Brighton and Hove's gay community must take non-violent direct action against 'murder music' industry says gay councillor.

Brighton and Hove Green city councillor Simon Williams will call for the city's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community to use non-violent direct action to force record stores and the music industry to stop the distribution of 'murder music'.

He will tell the Annual General Meeting of Spectrum, the LGBT community group in Brighton and Hove, this evening, that LGBT people need to mobilise against those organisations, including record stores and record companies, who refuse to take a minority of rap and reggae albums off-sale that contain homophobic 'murder lyrics'.

Councillor Williams, who is openly gay and serves on Brighton and Hove City Council's Community Safety Forum, will point to the brutal homophobic murder of a gay man in London at the weekend and the recent worrying increase in reported homophobic attacks in Brighton and Hove, the supposed 'gay capital' of England, as proof of the need to tackle homophobic hatred, including in music, head-on.

In August Councillor Williams appealed to the three main record chains in the city - Virgin Megastore, HMV and MVC to pledge to take 'murder music' off sale, but they all refused. He sent them a list of artists including Sizzla, Beenie Man and Buju Banton who have all recorded music with murder lyrics. MVC said that they had removed the offending music from shelves in their Brighton store but would continue to sell 'under the counter' to adults who requested the offending music.

Simon Williams will say: "Homophobic lyrics in music help to create a climate where homophobia in general is seen as 'acceptable' in society and this will inevitably expose the LGBT community to an increased risk of violence. There has been a steep rise in the number of reported homophobic attacks in Brighton and Hove and a brutal homophobic murder of a gay man in South London at the weekend.

"These worrying developments are an alarm bell for the local LGBT community. We must take action against those organisations who are acting irresponsibly and putting us at risk. This includes the record stores, who refuse to stop the distribution, sale and promotion of music that incites the murder of lesbians and gay men.

"We cannot rely on the Government or anti-crime agencies alone to protect us - we have a responsibility to ourselves as a community to take action to fight homophobia in all its forms."

"A consumer boycott and other non-violent action including demonstrations against these organisations are options but first the local LGBT community must decide its own position. We need to hold a meeting to discuss how we as a community want to proceed."

The number of reported homophobic attacks for April - June 2004 (the most recent figures available) increased in the city over the equivalent seasonal quarter of the previous year by 76% from 21 to 37 reported attacks. (1)

David Morley aged 37 died following a gay-bashing attack on Saturday night in the South Bank area of London when travelling home from a night out in the West End.

Councillor Simon Williams is the Green Party's Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Kemp Town in the general election.