Lest we forget. Remembering the attack on the gay pub in Soho
Statement from the Soho Masses Council (Great Britain) of 30 April 2013, freely translated by Giacomo Tessaro
April 30th marks the 14th Anniversary of the pub bombshell (gay) Admiral Duncan in Old Compton Street in Soho (London), which was the culmination of the series of bombs planted by David Copeland against Asian communities in Brick Lane on 17 April, against Afro-Caribbean communities in Brixton on 24 April, and ultimately 'bombing (at the gay bar) that killed three people and a fetus and injured eighty others in Soho.
May 2 marks the 14th anniversary of the Masses welcoming LGBT Catholics with parents, relatives and friends organized by the Diocese of Westminster. The first Mass took place on the Sunday after 30 April 1999, the day of the bomb, the last of a series of three around London, the only one to prove fatal. A priest, a former member of our Presidency Rota, was in the same street and ran into the pub to impart absolution.
The late Cardinal Hume, who was dying of cancer at the time, said: “It's terrifying; we really need to, as a society, look within ourselves to understand what values we are giving to our people and how we are raising our young people.”
Joining other leaders in condemning the attack, the Cardinal said: “I deplore this evil attack like previous ones. It is deeply shocking that minorities are being targeted in this way. These shameful attacks must be condemned. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the dead and injured.”
Cardinal Hume also reiterated the Church's teaching that contempt for homosexuals is wrong. “It absolutely condemns, and I absolutely condemn, any act of violence against gays.”
An act of remembrance will take place on Tuesday 30 April and will begin with a walk from the Admiral Duncan pub, at approximately 6.15pm, to St. Anne's Gardens on Wardour Street in Soho. A short service will begin at 6.25pm which will include two minutes of silence at 6.37pm, the time of the explosion. There will be singing by the LGBT choir, Diversity. The service will end at 7pm. You are all welcome!
For details http://172430notohatecrime.wordpress.com/
