Tuesday 11 September 2012

The Evolution of Gayness


There are only three things in the world that I hate, and one of them is this piece of news. 

If you can't be arsed to read that article, I'll sum it up for you: Nick Clegg says something right for once; forced to apologise.

The second that Clegg went into coalition with the Tories he put his spine up for sale on eBay, with the comments: "Good quality, I just no longer have any need for it. Collection only." Since then he has folded on everything from tuition fees to Lords reform, and making jokes about him has become as boring as Nick Clegg. Okay there might still be some mileage in that. But today, he surprised everyone by calling opponents of gay marriage "bigots", and was right to do so. However, he was forced to withdraw the comment, because the world is a ridiculous and backward place.

Apparently it's okay to discriminate against people based on their sexuality, but it's not okay to call those who do so "bigots", despite that being exactly what they are. It's a bit like the time Gordon Brown had to apologise to that bigoted woman after he called her a "bigoted woman", but even worse.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey said that Clegg's statement was "very offensive", displaying a lack of self-awareness you'd normally associate with children or inanimate objects. This man, Jim Carey or whatever his name is, goes "I can do this, but you can't purely because you are gay," and then claims to be "very offended" when challenged. What's more offensive than denying someone their rights and dignity based on their sexuality? Well according to Lord Jim Carey, the word "bigot" is worse. He thinks that a single word which has no effect on his rights as a person is offensive, while trying to stop people from enjoying the same rights as him. It doesn't just show total hypocrisy, it shows a complete lack of humanity.

Nick Clegg actually stands up and says something important, and the bigots claim that it's a violation of their rights, and it's him who has to apologise. It's beyond parody. Coalition for Marriage actually called Clegg's comments "intolerant." Let's go through that: A group committed to preventing equal rights for gay people called someone else "intolerant". And rather than being laughed at for their fucking idiocy, they got their way. Nick Clegg did withdraw his comments, which is always a bizarre thing to happen, someone retracting something they've said. We know they think it, but suddenly they've un-said it so it's okay? Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, the world is fucking stupid.

"This is not the way the Deputy Prime Minister behaves," said Tory MP Peter Bone, managing to string enough caveman sounds together to form a coherent sentence, albeit a fucking awful one. No, it's not the way the Deputy Prime Minister behaves; but maybe it should be. Maybe if our politicians weren't afraid to be honest then politics in this country would be less reactionary, less close-minded and less boring. Let's allow people to actually express their opinions without insisting they stick to some unbearably tepid party line. Let's stop being bullied by bigots who claim to be offended while discriminating based on sexuality. Let's stop stifling free speech while upholding bigoted laws.

Thanks for reading, this blog is named after the brilliant Baba Brinkman song in which the rapping biologist explains how homosexuality might survive genetically using the power of hip-hop. Enjoy!


6 comments:

  1. Have you seen the American campaign commercial where two former Obama voters are upset that he is "forcing gay marriage on this country" and "that's not the America *I* voted for." Well for one, if you voted for Obama the first time you probably weren't against gay marriage. Second, it's not forcing gay marriage on you. It's forcing you to deal with the fact that some people are making decision you don't like or agree with. Guess what ... it's called being an adult.

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  2. tbh it's an issue that while important, isn't really a political one - i see the issue as more of to do with personal beliefs/your religious beliefs.

    If it were me in the number ten press office i'd have issued the apology for the comments because they create too much of a frictional cross-over between issues political and issues personal.

    Obviously from a political point of view, its antagonistic and may well cost you votes because of the confrontational and also alienating nature of the comments. Again, hence the need for the apology from the view of the party.

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    1. Well for starters the issues doesn't appear in either of the manifesto's of the two parties of Government. Neither were thus elected in to govern on the issue, hence at this point Clegg would purely have been citing personal beliefs, (see above comments).

      Realistically, the future of the issue with trying to get homosexual marriage in the same ball park as heterosexual marriage now lies with the church and their views on allowing same sex marriage.

      And we would't want the church and government working together now would we? hence the need for separation on this issue.

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    2. But why shouldn't the Church have to meet the same equality standards as any other organisation?

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    3. I'm certain civil rights was political in the 60s, and I'm certain it wasn't always on the manifestos of their politicians either. Why is this different?

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