The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) is a democratic, membership-based, Humanist

Humanism

Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....

 campaigning organisation that represents the many non-religious in the lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 and gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 community in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and beyond. GALHA promotes a humanist approach to homosexuality

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

 and to lesbian, gay and bisexual rights as human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

.

The Honorary President is Maureen Duffy

Maureen Duffy

Maureen Patricia Duffy is a contemporary British poet, playwright and novelist. She has also published a literary biography of Aphra Behn, and The Erotic World of Faery a book-length study of eroticism in faery fantasy literature.-Life and work:After a tough childhood, Duffy took her degree in...

.

Honorary Vice-Presidents are: Barbara Smoker

Barbara Smoker

Barbara Smoker is a British Humanist activist and freethought advocate. She is also former President of the National Secular Society , former Chair of the British Voluntary Euthanasia Society and current Honorary Vice President of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association in the United Kingdom.-...

, Darren Johnson GLA

Darren Johnson

Darren Paul Johnson is an English politician and prominent member of the Green Party of England and Wales...

, Dr. Evan Harris MP

Evan Harris

Evan Leslie Harris is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon from 1997 to 2010, losing his seat in the 2010 general election by 176 votes to Conservative Nicola Blackwood....

, George Broadhead, Dr. Harry Stopes-Roe

Harry Stopes-Roe

Dr. Harry Stopes-Roe is a British philosopher and humanist. He is a Vice-President of the British Humanist Association.He is the son of Marie Stopes, the women's rights and family planning pioneer, and Humphrey Verdon-Roe. He started his career as a physicist, and received a BSc and MSc in...

, Jim Herrick, Maryam Namazie

Maryam Namazie

Maryam Namazie is a human rights activist, commentator and broadcaster. Namazie has served as the executive director of the International Federation of Iranian Refugees. She is spokesperson for the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain. The campaign is opposed to faith based laws...

, Michael Cashman MEP

Michael Cashman

Michael Maurice Cashman is a British former actor, now a Labour politician. He has been a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands constituency since 1999.- Acting :...

, Patrick Harvie MSP

Patrick Harvie

Patrick Harvie is the co-convenor of the Scottish Green Party and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow region...

, Professor Rob Tielman, Taslima Nasrin

Taslima Nasrin

Taslima Nasrin is a Bengali Bangladeshi ex-doctor turned author who has been living in exile since 1994. From a modest literary profile in the late 1980s, she rose to global fame by the end of the 20th century owing to her feminist views and her criticism of Islam in particular and of religion in...

, Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry

Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...

.

GALHA is affiliated with the International Humanist and Ethical Union

International Humanist and Ethical Union

The International Humanist and Ethical Union is an umbrella organisation embracing humanist, atheist, rationalist, secular, skeptic, freethought and Ethical Culture organisations worldwide. Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, the IHEU is a democratic union of more than 100 member organizations in 40...

 (IHEU) and Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

. The official symbol of GALHA is a version of the Happy Human

Happy Human

The Happy Human is a secular icon and the official symbol of the International Humanist and Ethical Union , a world body for Humanism, and has been adopted by many Humanist organisations and individuals worldwide. Its origin was a competition organised in 1965 by the British Humanist Association...

.

GALHA publishes a regular newsletter, having previously been involved with the Gay Humanist Quarterly.

Reacting to the death of Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

, the association said he would go down in gay history as one of the most implacable homophobes of all time.

External links

• Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association website
• Queer Jihad GALHA report on Al-Fatiha Foundation
  Al-Fatiha Foundation
  The Al-Fatiha Foundation is an organization which advances the cause of gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims. It was founded in 1997 by Faisal Alam, a Pakistani American, and is registered as a nonprofit organization in the United States...
  
  
• The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society
• GALHA Archives at Bishopsgate Library