Gay community “right” to recall Nazi persecution
The chair of the Holocaust Educational Trust has defended the right of gay people to commemorate the Holocaust.
Lord Janner’s comments follow the remarks of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Motherwell, who said earlier this week that the “homosexual lobby” attend Holocaust memorial events to create for themselves the image of a group of people under persecution.”
Bishop Joseph Devine’s extremist views have been widely criticised.
Around 6 million Jews are believed to have been killed by the Nazis in concentration camps during the Second World War.
Additionally, It is thought that between 5,000 and 15,000 gay people, who were seen as “sexual deviants,” were sent to gas chambers.
Gays were forced to wear a pink triangle under the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945.
“They were persecuted by the Nazis and are right to recall the horrors of the Holocaust,” Lord Janner told PinkNews.co.uk.
The Holocaust Educational Trust works in schools, universities and in the community to raise awareness and understanding of the Holocaust, providing teacher training, an outreach programme for schools, teaching aids and resource material.
Green MSP Patrick Harvie has tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament in protest at the bishop’s comments about the Holocaust.
“We are well used to hearing hyperbole and moral panic from Bishop Devine and he always seems to overstep the mark,” he told PinkNews.co.uk.
“Not only do his comments mark a revisionism about what happened to gay people in Nazi Germany but he has also called on parents not to tolerate their gay children.
“This is very damaging to children who should be fully supported.”
Gay equality organisation Stonewall also criticised Bishop Devine’s comments.
“The bishop has revealed himself once again to be deeply un-Christian and his comments are insulting to almost anyone who was affected by the Holocaust,” Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill told PinkNews.co.uk.
