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London: Gay couple threatened with death in violent late night homophobic assault
141
Government considers watered down same-sex marriage bill to minimise Tory rebellion
133
Tory MP Gerald Howarth: 'There are plenty in the aggressive homosexual community who want more than just same-sex marriage'
95
France: Far right activist commits suicide in Notre Dame following legalisation of equal marriage
93
Philip Hammond: 'No great demand for gay marriage and it's upsetting vast numbers of people'
73
Norman Tebbit: David Cameron has 'f**** things up' with his equal marriage bill
66
Tory MP Sir Gerald Howarth defends 'aggressive homosexual community' equal marriage slur
65
UK: Card Factory accused of homophobia for selling offensive 'fag' birthday card
64
US church blames Woolwich suspected terror killing on UK acceptance of gay people
63
David Cameron: Gay teenagers will stand that bit taller following equal marriage vote
63
Robert in S. Kensington 691
GulliverUK 359
Mark Y 331
Iris 327
Jock S. Trap 324
D.McCabe 311
Midnighter 311
Rehan 294
That There Other David 274
Sasha 269
Seriously, this has nothing to do with him being gay. what a pointless headline
Gay people can be heroes as well.
Ridiculous headline…………..
I have no idea why your sexuality has to be brought into anything. Do you know or need to know who I sleep with?
The most important thing for Arizona is he is Hispanic. The racist laws in Arizona against Hispanic people that include making it illegal to have any Hispanic literature in schools is discussing.
….maybe the point is to celebrate diversity in these increasingly bigotted times. Good on him!
What is important is that Rep. Giffords hired an openly gay man. All else is not important but nice to hear. Good job. And he was very brave.
What he did was undoubtedly heroic, and it doesn’t matter if he’s gay or not …. BUT … please remember that by reporting the fact that he is gay does send a positive message to many young gay guys who are fearful of their position, their prospects. It may not be much but ANY positive ‘role model’ is better than none at all!!
So Obama recognises him as a hero?
Nice.
But absolutely disgusting that Obama still believes that he does not deserve equality.
Yes, he’s a hero to me and it is important that his sexuality is known (although not hyped) as he is a good role model to gay people less comfortable with their sexuality, particularly young poeple.
Positive role model AND gay. I think there is a point in highlighting it
It IS important to highlight the fact that he is gay, and not just to provide positive images to lgbt people, but to show millions of homophobes out there that lgbt people can be and do admirable things. Lots of them just don’t believe it.
I must add that Obama was very impressive here, after a generally disastrous and mediocre couple of years. He came across as a dignified head of state trying to unite his people instead of just a political hack.
Yes, so do I. This young man is already ´out´ so it needs to be shown that gay people can be heros too. Gay people ARE worthy too. Gay people deserve respect and equality with everyone else.
Well done to him. A very brave and courageous thing to do. According to the doctors, his actions certainly saved her life.
Congresswoman Giffords is also a very ´pro-gay´ politician. What has THAT got to do with the attempt on her life? or the piece about the memorial speech?
…Because she, like Daniel, is one of OURS!
What I find really bizarre about this tragedy is that NO-ONE in the US seems willing to discuss the fact that their gun laws have allowed the US to become the murder capital of the developed world.
Guns kill people. Political vitriol does not.
This was a good report: good headline.
I agree that it is good to have visible gay persons seen in public – to show other gay teenagers and young adults the various options that are open to them and that the existence of gay people at all levels is a matter of fact.
“Guns kill people. Political vitriol does not”
Indeed, but is DOES encourage the whack-jobs already out there to cross the line…. That their senseless acts of violence and murder are somehow ´justified´. That the victims are not even people worthy of respect.
To go off on a tangent, guns don’t kill people – people kill people. A gun, sat on a table, is harmless. It does nothing. It is no more dangerous than a kitchen knife. It takes a person to make it deadly.
Hyperbole like “guns kill people” distracts from the real issue – unsuitable people having access to guns. The US gun laws have failed, this is true. But then again, so have ours here in the UK. Gun crime here is soaring, the witch-hunt fueled ban after the Dunblane tragedy has failed completely and utterly in it’s intended purpose to reduce gun crime. All it did was target innocent citizens.
Both nations need to address their gun laws. Control is needed, not zero control and not a prohibition.
Back on topic, I agree that this young man’s sexuality should be celebrated, there are few truly positive role models for young gay men and women.
Actually, yes, knowing that he is gay and Hispanic does matter in the part of the world and the socio-political climate he lives in.
In Arizona, racism against Hispanics is rife and there are stereotypes that they are lazy, devious, un-American, etc. As for the stereotypes that abound about gays, they include that they are narcissistic and only concerned with their own pleasure and ‘deviant’ lifestyles, etc. Both sets of stereotypes don’t equal ‘hero’ or ‘heroic American’ in many eyes.
To open those eyes to the fact that, hell yeah, a man who happens to be gay and Hispanic is now your latest national hero — may not mean much in LA or New York, but in some quarters, it means a hell of a lot.