Posted on 11/10/2007 5:05:07 AM PST by fweingart
(The only gay in the village: Matt Lucas)
The right to crack jokes or be rude about homosexuals could fall victim to new government laws to stamp out "homophobic" behaviour, Rowan Atkinson, the Blackadder star warned yesterday.
Atkinson, who mounted a successful campaign in 2004 to water down legislation aimed at criminalising expressions of religious hatred, has returned to the fray to defend the art of gay leg-pulling.
His concern is that Labour ministers are so obsessed with creating laws to stop people being rude about each other that they are putting in danger the right to free speech and, equally dear to his heart, the comedian's craft.
In a letter to a newspaper he accused ministers of filling their legislative programme with measures that have "serious implications for freedom of speech, humour and creative expression".
Atkinson was referring to measures in the Criminal Justice Bill, currently passing through Parliament, which could mean people who stir up hatred against homosexuals being put in prison for up to seven years.
He said the Government measures, which could be expanded to cover hatred against disabled or transgendered people, seemed to be "infinitely extendable".
"Witness the fact that the Government has invited two additional groups - the disabled and transsexuals - to 'make the case' for the proposed legislation to be extended to them.
"I am sure that they could make a very good case, as indeed could all those who can claim that they cannot help being the way they are. Men, for example, or women. Or people with big ears."
Atkinson added: "The devil, as always, will be in the detail but the casual ease which some people move from finding something offensive to wishing to declare it criminal - and are then able to find factions within government to aid their ambitions - is truly depressing."
Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, has told MPs that such fears are unfounded because he will shortly introduce an amendment to the Bill ensuring that cases can be pursued only when the offending words are specifically intended to pose a threat and are not merely humorous, mocking or abusive.
As with an eventual compromise deal struck over the Religious Hatred Bill, there will also be a specific clause to protect the right to freedom of speech.
Ministers have firmly dismissed as unfounded claims that playground insults or jokes about gays could be caught by the new offence.
Last night Chris Bryant, the openly gay Labour MP, said Mr Atkinson should relax because the right to make jokes about gays would remain. "I think it is perfectly possible to create a distinction in law between incitement to hatred and having a laugh," he said.
Lord Lester, the Liberal Democrat peer who helped draft the compromise wording on the religious hatred law, said it was clear that "politically incorrect jokes at the expense of gay people" should not be banned.
Seems to be more than one of those even via simple internet search. Also a Pontiac GTO race car driver from the 1960s.
I meant...since your NAME is Gay, are you FOR the ban on the jokes? ...just a silly post...you can disregard.....
Putting in danger? That horse left the barn a while back.
Next to be banned? George Orwell’s books.
At least in jokes, the use of the slang term “gay” is not so inappropriate as it is in (so-called) news programs - since it is a slang term. I got very tired of CNN International generally putting people on who’s English was not so good. But they had one woman, blondish red hair I think, whose job seemed to be to establish a Guiness record for the rate and the number of times a news presenter could say “gay” that would last a thousand years. I saw it once and thought it was odd - but then I saw her own many more times over the course of years. Every time she was on it was the same thing. Your guess is as good as mine on what the motive was.
School children have NO idea what the term actually means. It’s sad.
Careful or they will want to make telling jokes about steriod-saturated communist women illegal.
Bite Me!
(to the author, not the poster)
Ironically, not one of these Japanese men are gay.
That’s from the Skit Show Little Britain...the character he plays claims to be the only gay in the village...pretty darn funny stuff i have to admit.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Applies step 2 of Feynman problem-solving algorithm:
Not 'Puss in Boots', but 'Puss in stool'? (puss/push)
??
Immature Toilet Humor Ping!
To be added to this ping list just make some stupid bathroom humor innuendo that has nothing to do with Larry Craig.
Craig really blew it. He threw his life down the toilet. The only way he can resurrect his career is to suck it up, swallow his pride, get on his knees and ask for forgiveness.
Anyone who dresses like that deserves to be the brunt of jokes because they ARE a joke.
That would make us what...A stool pigeon? Oops, was that a (bad) attempt at a gay joke? Guess it’s off to jail for me...
Heck, I have a couple of gay friends, and they know all the best gay jokes. Similarly, a friend of mine of Mexican decent (though born and raised in the US, and a wounded and decorated veteran to boot) knows all the best Mexican/Hispanic jokes. I couldn't begin to tell them like these guys do.
I guess some people just don't get it - it's called humor. If we can't laugh at ourselves (collectively, we're all in this together) then we really are in trouble. We're taking ourselves way, way too seriously. I laugh at myself for being a middle-aged white-guy software-geek with no rhythm, can't sing, drive a funny little car, etc.
A gay couple had been partnered for 25 years and was celebrating the 60th birthday of one of them. During the party, a fairy appeared and said that because they had been such a loving couple all those years, she would give them one wish each.
The one who was giving the party said, "We've blown all our money on parties and fine dining and decorating this house, I've never gotten to see the world. I wish we could travel all over the world."
The fairy waved her wand and POOF! He had the tickets in his hand.
Next, it was the birthday boy's turn. He paused for a moment, and then with a sly grin said, "Well, I'd like a boyfriend 30 years younger than me."
The fairy waved her wand and POOF! He was 90.
LMAO /falls out of chair
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