Comments on: Significant minority want recriminalisation of gay sex in the UK

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:58:14 +0000

"The real enemies of the GLBT communities in most of Europe, all of the Americas and all former English colonies are who they’ve always been – chrisists."

Sure, blame it all on us.

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By: theotherhalf

theotherhalf — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:48:36 +0000

apYrs:

what about Tranies? It's a LGB thing now? What about me and my Lesbian Partner? Do we not count?

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By: theotherhalf

theotherhalf — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:44:24 +0000

oh and just in closing…

I authored a lengthy piece of Revisionist Queer History for a magazine discussing the Compton's riots and how they where ignored by a growing GAY rights movement (this was about 5 years ago.) It was blocked from publication in a Queer mag near where I live by a Stonewall activist.

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By: theotherhalf

theotherhalf — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:40:28 +0000

to the posters on Stonewall's Transphobia and Comptons:

Damn right!

Stonewall spat in our faces when they accepted draft legislation on the provision of goods and services that excluded Transpeople and now spit in our faces again with the nomination of a woman who said that Transpeople should be raped and beaten.

How can we expect people to respect us as a group (Queer People that is) if they see one sector of the community oppressing another? When (Sir) Ian McKellen accepted his knighthood Derik Jarman accused him of selling out the Queer community for class privileges, nothing much has changed since then and I still feel more free in Jarman's world than in Stonewall's.

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By: Bill Perdue

Bill Perdue — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:03:05 +0000

These statistics, which are roughly the same in the US, explain why the Tories pander to bigotry, have a strategic alliance with the bigots who run the Republican Party and support the state religion of bigotry. They want their votes so they oppose lesbian birthing rights, hate crimes legislation and are the first to take up the racist chant that the main enemies of the GLBT communities are muslims.

That’s simply a lie, which is all that Rob Neal and other Tory/BNP/DUP clueless wonders are capable of. The real enemies of the GLBT communities in most of Europe, all of the Americas and all former English colonies are who they’ve always been – chrisists. Islamists have that role in much of the Middle East but not in England.

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By: Joe Johnston

Joe Johnston — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:17:06 +0000

Stonewall is a New Labour quango – nothing more. If they ever did represent ordinary GLBT people they certainly don't nowadays represent me or anyone I know

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By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:18:03 +0000

The stats in this survey about criminilisation of homosexuality just don't make sense.. all three main political parties in the UK have out gay MPs and have manifestos supporting gay equality, this country has some of the most comprehensive laws in place supporting gay equality in the world… and many popular out gay public figures, celebraties and leaders in main stream British culture and communtiy… huge numbers of people have moved to the UK in recent years from very socially conservative countries.. maybe this explains the outcome of this survey because it just doesn't add up otherwise.

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By: Rob Neal

Rob Neal — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:27:37 +0000

What's the bets most of those respondents that voted against homosexuals were ethnic and/or immigrant? This is the result of years of socialist inaction coming back to bite you in the arse.
Wait till Sharia law kicks in.

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By: Robert, ex-pat Brit

Robert, ex-pat Brit — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:23:15 +0000

apYrs, exactly so! Christina, couldn't agree with you more. If it weren't for transgendered people, the name Stonewall would not exist, a name that came from New York City, the epicenter of the gay rights movement that was heard around the world on that awesome day back in the 60s. Stonewall UK also opposes the right of UK LGB people from marrying if they so choose, so this comes as no surprise that they bargained away that right and excluded transgendered people from its agenda. Stonewall UK doesn't have any right to use the name it takes for granted. It didn't exactly "stonewall" for our full equality now did it?

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By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:27:48 +0000

I agree that the results of this survey are disturbing – not least that racism is still so rife! Gay rights seem to be actually doing rather well. A quarter of respondents think gay sex should be recriminalised; but a quarter of respondents also report that they personally haven't had sex in the past year. Any connection? We should not underestimate the likelihood that many people aren't interested in sex full stop, rather than overplay the gay sex aspect (although I agree there are still grounds for concern).

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By: The c*nt of Monte Crisco!

The c*nt of Monte Crisco! — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:36:37 +0000

I want it to be illegal for chavs to keep breeding and then claiming off the social – I hate knowing that the money I pay on tax is putting food/booze/fags into the mouths of these little bleeders… I mean, breeders!

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By: flapjack

flapjack — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:23:02 +0000

apYrs- well said. There are many young LGBT people who take our rights for granted because they never lived through the worst of it. Homophobia may have gone underground but it's simply waiting to make a comeback.
And I'd like to add, those who still think "That's so gay" isn't a loaded homophobic expression used by straight people to denigrate us as a minority, I told you so!

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By: rich

rich — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:22:01 +0000

I am not sure that this a true representation of public opinion. I have accessed this article and no where have I found the sampling methods and size, or any other information about the methodology of the study. This may be seen as nit-pickey but actually the whole integrity of the findings of this study depend on how it was conducted.

When I look at other studies from research organisation with credibility and that openly discuss the benefits and limitations of their approach – the social picture looks very different indeed. For example, 90% of the population supporting equality legislation (YouGOV poll, 2008, over 2000 representative participants)or – 71% (in UK) saying homosexuality should be totally accepted by society (Pew Global attitudes project, 2007.)- where only 21% said "No". Remember – these statistics do not always add to 100% as other options of response are given, even if not published.

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By: Roderick

Roderick — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:51:44 +0000

I think we can blame the reactionary gays and the likes of Stonewall's "Get Over It" campaign for these disappointing figures. Getting hysterical about anything even minutely perceived as being homophobic and challenging people's prejudices with upfront ads in tube carriages is NOT the way to earn mainstream respect and integration. It just portrays as us a militant – even lunatic – fringe that seems hellbent on shoving our sexuality down everyone else's throats and therefore causes resentment which, when pent up, is manifested in the most appalling examples of violence and even murder! Let us not forget that among the most homophobic members of society are repressed gay men themselves who are looking for any trigger to manifest their self-hatred outwardly, as was the case of the Mr. Gay UK winner. You can bet that the most outspoken homophobes are similarly deeply repressed homosexuals whose hatred of in-your-face gays knows no bounds.
Did anyone really think the "Get Over It" campaign would do anything to further gay relations in this country? All it has done is provoke resentment among those who won't be cajouled or even bullied into accepting homosexuality, and probably turned many who had come to accept our community as being as valid as any other community against us. I mean, how would YOU react if you saw an ad on public transport that screamed "WE'RE MUSLIM, WE'RE HERE, AND BY ALLAH YOU BETTER ACCEPT IT!" No, the way to win respect and acceptance is by quietly going about our lives and showing that we are equally valid citizens with a contribution to make like any other, only more so, and rising above those whose warped religious convictions result in idiotic prejudices, and whose football terrace chants just show up the chanters for the imbeciles they are. It is only when we rise to the bait that we become like them in our fanatacism and so we are in fact perpetuating the endless cycle of homophobia.
Only by looking the other way, laughing in their faces or entering into a rational debate where all sides can have their say in a reasoned and restrained fashion can we hope for increased acceptance. Knee-jerk hysteria in reaction to any slight provocation will not win us that, particularly when it seems, at time, that we as a community are becoming thought police on a par with the Stasi of old…

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By: Ursus262

Ursus262 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:36:20 +0000

I am shocked at the statistics as presented in this article, even though I normally take stats with a pinch of salt. It just shows how far we have got to go, doesn't it? We are all about to enter an age of austerity and the good times are over. It will be minorities who will be targeted during such difficult times. We need to remain ever vigilant.

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By: nicholson

nicholson — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:22:42 +0000

deeply shocking results……i must say it's come to a point with these polls that we need to know more about where and how the poles were conducted.
Their is evidence to say that economically propserous regions may be more liberal than regions which have sufferred long term decline or even an influx of migrants unfamiliar with such issues.
The possibility remains that these statisitcs are distorted and it's difficult to understand exactly who's opinion they reflect.

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By: Ursus262

Ursus262 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:50:13 +0000

It will take a long time to change attitudes. It will come, it just takes time.

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By: DavidS

DavidS — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:47:34 +0000

I am genuinely shocked by the findings as presented in this article, and I wonder how much of this is influenced by the rise of Islam in Western Europe. Whilst I am suspicious of statistics and surveys, they do provide a basic pointer as to what people are thinking and how opinions change over time.

What really worries me is that we are all about to enter a period in our history marked by austerity and hardship – a perfect breeding ground for homophobia and racism. Just because we have been given legal status and rights does not mean that, in the private world of people's minds, hatred has gone away. This is going to take a long time and I fear that religion, unless it is actually supressed, will work against our best interests

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By: apYrs

apYrs — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:02:57 +0000

over the last few years I've heard calls for the LGB community to stop living in the old gays: "we've got our rights", "there's no need to keep campaigning", "you're living in the dark ages", "not Pride – Mardi Gras".

Well I told youi so. Our enemies haven't gone away, they've just (largely) gone quiet because they know homophobia is frowned on. In private places they still curse and hate us, and some would willingly kill us. In the ballot booth they still vote against our rights if they can.

So.

I told you so. All the disco bunnies who would rather dance than think, I told you so. All those who thought politicians would protect us even against their political ambitions, I told you so. Those who thought Stonewall would remain outside the Establishment and continue aggresive campaigning. I told you so.

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By: ds

ds — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:11:49 +0000

I'd like to see these figures broken down by cohort. I suspect that those who would like to see a return to the past are mostly older.

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