
Letters: Pride has taken a nasty turn
Lionel is right
Sir: Gareth Roberts's piece ('End of the rainbow', 31 May) gave me pause to reflect. It's not that Pride has become irrelevant; after all, same-gender relationships are still criminalised in 64 countries – and in eight of those the death penalty is applicable. Rather, since the pandemic, it seems to have taken a rather nasty and unpleasant turn, with those dissenting from whatever ludicrous party line happens to be in vogue routinely heckled and vilified.
Placards emblazoned with slogans such as 'If you see a Terf [trans-exclusionary radical feminist] then smash them in the face' are often to be spotted on Pride marches. Those producing such placards seem to forget that it was the first- and second-wave feminists (as well as early LGBT activists) who've brought us to the relatively benign state of affairs we now enjoy – in this country at least.
As Lionel Shriver pointed out elsewhere in the issue ('The war on normal'), it's curious, if not downright laughable, how these and other such revolutions manage to eat themselves in the end.
Bernard Jennings
London SE11
Lionel is wrong
Sir: Lionel Shriver does precisely what she accuses gay people of doing. She reduces relationships to mere sex and then equates sex with only reproduction (or lack of it). Does she not know that both 'heteronormative' and homosexual people have sex for pleasure? Most sexual activity in the world is for this hedonistic purpose, not reproduction. She also repeats the fallacy that homosexual couples cannot reproduce. I can assure her they can, if not with each other, and play their part in advancing human evolution.

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Telegraph
19 hours ago
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BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
Gloucestershire school cannot take sacked woman to Supreme Court
A school cannot take its case against a teacher who shared social media posts criticising teaching about LGBT+ relationships to the Supreme Higgs, a Christian mother of two, was sacked from her role at Farmor's School in Fairford, Gloucestershire, in 2019 for sharing Facebook posts criticising teaching about LGBT+ relationships in February, she won a Court of Appeal battle related to her dismissal, with judges finding the decision to sack her was "unquestionably a disproportionate response".The school sought to appeal against the ruling at the Supreme Court, but three justices refused to give the school the green light to challenge the decision. In a decision on Thursday, which was published on Monday, Lord Reed, Lord Hamblen, and Lady Simler said that the school had asked for the go-ahead to appeal against the ruling on four they said that the Supreme Court "does not have jurisdiction" to hear three of the grounds, and the fourth "does not raise an arguable question of law".In response to the decision, Mrs Higgs said: "I am relieved and grateful to the Supreme Court for this common-sense decision."Christians have the right to express their beliefs on social media and at other non-work-related settings without fear of being punished by their employer."Mrs Higgs, who worked as a pastoral administrator and work experience manager at the school, shared two posts on a private page under her maiden name in October 2018 to about 100 friends, which raised concerns about relationship education at her son's Church of England primary either copied and pasted from another source or reposted the content, adding her own reference in one post to "brainwashing our children".Pupils were due to learn about the No Outsiders In Our School programme, a series of books that teach the Equality Act in primary a judgment, Lord Justice Underhill, sitting with Lord Justice Bean and Lady Justice Falk, ruled in Mrs Higgs' favour in February, stating: "The dismissal of an employee merely because they have expressed a religious or other protected belief to which the employer, or a third party with whom it wishes to protect its reputation, objects will constitute unlawful direct discrimination within the meaning of the Equality Act."