First Trial Under UK Gay Hate Crimes Law Currently Underway

In the first ever prosecution under a recent British law criminalizing hateful acts against persons on the basis of sexual orientation, five men have been put on trial for allegedly handing out and mailing leaflets calling for gay persons to be killed. The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 amended Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 (c. 64) (hatred against persons on religious grounds) to add provisions against preaching or inciting hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to their sexual orientation.

The most controversial leaflet distributed by the men, entitled “The Death Penalty?”, reportedly depicted an image of a mannequin hanging from a noose. The court has been told that the leaflet also stated that buggery was a major sin which led to eternal damnation, that it was once punished by hanging and that people practicing and allowing homosexuality would suffer. Another leaflet was entitled “Turn or Burn” and featured a blazing lake as a symbolic image of hell. A third used the word “gay” as an acronym for the phrase “God Abhors You” and warned of “severe punishment.”

One of the defendants sought to defend his actions by saying that he does not think that the views expressed in The Death Penalty? leaflet—which reportedly suggested three different ways to murder gay people—were wrong. He claimed that the leaflet simply expressed what Islam says about homosexuality, adding that “it was his duty as a Muslim to condemn it.” Another defendant claimed that he was trying to “raise awareness” about the stance taken by Islam on homosexual conduct, and did not intend to threaten or intimidate any person.

In many European countries—chastised by the consequences of Nazism—the need to sanitize public discourse from the baleful effects of unmitigated “hate speech” is prioritized, to a limited extent, over an amorphous right to free speech. To prevent the Act from inhibiting free speech on the subject of homosexuality, however, paragraph 14 of Schedule 16 also inserts a new section 29JA, entitled ‘Protection of freedom of expression (sexual orientation)’. It  provides that the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred.