Despite pledging that homophobic clerics would no longer be tolerated at the East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre in Tower Hamlets they are welcoming another homophobic organisation.

Earlier this month it was reported that campaigners had again raised concerns about the people invited to speak at the mosque. A spokesman was quoted as saying that booking procedures had been tightened and that he understood the unease of the LGBT community, concluding, “We have done as much as we possibly can. The LGBT community need to take that in good faith.” However, Andrew Gilligan has today reported in the Telegraph that on 29 June the mosque is hosting an organisation called Sex and Relationship Education Islamic (SRE Islamic).

On its website SRE Islamic state that, “As Muslims we believe in the primacy of marriage, the prohibition of sexual relations outside marriage, the unacceptability of homosexuality which is often portrayed as a lifestyle choice.” It later adds, “We cannot accept that homosexuality is normalised in the minds of young children and that a normal family unit can involve two dads and two mums, as the storybook ‘And Tango Makes Three’ suggests.”

SRE Islamic’s director, Yusuf Patel, will be speaking at the event alongside Dilowar Khan, the director of the East London Mosque.

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