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Zanzibar angry over Mercury bash

Singer Freddie Mercury of the rock group Queen in 1985

Freddie Mercury is Zanzibar's most famous son

A Muslim group in Zanzibar has protested about plans to mark the 60th birthday of the late rock legend and Queen front man Freddie Mercury.

The Zanzibar-born singer who was openly gay was renowned for his flamboyant lifestyle. He was also HIV positive.

Muslims on the Tanzanian archipelago say his antics violated Islam and want a beach party on Saturday cancelled.

Zanzibar outlawed gay relations in 2004, a move which attracted criticism from gay communities around the world.

The BBC's Ally Saleh in Zanzibar says it is not certain that the star ever returned to his birthplace, although he remains Zanzibar's most famous son.

International stardom

The association for Islamic Mobilisation and Propagation (Uamsho) has threatened to hold a demonstration after hearing rumours that gay tourists were on their way to the island specifically to mark the musician's birthday.

Zanzibar's Ministry of Culture said it was aware of the issue.

Uamsho head Abdallah Said Ali said the event would send out the wrong signals.

"We do not want to give our young generation the idea that homosexuals are accepted in Zanzibar," he explained.

"We have a religious obligation to protect morals in society and anyone who corrupts Islamic morals should be stopped," he added.

Born Farrokh Bulsara to Persian parents on 5 September 1946 in Zanzibar, Freddie Mercury was educated in India before moving to the UK in 1964 where he led the international supergroup Queen to stardom.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5306792.stm

Now this was exactly the breath of fresh air this Politics and Religion forum needed. Awesome

kewl, i had no idea that he was from Zanzibar.

Why is the word homo-se*ual edited to "fun"?

I have sympathy for the Zanzibar stance - they don't want to encourage what they believe is a sinful lifestyle.

Interesting that he's Iranian (Persian) by descent and more Indian than English. It's also not clear whether he ever returned to Zanzibar after he left as a child.

As an aside - you can watch the seminal Live Aid performance on You Tube - you have to watch each song separately, but you can google the play order and watch it in that order (if you're tight like me and won't buy the DVD just to see this best bit).. the performance is considered by many to be the best live gig ever.


Cheers,
Shfique

Freddy Mercury was gay?!?!??!

Ian - you really want to get to 1000 posts don't you?

thats old news dudes

shafique wrote:Ian - you really want to get to 1000 posts don't you?

How do I do that?

Hmm - there's the Sage and Onion method (genius idea for a thread) , the arniegang method (don't sleep and carry a laptop everywhere) and there is the Hiya method...