Today was Bristol Pride, so lots of people were in the city doing their best to celebrate despite the persistent drizzle. It was colorful, and it was loud. I was there helping out on the Out Stories Bristol Stall (which went about as well as my attempts to help out on convention stalls, you’d think I would learn by now). But there were some other people in town as well: about 300 members of the English Defence League. They were, they told us, marching in support of LGBT rights.

Wait, what did she say?

Yes, the EDL, were marching in support of LGBT rights. You see, they have got it into their heads that Muslims are horribly homophobic, and that therefore LGBT people and racists should be natural allies. There are, of course, some Muslims who are homophobic. There are also some Christians who are homophobic, as you might have noticed unless you have been living in a cave on Mars for most of your life. There are Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and Pagan people who are homophobes too. That, however, doesn’t enter into the EDL’s calculations. After all, hating Muslims is what they do best, and they think that we should too. Apparently they even found a trans woman to give a speech at their event. Doubtless hordes of foreigners are coming to England and stealing our hormones. Well, their hormones anyway. Being Welsh, I’m one of the horde of foreigners.

Its a bizarre situation, and one that seems mainly laughable. But it does remind me that, just like everything else in politics, human rights issues can be co-opted by the devious and cynical. That’s one of the reasons why, these days, whenever I see mass outrage online I always try to read around the issue and find out what is really going on.