Schwule in der Politik

It will come as no surprise to may of my faithful readers that I am gay. This is perhaps why I went for the monochrome of the penguin, it's classic style, rather than the flamboyance suggested by, say, alpine:flamingo. Not to mention that the penguin is my favourite animal. The mysterious, oft-mentioned M is also a boyfriend of almost nineteen months.

I knew that being in a relationship for so long was good for me, which is why I couldn't help feel a little bit smug amongst all of the anger when I read a story in the Tages Anzeiger today. According to the article, a memo amongst various members of the SVP over in Luzern which was penned by Emil Grabherr stated that homosexual men (no mention of women here) fit into three categories: die im ordentlicher Partnerschaft lebenden (those in a stable relationship), die männlichen Huren (male whores) and die unter keinem Titel akzeptierbaren Bubenschänder (paedophiles).

Thank God I'm in a relationship, eh?

Being in a country where the right has so much clout, it is often easy to feel smug about the situation at home where we haven't banned minarets and where we don't expel foreigners who commit crimes of any nature. Yet when it comes to gay rights and the current government, can we be so smug?

I glaub' net

Whilst the brief glimmer of same-sex marriages being legalised was left in turmoil last September, we should not let it cloud the fact that the current "progressive" government is largely made up (or should that be wholly?) by a party who carried Section 28 on high (prohibiting amongst other things, the promotion of homosexuality as an acceptable family model). Let us also not forget that our Equality Minister voted consistently against gay rights before receiving her current post. Nice gal.