Anger Over Hare Krishna Festival at Ealing Town Hall
Local resident claims movement is homophobic
An Ealing man who says he was subjected to homophobic abuse and told he and his husband would ''go to hell'' by members of the Hare Krishna movement says the council must not allow it to hold an event in the town hall.
The organisers are Krishna Wisdom based at ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Manor, Watford, the headquarters of the Hare Krishna movement in the UK.
ISKCON (the International Society for Krishna Consciousness), are hiring Ealing Town Hall on Thursday 21 April. The event is described as a spiritual festival with dance, drama, music and vegetarian food.
However, local resident Jeremy Green is adamant it shouldn't go ahead. He says, '' I was in Ealing on Thursday shopping with my husband and we both received the most appalling abuse from the Hare Krishna monks on the street. After some conversation about homosexuality, we were clearly told that the Hare Krishna religion says we will 'go to hell' for being gay. We both left the town centre feeling very distressed and upset!!''
Mr Green highlighted an old article about the pop star Boy George which claimed he had been rejected from the movement due to his sexuality.
He has since objected to Ealing Council writing, "'The Council has a duty of care to its residents, and in law must follow the 2010 Equality Act. I would be horrified if the Council allowed ISKCON to carry on with its festival at the Town Hall on Thursday night. The Town Hall should be a place for inclusion for all - not a place for anti-gay rhetoric!! I appeal to the management and leadership of the council. Please do not allow this festival to go ahead!"
Their philosophy and practice is taken from the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, one of the oldest books in existence, and believes we are all spiritual beings in a material body - a vehicle to be used for spiritual upliftment and developing higher consciousness, or Krishna Consciousness.
Their process is 'Simple living, high thinking' and promotes vegetarianism, meditation, elevation of consciousness through practice of chanting mantras and developing a deeper relationship with God, Krishna - the all attractive.
An Ealing Council spokesperson told Ealing Today, “We’ve received assurances that this particular event on Thursday is a spiritual stage show including meditative music, dance and drama. It is a free and public event open to all (subject to venue capacity) and so does not exclude anyone on equality grounds. We can confirm that the police licensing team and our own safer communities team are also aware that the event is taking place and have raised no objection.
''Previous events held by the organiser have taken place not only in Ealing but across London and beyond at council venues and we’re not aware of any incidents as a result. As such, the event will continue to proceed but we will continue to monitor the situation.”
We have asked for comment from ISKCON.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least two articles a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
April 20, 2022