Editors Words: January 2011

I was trying to find something warm, cozy, inspiring and heart-warming to start 2011 but alas, it seems to be mainly the same ridiculous prejudices.

However, a Christian writer who used to campaign against gay ministers in the church and any acceptance of gays in general is planning an act of ‘repentance’. Symon Hill, the associate director of the pro-gay Ekklesia think-tank, says he will walk from Birmingham to London and speak at churches along the way to encourage Christians to rethink their views on homosexuality. So I suppose that is one down… unfortunately there are a few more to go.
One tiny bit of ‘fun’ news was the first ‘in-air’ wedding of two German guys – Aleksander and Shantu – where the Scandinavian airline SAS displayed their pro-gay colours to the pink travelling public by running a competition to win this accolade.

On a slightly different tack, the campaign for equality in marriage continues as gay couple try to marry and straight couple try for a Civil Partnership. Campaigner, Peter Tatchell says: “The bans on same-sex civil marriages and on opposite-sex civil partnerships are a form of sexual apartheid. There is one law for straight couples and another law for gay partners. Two wrongs don’t make a right.” This appears to be one of those subjects that has a lot of mileage left in it… if only the government had gone for equality rather then diversity we wouldn’t be having this problem.

In a Piers Morgan interview Elton John said of his Civil Partnership to David Furnish that he was really proud of the British public’s reaction. He’d expected the ‘odd flower pot’ being chucked but instead they had received nothing but positive comments and an acceptance from the public other countries could do well to emulate.

Meanwhile, over in the USofA, the senate there has failed to overturn their stupid ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ rule for homosexuals within the military ranks. Despite all the research and professional opinion on the matter, we still have a dumb majority who thinks it makes a difference. This is even more reinforced when a judge in that fair country said that a lesbian could be cured by a damn good shafting from some all American boy. It makes me suspicious when, perhaps, in a couple of years down the line, he comes out as gay and tells everyone he was a complete hettie until he took it up the arse. Maybe we should use him to see if his hypothesise is correct.

It does seem a real problem that people worry about what other’s get up to in their private lives. Whenever I get this type of negative comment from anyone I always as them very firmly “How exactly does it affect you?” Be very clear on this, don’t let them get away with all that religious mumbo jumbo, or personal opinions… make them say how it affects them and keep grinding at them until you have an answer. The chances are that they don’t have one because nothing you, me or they do sexually is of any consequence to anyone else.