| Millionaire to help firefighters
A MILLIONAIRE Christian businessman is to champion the cause of nine firefighters disciplined by their force for refusing to attend a gay pride parade. George Hargreaves, a pop impresario who discovered a string of 1980s acts including Yazz and Five Star as well as penning hits for the disco diva Sinitta, has threatened to take the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue (SFR) service to court. .
At 10, Fringe still features plenty of queer performance
Hundreds of avant-garde artists will gather in the City of Brotherly Love to perform in the annual Philly Fringe and Live Arts Festival, a two-in-one venue for raw performance art (Fringe) and work a little more cooked (Live Arts). The event, in its 10th year, runs through Sept. 16. Founded in 1997, the festivals were created to provide a home to dance performance, spoken word, theater and other art forms straying too far from the mainstream. And while the events have gained sponsorship and mainstream appeal over the years, they remain true to their independent spirit by defying convention and welcoming underground artists who raise skeptical eyebrows elsewhere. A host of GLBT performers are presenting work in the Fringe and Live Arts Festival, but no need to thumb through the splashy booklet.
'Diversity' course for firemen who rebuffed gay event
Nine firemen have been disciplined after refusing to hand out leaflets at a "gay pride" march, and will be forced to undergo intensive "diversity training". Senior officers reported the men from the red watch crew at Cowcaddens fire station in Glasgow after the Pride Scotia march in the city in June. Some refused to attend the event on religious and moral grounds, while others said they would be embarrassed to man a stall in uniform, and did not regard the handing out of leaflets to homosexuals and lesbians as part of their core duties. .
Rich Scot fights against gay ‘sin’
A Christian millionaire is taking on a Scottish fire department for disciplining firemen for refusing to hand out information at a gay Pride parade.
George Hargreaves, made his fortune with a string of 1980s hit songs, including Yazz and Five Star, and used his royalties to launch the Scottish Christian party, which preaches that homosexuality is a sin.
Hargreaves is threatening to take the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue service to court, after they were disciplined for refusing to distribute safety leaflets at a Pride parade. One officer was demoted and took a 5,000 pay cut. Hargreaves claims the men were forced to undergo diversity training as part of their punishment, and says their human rights have been breached.
Who sets the bounds of acceptable diversity? Should it be employers, the state, the individual or the highly organised minority whose practices deviate so much from the mainstream that acceptance of their diversity needs to be forced by edict on the majority? he said.
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