"While dictators rage and statesmen talk, all Europe dances — to The Lambeth Walk."

Sunday 15 November 2009

Homosexual Heads in the Sand

Many of you will remember the very recent outpouring of vitriol against the Daily Mail's Jan Moir, who dared to write an article which pointed out that inviting strangers home is not necessarily part of a normal, healthy marriage.

I haven't actually read the article, nor the vast majority of the shrieking about how wicked and bigoted she is; but from what I did see, many denizons of the "gay community" stepped up to condemn her right to her own opinion as "spreading hatred" (a classic phrase used by those who wish to silence someone).

I wonder if Jan Moir's article can be held responsible for the following snippet from Court News UK:

WHITECHAPEL, LIMEHOUSE, STEPNEY GREEN, EAST LONDON. Three thugs who punched and kicked a couple in an unprovoked attack have been spared jail after blaming alcohol for their shameful behaviour. Muhamed Saleh and Mohammed Areif, both 22, and Golam Dhuha, 23, screamed 'white faggot' before laying into Matthew Hayes in Whitehcapel, east London.

No? Must be why we've heard nothing about it, then. Sounds a lot like a hate crime, to me - assuming of course the couple in question are homosexual (the article conveniently doesn't say, although from the context one would certainly assume so).

Oddly, no newspaper felt the need to report this crime. No representative of the "gay community" stepped forward to tell us how shameful it is that they were spared jail, and how such attacks are the sign of a profoundly hateful and intolerant society which must be fundamentally reformed.

It was just ignored, buried in the archives.

Now, the thugs in question may have blamed alcohol - but there is a pattern of young Muslim men attacking gay couples in most major European cities, particularly ones with large Muslim areas.

I wonder if some jolly, enlightened soul such as Stephen Fry would care to step forward and help us understand this pattern, what it means for gay people and what it means for our society - just as clearly and vehmently as he helped some of us understand what a despicable human being Jan Moir is.

Or is the safety of gay people on the streets only important for some when it is an excuse to bash traditional society and values?

That does seem to be the lesson of the future - when two protected groups clash, we must simply avert our eyes and pretend nothing has happened, lest the lies that prop up our wonderful tolerant and diverse society come crashing down around our ears.

1 comment:

Edwin Greenwood said...

I've just had a quick peek at Court News. Of the 12 cases on the first page at the time of writing, one is actually a duplicate entry. Of the unique 11, judging solely by names, 6 are non-Europeans (4 South Asian Muslims, 1 Vietnamese and 1 Nigerian). 4 names sound like White British people and one is difficult to classify.

A small sample but an interesting one.

I recall when I did jury service at an inner-London court last year, 80%-90% of the surnames on the lists were "non-White foreign", overwhelmingly Muslim names and West African names. Among defendants with British-looking surnames, a significant proportion (I didn't have the time or opportunity to do a discreet count, to be honest) were characteristically West Indian.

Curious, innit?