Dear All
In the eternal battle between the light and the darkness, we
sometimes get side tracked by a story over words, and how they are used. One of
the modern phenomenons is the use of ‘labelling’ by people involved in
politics. The idea is simple, once you label someone as ‘homophobic,
Islamophobic, racist or anything else, they are discredited forever and vere
and ever. Cast adrift with their ‘tag’ by a self- appointed court of judge, jury
and executioner.
Newspaper give politicians’ columns in newspapers to spout
their views, they usually pay them a few quid per article, and the idea is that
the politicians followers buy the newspaper. You could call it a marketing
gimmick or you could say this is all about promoting a message.
Kezia Dugdale is a lesbian, she was also formerly the leader
of Scottish Labour, although she found out that leadership of the Labour Party
wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Too many people pulling in different
directions, and too much identity politics which is killing it, although that
message has been given at the ballot box, it still hasn’t sunk in for some. Being the leader isn’t easy, the modern oracle of know all but in reality
covering up knowing nothing exists.
Kezia Dugdale has said that she was “entitled” to accuse a
pro-independence blogger of making homophobic remarks because she is a gay
woman and understands prejudice.
Entitled?
Entitled means; ‘believing oneself to be inherently
deserving of privileges or special treatment”.
Do you think that LGBT politicians deserve privileges or
special treatment?
Some people seem to think that equality means everyone gets
the same rights but, they are special so they get more rights.
I am working class, and I know about privileges or special
treatment, it is the thing which I have experienced never getting, because I am
working class. Should I demand special treatment as part of the largest
discriminated majority in the UK? Kezia Dugdale can if she wants stand by her article
accusing Wings Over Scotland of 'homophobic tweets' that’s her business. Her
getting sued for £25,000 by Stuart Campbell, who runs the website Wings Over Scotland,
that’s his business. In evidence at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Ms
Dugdale insisted she had labelled the tweet homophobic; and not Mr Campbell
personally. Although this is an interesting comment, one wonders how the public
will react, can a person make homophobic tweets and not be homophobic.
Homophobia is described as ‘dislike of or prejudice against
homosexual people’. If you haven’t lived in a bubble, you will know someone or
perhaps many people who are LGBT, that doesn’t mean you have to like them
because of it.
You either like them as a person or you don’t.
Kezia said:
“As a gay woman, I’m entitled to view that as homophobic
because I understand what homophobia is. I’m entitled to my own view of what I
consider homophobia to be. I’m a gay woman – I have experienced it in a number
of forms.”
In private she is, she can’t however in public, and
certainly not by using a national newspaper as a platform. Her ‘views’
constitute opinion, which may or not be a fact, but to give her opinion as a
fact won’t wash.
The row centres on a tweet that Kezia didn’t like. He wrote
that the Scottish Secretary David Mundell’s son, the Tory MSP Oliver
Mundell, was “the sort of public speaker that makes you wish his dad had
embraced his homosexuality sooner".
When I read that tweet, my first reaction was that the point
Campbell was making was that Oliver Mundell was a poor speaker.
Do I find that tweet to be homophobic, the answer is no!
I am surprised that Kezia didn’t just pay the money earlier
and walk away, having entered a minefield; she is treading very carefully now
in an attempt to get out of it. As to her revelation that what she said is her honestly
held view, that maybe but it could be a view that costs her plenty, £25,000 and
costs to Campbell.
Kezia said:
“It considered, in my view, gay people to be lesser because
they don’t have or can’t have children. So it was putting gay people in a
negative light.”
She added she felt a responsibility to call out homophobia
as a gay politician.
Asked by Craig Sandison QC, who is acting for Mr Campbell,
whether she believed his client was homophobic, she said:
“No, I believe what he said in his tweet to be homophobic.”
Sandison said a “recurrent theme” on the Wings Over Scotland
blog was that Ms Dugdale was a liar, and suggested this had given her a
negative view of him.
One thing which didn’t go down too well for Kezia was Sandison
saying Kezia’s legal team had previously claimed she did not know Mr Campbell
was behind Wings Over Scotland at the time, or that it was pro-independence –
something she confirmed was not true.
She said that was a legal misunderstanding!
Colin Macfarlane, the director of LGBT campaigning
organisation Stonewall Scotland, also gave evidence stating the tweet was
homophobic.
Appearing as a witness, he said:
“It was an unnecessary reference, or drawing attention to
David Mundell’s sexual orientation as a way to have a go at Oliver Mundell, but
at the same time using David Mundell’s sexual orientation as a punchline.”
LGBT pro-independence blogger Paul Kavanagh, who writes
under the name “Wee Ginger Dug”, defended Campbell says the tweet was deliberately
crass, tasteless and insulting, but not homophobic.
Although this case is a molehill in the grand scheme of
things, Kezia who has made many wrong decisions doesn’t look to me to be on
very firm ground for a win. What she needs isn’t her honestly held view, nor
her sense of entitlement to privilege or special treatment, but evidence.
Finally, I have had the homophobic tag thrown at me in the
past by a guy who I took to criminal court and got convicted. Law is a
minefield but it is also interesting, in this case if I was betting, I think a
tenner on Campbell would be the smart money unless Kezia can pull something out
of the bag. To me, this case looks and smells like it is a loser because
despite Kezia’s attempts to make opinion look like evidence, it clearly isn’t.
Mind you getting in Stonewall Scotland was a nice touch of padding out her defence, but
that is window dressing, MacFarlane’s opinion isn’t evidence either.
Yours Sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
2 comments:
We've had this student politics nonsense for years in the western world, and to be honest with you George, it's gone on for quite long enough.
Kezia Dugdale is a lesbian, you wrote that and it's no different what the Sturgeon appreciation society dafty wrote. Dugdale, who does she think she is!
Post a Comment