A Scottish council is set to shower thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money on a controversial homosexual arts festival despite facing large budget cuts, according to the Scottish Daily Mail.
Glasgow City Council is facing cuts of nearly £200 million, and has begun a cost cutting exercise which is expected to see 2,800 workers leave their jobs over the next year.
But the council is still planning to spend £25,000 on the highly contentious Glasgay! festival, a decision which has been branded as “absurd” by critics.
Transsexual
Glasgay! caused a storm of controversy last year after it featured a play, entitled Jesus, Queen of Heaven, which depicted Jesus Christ as a transsexual woman.
This portrayal of Jesus offended the deeply held beliefs of many Christian taxpayers, and hundreds of believers held a candle-lit vigil protesting against the play.
Henry Creechan, who organised protests against the production last year, said: “It’s absurd when people are losing their jobs that the council is pouring public funds into an event like this.
Shocked
“There is absolutely no public appetite for it. I am shocked and extremely disappointed that after the genuine hurt and anger caused by last year’s festival, yet more money is being devoted to it.”
However, a spokesman for the council defended the funding, saying: “The council has always supported a diverse range of cultural events which have relevance to the many different communities within the city.”
Glasgay! is due to run from October 13 to November 13.
Obscene
In July 2009 a taxpayer-funded exhibition in Glasgow led to obscene and offensive messages being scrawled over a Bible.
The city’s Gallery of Modern Art was displaying a Bible with pens next to it and a notice reading: “Are there any gay people in the Bible? Out of the tens of thousands of people who appear in the Old and New Testaments, there must have been.
“Same-sex love, such as that between Ruth and Naomi, existed, but has been written out over time.”
Crude
Visitors were asked: “If you feel you’ve been excluded from the Bible, please write your way back into it.”
A number of crude comments and angry remarks expressing hatred for the Bible’s teaching were left.
The exhibition was in the same gallery which produced a show featuring pornographic images designed to raise awareness of homosexuality.
In April 2009 the exhibition, funded by £240,000 of public money, sparked further controversy when local secondary schools were invited to view it. The visit was subsequently scrapped.