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NUT Votes To Confront Homophobia In Jamaica

The National Union of Teachers LGBT Committee won a major victory last week when it agreed to send a delegation of teachers to support anti-homophobia groups in Jamaica.

At the 7th TUC LGBT Conference the group also voted to have a meeting with the General Secretary Steve Sinnott to discuss the situation in countries where LGBT people are in constant danger; and to demand that the Union work with other international equality groups to remind them of their obligations to LGBT people.

Opening the debate, NUT executive member Tim Lucas reminded the Conference that an Iranian minister demanded that gays in his country "be hanged."

He spoke of how homophobic crimes were rife in Iraq since Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani decreed that homosexuals be killed in "the worst, most severe way possible" and that the Ugandan Government was determined to stamp out these unnatural habits".

He called on the conference to ensure that these countries fulfil their obligations to the LGBT community as part of their commitment to the Universal Declaration to Human Rights.

Seconding the motion, LGBT working party vice-chair Claire Jenkins said that Human Rights Watch recorded repeated systematic murder and torture of LGBT people in Jamaica, often with the support of the police.

One speaker opposed the motion "with great regret". Lambeth member Ray Siritkon commented that in naming some violating nations, re-invoked the "civilising mission of the British Empire", which would be wrong when there is still so much homophobia within the UK.

His views were attacked by Nottingham's Tom Utterainer, who showed that there was homophobia on the left too, and spoke of recent comments by George Galloway as symbolic of the "Brown-shirt wing of the anti-war movement".

Using his right of reply, Tim Lucas reminded conference that the motion acknowledged there was homophobia and transphobia in the UK and used the words "such as" before mentioning Poland, Iraq, Iran and Israel.

The motion was largely carried meaning the NUT will send a delegation of teachers to work with groups such as J-Flag to support them in educating people about LGBT issues.

"This is a landmark decision and will have an impact where it matters: in schools. If we can get the message across to the children of Jamaica we are investing in the future generations," said Schools Out’s Tony Fenwick.

Author: Joanne Oatts

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