This letter appears in today's Derby Telegraph:
Handshake does not deal with causes of prejudice
The recent controversy over racism in football hinged on the significance of a handshake.
This put me in mind of a parallel incident when I was approached by Mormons.
They assured me that I was loved by God but my homosexuality was unnatural and unacceptable.
I countered with the fact that my sexuality and body were one and the same. We came as a package.
Several minutes of heated negotiation ended, as always, in stalemate.
One of them suggested that we should agree to disagree and offered me his hand. I refused. I explained that accepting would condone centuries of bigotry.
I argued against being a party to religious prejudice. A handshake would not deal with the root cause of the problem. When the Mormons renounce and apologise for their medieval beliefs and cruel conduct, I will shake a Mormon hand.
Homophobes and racists should look to the example of Sepp Blatter, who apologised once made aware of his hurtful comments.
Narvel Annable
Dovedale Crescent
Belper
Remember Rose, a great champion of young gays
AS we approach November 11, spare a thought for Rose Robertson, who died last August aged 94. She was a secret agent in Nazi-occupied France, a member of the Special Operations Executive, but had great difficulty talking about her wartime experiences.
However, she did reveal an incident which occurred in 1941. Billeted with two young male French Resistance fighters, Rose discovered them in an embrace. She knew nothing of homosexuality, was curious and horrified to hear of family prejudice and rejection. Their story affected her deeply. She was shocked that parents could be so heartless to their gay children.
After the war, Rose set out to learn more about people like me. She met distressed gay teens damaged by religious groups. She met parents – like Mr and Mrs Annable – who were variously distraught, angry, guilty, ashamed and hostile towards their children's "perversion".
In 1965 she formed the Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays (FFLAG) which seeks to mediate between parents and kids in an effort to find understanding, acceptance and reconciliation.
Rose was an effective campaigner and gradually, police, local authorities, and irate parents began to trust this reassuring figure.
It all comes too late for Narvel. My parents are dead. To the best of my knowledge, I have one sister living in the USA. We have not spoken since 1963. Could Rose have made a difference?
Narvel Annable
Dovedale Crescent
Belper
Gay people still suffer in Commonwealth nations
"The Commonwealth is a comic-book phantom of international organisations. It is the ghost that walks."
This savage criticism was written by Greg Sheridan, the foreign editor of The Australian newspaper, to coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Such a ferocious attack on a loose association of 54 countries is hardly surprising. In the teeth of a clear commitment from the Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma, to "tolerance, respect and understanding in matters of sexual orientation", it is a disgrace that 36 member states continue to treat same-sex relations as a serious criminal offence. Every day gay people suffer vilification and punishment inflicted by cruel laws dating from colonial days.BBC journalist Andrew Marr reminded the Prime Minister that people have looked to this conference to take a hard line with the homophobic nations in Africa.
I'm grateful to Mr Cameron for confirming that British foreign aid will be withheld from countries who continue to persecute their gay citizens.
Narvel Annable
Dovedale Crescent
Belper
