‘I’m an alcoholic, I’m a drug addict, I’m homosexual, I’m a genius’ – Truman Capote.
Made me think of the line in “The History Boys” that creased me up when one of the kids says, ‘I’m gay, I’m Jewish, I live in Leeds, I’m fucked!’ I quote from memory but I think I am right.
And while on the subject I read in the paper that Steven Preddy and Martyn Hall, the gay couple who have already won cash from the Christian Bed and breakfast couple, Peter and Hazelmary Bull who turned them away from their hotel as their beliefs allowed only properly married couples to stay in double rooms, are appealing as they say their compensation of £1800 each was not enough and they want much higher compensation. Tch! Tch!
When I was first in London and working for Kemsley Newspapers the YMCA was one of my haunts, providing me with a gym, a swimming pool, a place to relax and socialise with acquaintances, if not friends, and inexpensive comestibles. (There’s a fancy word for you.) I also played rugby for their team and made my very first appearance on the London stage playing Hastings in the drama society’s production of ‘She Stoops To Conquer.’ Over the front door of the old Y that has long since disappeared there was a Biblical inscription which read ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.’ Well, not being a god-fearing person I suppose I’m not all that wise and I’m afraid I hold no brief for the Christians even though, if this is not a contradiction, I do feel sorry for them. They never realised what a hornet’s nest they were setting about their ears when they turned this pair away. Anyway, Jesus did warn his followers they would receive some pretty rough treatment in this old world so the Bulls, not that they will, should feel pleased that they upheld their principles even though it has cost them dear and looks as though, if the pair get their way, it will be costing them more. Their argument is that the hoteliers got off too lightly because of their Christian beliefs. Really? How did they arrive at this conclusion and who the hell do they think they are self-righteously pursuing the Christian couple in this manner? Haven’t they already brought them to the verge of bankruptcy? Of course the action is costing them nothing as it is being funded by the ‘Equality and Human Rights Commission’ – i.e. the tax payers and quite naturally, and rightly in my opinion, it has raised protests. The guys say it is not about money. Really? If it is not about money what is it about? Surely, heavens to Betsy! It can’t be sheer vindictiveness, can it? Perish the thought. Again I say it, just who do these smirking, preening, self-righteous, smug (from their photograph) full of their own importance twats think they are. I hope they lose, not only their appeal but the original £1800 against which the Christians are appealing. Meanwhile on this see-saw it’s the lawyers as usual who make the bucks.