The Muslim Council of Britain’s boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day “reeks of prejudice and hypocrisy," says Peter Tatchell of gay rights group OutRage!

Rainbow Network:

The MCB has announced it will not participate in HMD on 27 January because it is "not sufficiently inclusive."

Tatchell says the MCB seems to have completely reversed its previous objections to HMD as five years ago it argued that the event was too inclusive; now it says it is not inclusive enough.

“The only thing consistent about the MCB is its opposition to the human rights of lesbians and gay men," said Tatchell.

"The MCB objected to the fact that gay victims of the Nazi death camps were remembered," he added.

During the Holocaust it is estimated between 10,000 and 25,000 homosexuals were murdered by the Nazis.

Justifying its refusal to participate in Holocaust Memorial Day in 2001, the MCB issued a news release stating that it objected to the inclusion of "the so-called gay genocide".

"The MCB seems to disparage the suffering of gay people under Nazism," said Tatchell.

Earlier this week the leader of the MCB, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, condemned Civil Partnerships as "harmful" and described homosexuality as "not acceptable".

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