Posted on 10/05/2007 7:20:34 PM PDT by Pikamax
The last line of Tom Robinson's 1978 anthem Glad To Be Gay goes: "The buggers are legal now, what more are they after?"
It was supposed to be ironic. Back then, even though homosexuality was no longer a criminal offence for consenting adults, gays faced prejudice and persecution.
I can remember singing along with Tom. Though homosexuality wasn't exactly my idea of a night out, I thought it outrageous that gays were subjected to discrimination in areas such as employment, housing and pensions.
I've always argued in favour of civil partnerships.
Although I draw the line at cottaging - casual sex in public toilets - it struck me as absurd that what Tom Robinson called "pretty policemen" were being sent to entrap men into propositioning them.
Fast-forward nearly 30 years and I would imagine that most people would agree with the commentator Matthew Parris who argued recently that Britain, while not perfect, is probably the best country in the world in which to be openly gay.
As Brucie used to say on the Generation Game: "What have they got? They've got the lot!" Age of consent, adoption, you name it.
That's still not enough for some people. While homosexuality is no longer a crime, so-called 'homophobia' is.
Pretty policemen have been replaced by the 'diversity' police, ruthlessly enforcing their agenda. Anyone who expresses the slightest disapproval of any aspect of the gay lifestyle is smeared as a 'homophobe'.
This has led to the writer Lynette Burrows and the former head of the Muslim Council, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, being interviewed by the Met over innocuous remarks they made on the wireless.
Burrows, like most of the population, is against gay adoption. Sacranie had the audacity to point out that Islam considers homosexuality a sin.
That was enough to earn them a knock on the door from the diversity squad.
If you work in the public sector and are accused of 'homophobia', it could spell the end of your career.
Last year a group of Glasgow firemen were suspended from duty and fined for refusing to hand out leaflets at a gay pride rally. The fact that they said it conflicted with their religious beliefs counted for nothing.
Now we learn a similar fate has befallen another fire crew in Bristol who disturbed four men having an al fresco orgy in the bushes next to a public convenience - a practice popularly known as 'dogging'.
Two of the firefighters from Blue Watch have been fined £1,000, a third has been demoted and a fourth has received a written warning.
Their 'offence' was to shine a torch on the scene of the debauchery.
All were suspended for three months while an official inquiry took place. That's right - three months.
What's to investigate? And how much did it all cost?
I've no idea what the firemen were doing there and you could argue that they should have turned a blind eye.
But what about the men in the bushes - one of whom made an official complaint?
Now if you found yourself in that situation, Heaven forfend, once you were disturbed, my guess is you'd leg it with your trousers round your ankles, pulling them up hurriedly as you made good your escape.
They were lucky they didn't have a fire hose turned on them.
Instead, they took the intervention of the firemen as a gross intrusion into their divine right to do whatever they like, with whoever they like, wherever the hell they like.
One of them rang the Terrence Higgins Trust, who passed the complaint to the Avon Fire Service and set in train this grotesque carnival of madness.
I've always assumed the Terrence Higgins Trust was a worthy charity involved in Aids prevention.
Surely having rough sex with three complete strangers you've met in the bushes next to a public toilet is not the wisest way to behave if you wish to avoid catching Aids.
Shouldn't the Trust have simply reminded the chap that he was breaking the law and told him not to be so bloody reckless in future?
Open air sex is a REAL criminal offence, yet - surprise, surprise - none of the men in the bushes is facing any charges.
The shame, ignominy and punishment has been heaped upon the heads of the firemen who disturbed this disgusting orgy.
Avon Fire Brigade says the crew were disciplined for breaching 'internal policies'.
Does the handbook have a section on the correct way to respond when confronted with a dogging situation?
What is the proper etiquette when accidentally stumbling across four half-dressed men in a park going at it like Labradors?
I thought the fire brigade was about putting out fires, cutting people from car crashes and rescuing cats from trees, not conducting witch-hunts.
Fire chief Kevin Pearson said the investigation would have had the same outcome had the complainant been heterosexual.
No it wouldn't, for the simple reason that no heterosexual who stooped to a foursome with strangers in a public park would DARE complain. They'd die of shame.
Clearly one of the men involved in this grubby incident believes the usual rules don't apply to homosexuals and has no such inhibitions.
He's been proved right. But we're not living in 1978 any more. There are plenty of places gay men can go for sex, without resorting to public toilets or parks.
Curiously, had these men been having sex in trap three in the adjacent WC, they would not have been committing an offence - provided the door was shut.
Thanks to David Blunkett, when he was Home Secretary, a locked public lavatory cubicle counts as a 'private' place.
Maybe all four couldn't fit in the one stall, so they spilled over in to the shrubbery.
This isn't about 'homophobia', it's about proper behaviour.
As I said at the time George Michael was caught, er, red-handed, so to speak, in Los Angeles: what if he'd done it in the Ladies?
Answer came there none. The buggers are legal now, what more are they after?
Applause?
[cue Benny Hill]
“I ‘ave got a flashlight,
“I ‘ave got a flashlight,
“I ‘ave got a flashlight,
“What shall I do wiv it?”
What a wonderful time to have been wandering by with a fully loaded paint gun.....
We used to throw a bucket of water with bleach in it on dogs doing it in the back yard....why not these "Labradors".
Ahhh, I guess my time has passed.
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