COURT CONTROVERSY
Former tennis star Margaret Court has said she doesn't think gay
people should be allowed to marry and stuff because of, ya know,
God and that. Speaking to The Western Australian newspaper, she
described gay marriages as "alternative, unhealthy, unnatural
unions," and an attempt to: "legitimize what God calls abominable
sexual practices that include sodomy." Well we all know what we
think of that, right? It's got another tennis legend, Martina
Navratilova, well miffed. She said: "Her myopic view is truly
frightening as well as damaging to the thousands of children
already living in same-gender families." Martina says she also
tried to talk to Margaret: "But to say she's completely
close-minded on the issue is an understatement." Billie Jean King
also condemned Court's remarks: "We have to commit to eliminating
homophobia because everyone is entitled to the same rights,
opportunities and protection." Campaigner Stuart Ross is calling
for sports authorities to take a stand against Court's bigotry. He
said: "Three measures can easily be developed very quickly: i) the
Victorian Government in Australia can revoke the name of the
Margaret Court stadium in Melbourne…. ii) the All England Tennis
Club can revoke Margaret Court's entitlement to use Wimbledon
tennis courts at will and iii) the Victorian government, the All
England Tennis Club and other interested agencies such as Sport
England, Tennis Australia can make a public statement condemning
the homophobia being portrayed by Margaret Court." Well said. The
only question is: why hasn't this happened already?
10balls.com
DEAR DEIRDRE
Last week we looked at the Mail's problem page, which featured the
concerned mother of a lesbian teen. Now a young lady-lovin' lass
has popped up in the Sun's advice column, Dear Deirdre, prompting
Deirdre to declare that "Most of us have at least some bisexual
feelings". Blimey. Is that the Sun's official line now? And there
was me thinking it was written solely for teenage boys, of the
strictly heterosexual variety.
Nevertheless, she answers a few classics: "I had a threesome
with my boyfriend and one of his female work colleagues, and now
I'm falling in love with her." Well duh: once you've had muff, you
can't get enough. Indeed, seems this woman has been regularly
having it off with her new gal pal ever since. But what does dear
old Deirdre suggest? Well, to make a choice: "You need to work out
whether this is just sexual infatuation or true love, or at least a
sign that you're going to be happier in relationships with women
than men." How could anyone possibly predict that? Surely the only
relevant question is if someone's going to be happy with the person
they're with, not women or men in general. But what do I know? I
haven't read Deirdre's "Bisexual Issues" leaflet, which she's
promised to send off to her advice-seeker. Wouldn't you just
love a copy?
The Sun
WORKING FOR THE MAN
Some queer campaigners have become outraged by ABC's new show Work
It - before it's even aired. Writing for AfterEllen.com, Heather
Hogan predicts the show will "make a giant joke out of stereotypes
that continue to damage the transgender community." Hogan is
clearly coming from a good place on this, but I think her anger is
slightly misplaced. As a trans woman, I simply don't see how the
men in this show have anything at all to do with me or my life.
People have a right to be offended by Work It because of the
misogyny indicated in the trailer, and people also have a right to
be offended because it looks, quite frankly, like utter crap. But
what has it got to do with trans people? Banning this show - as
GLAAD and the HRC have called for - is a deeply problematic
response. Are we then saying that all cross-dressing humour is
offensive? In which case, will people be calling for an end to
panto next, or indeed drag? Perhaps there is a case for that. In a
society which celebrated gender diversity, this sort of thing
probably wouldn't be seen as quite so funny. Nevertheless, I'm more
upset with what Work It says about women in general. Let's hope it
pans.
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