Camden New Journal - Letters: Dark ages

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Camden New Journal - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 26 July 2007

Back to the dark ages

• THANK you for publishing the article on the gay couple in King’s Cross who are to be charged over £1000 by Camden for having a street party to celebrate their civil partnership.
When I took this case up on behalf of the couple as their councillor I thought that the council had almost got its paperwork wrong and that it would never charge people for having a small street party celebration.
But when I received the formal response from the environment department I was absolutely astonished that the miserly people in the Town Hall would conceive of charging people for celebrating their relationship with friends and the local community.
Under 18 years of the Tories a number of measures were introduced to actively discriminate against gay people in the UK. Since 1997 the Labour government has introduced progressive laws have been introduced to give rights to gay people, including the introduction of civil partnerships which enable gay and lesbian couples to have their partnership officially recognised.
It would seem that Camden Council is going back to the dark ages of the 1980s by introducing such a huge charge on a gay couple having a celebration together. Along with all the other increased charges that this Tory/ Lib Dem council is introducing, such as the meals on wheels service; I think this “celebration tax” absolutely stinks.
Oscar Wilde referred to “the love that dare not speak its name” more than 100 years ago.
In modern-day Camden daring to celebrate your gay partnership in public can result in a huge bill from faceless bureaucrats in the Town Hall!
CLLR JONATHON SIMPSON
Labour, King’s Cross ward

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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