I am proud that this country offers a safe haven to those fleeing persecution, which is why the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that gay asylum seekers must be allowed refuge in Britain pleased me so much.
A whole raft of tabloid stupidness has been unleashed, notably this morning’s Daily Express front page. It gets even weirder if you read the original Supreme Court judgment and realise that the reference to “Kylie concerts and multi-coloured cocktails” was not the product of a slightly mad Express sub-editor, but actually came from one of the Judges, Lord Rodger:
To illustrate the point with trivial stereotypical examples from British society: just as male heterosexuals are free to enjoy themselves playing rugby, drinking beer and talking about girls with their mates, so male homosexuals are to be free to enjoy themselves going to Kylie concerts, drinking exotically coloured cocktails and talking about boys with their straight female mates.
I think Gareth Thomas may have something to say about rugby being an exclusively heterosexual activity.
The ruling has allowed the rags to conflate their two favourite hate targets — non-white people and gay people. It’s political correctness gone mad! The Daily Mail calls the judgment “infantile”.
The popular press’s reporting of this issue ignores the key issue: that many countries being gay carries not just a social stigma, but a real danger to life. One of the asylum seekers involved in yesterday’s case is from Iran, which has the death penalty for homosexuals, while the Cameroonian appellant had been attacked by a mob and threatened with mutilation.
It was the Express’s stablemate, the Daily Star, wins out in the offensiveness stakes with a comment piece entitled NO ROOM FOR GAYS:
The idea is bound to be abused. Every illegal desperate to get into Britain will try claiming they’re gay to ensure they stay here.
People pretending to be gay? Does that ever happen outside of sitcom episodes?