London Mayor thanks anti-gay Muslim Group

[Ian David]

British gay human rights group OutRage is criticizing London mayor Ken Livingstone criticism, after the mayor thanked the anti-gay Islamic StraightWay Foundation for supporting his embrace of antigay cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

In addition to promoting al-Qaradawi, the Islamic exgay group defends fatwas, of "scholars" and Islamic political parties, that advocate the death penalty for public displays of homosexuality.

Google finds several U.S. exgay web sites, including Courage, NARTH, and Richard Cohen, that offer referrals and favorable reviews for StraightWay.

More:
http://www.exgaywatch.com/xgw/2005/03/british_exgay_g.html

Also:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/londonnews/articles/17022032?source=Evening%20Standard

http://straightway.sinfree.net/gla.htm

http://www.mustaqim.co.uk/ipb-archive/question/ans41.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=straightway+narth+homosexual&btnG=Search

[roguevalley]

1. Ken, Ken, Ken.

[tjwmason]

2. This is odd

The Mayor has a long history of supporting L.G.B.T. causes.

His support for al-Qaradawi puzzled me a bit at the time; I know that many are trying hard to work against Islamophobia, but to call this guy a 'moderate scholar' does nothing to address real issues of persecution in parts of the Islamic world.

[Brian_Expat]

3. Livingstone is a typical politicians

He's embracing this maniac to try and win himself some conservative Muslim votes in the next election.

He's also been throwing out some rather shocking antisemitic remarks in the last few months to this end as well.

He's not MY mayor, by any standard.