witnesses for Tatchell. Other defence witnesses have been stood down. =========================================================== OVER 700 SIGNATURES IN DEFENCE OF PETER TATCHELL More than 700 people from all over the world --including clergy, lawyers, professors and human rights campaigners-- have signed an Appeal by the National Secular Society. The Appeal deplores the prosecution of gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell under the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860, and urges that the 1860 Act be repealed. Among the 700-plus signatories are 47 of Britain's leading figures from the arts, politics, literature, human rights and entertainment. The NSS Appeal reads: "We oppose religious privilege and support the right to peaceful protest. As well as deploring the prosecution of Peter Tatchell under the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860, we strongly believe that a jail term is entirely inappropriate for a peaceful protest in defence of human rights. We furthermore call for the repeal of the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860; it gives the church unique and sweeping powers to suppress dissent. This unacceptable in a modern democracy". **47 PROMINENT SIGNATORIES TO NSS APPEAL IN DEFENCE OF PETER TATCHELL** Bishop Richard Holloway, Bishop Derek Rawcliffe, Baroness Flather, Viscount Falkland, Lord Rea, Lord Henderson of Brompton, Lord Raglan, Lord Peston, Lord Jenkins of Putney, Sir Ludovic Kennedy, Sir Hermann Bondi, Sir Michael Levey, Sir Ian McKellen, Alan Bennett, Harold Pinter, Vanessa Redgrave, Iain Banks, Edward Bond, Carl Miller, A N Wilson, Michael Foot, Polly Toynbee, Marcelle d'Argy Smith, John Pilger, Claire Rayner, Jonathan Meades, Maureen Duffy, Paul Foot, Peter Wilby, Chris Tame, Tariq Ali, Anthony Barnett, Jeremy Hardy, Tony Benn MP, Dr. Evan Harris MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Stephen Hughes MEP, Peter Crampton MEP, Stan Newens MEP, Janey Buchan MEP, Ivan Massow, Paul Burston, Neil Tennant, Jimmy Somerville, Tom Robinson, Colin Bell, Rhona Cameron ************************************************************** * " It is not those who can inflict the most, * * but those who can suffer the most who * * will conquer" * * * * Terence MacSwiney. * * * **************************************************************** -- 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