Do you think the Iona Institute are homophobic?

returnNull wrote: »

only just seen this , John Waters to build a ghey proof safe room in his house with the money from RTE

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2014/01/29/john-waters-to-build-gay-proof-safe-room-at-home-with-rte-damages-claim/

No one in the North America had heard of Panti Bliss three days ago. Now this Irish drag queen—Ireland's most famous drag queen—is all over our blogs, our Facebook pages, our news programs, and our Twitter feeds.


Here's what happened: Rory O'Neill—the man behind (inside?) Panti Bliss—went on an Irish current events program and when the conversation turned to homophobia, O'Neill called out some noxious Irish homophobes after the program's host asked him to name names.

O’Neill gave an unequivocal answer, name-checking Irish Times columnists John Waters and Breda O’Brien, as well as Catholic think-tank The Iona Institute, as those he believed worthy of that description. Many audience members may have been heard cheering and clapping their approval, but those mentioned were significantly less enthused and began legal action against RTÉ and O’Neill on the grounds of defamation as they weren’t homophobic.
Here's notorious non-homophobe Waters on gay marriage: "This is really a kind of satire on marriage which is being conducted by the gay lobby. It’s not that they want to get married; they want to destroy the institution of marriage because they’re envious of it…" Here's noted non-homophobe Breda O’Brien on civil rights protections for LGBT people: " Equality must take second place to the common good." The Iona Institute, for it's part, opposes civil rights protections for LGBT people and is leading the fight against gay marriage in Ireland—a fight that these noxious homophobic ****s are losing—and Iona traffics in distortion, fear-mongering, and misrepresentation, like our very own NOM.

The television network that aired O'Neill's interview, RTE, instantly caved and paid this nasty little collection of slimy homophobic ****s €85,000—$114,000—by way of settlement. Everyone can see what's going on here: this is a transparent effort on the part of these homophobic ****s to intimidate and shut up a popular and charismatic voice in Ireland's movement for LGBT equality. The haters at Iona are also attempting to set the parameters of the debate: they can say all the hateful things they like, no one is allowed to call them haters. Straight newspaper columnists quickly weighed in. They scolded the homophobes for their bullying tactics and called them out for attempting to stifle free speech—no, wait. Straight newspaper columnists scolded Panti Bliss for calling out these ****ty, hateful homophobes on their ****ty, hateful homophobia. Panti was being insufficiently civil, they said, to a person who has accused her and other gay people of trying to destroy the institution of marriage out of spite.

I hadn't heard about any of this—I don't think anyone in the states had—until Panti was invited to address the controversy at the Irish National Theater last weekend. If you're not among the 250,000 people who've watched the video already, you need to watch it. If you've already watched it, watch it again. It's amazing. Rory is amazing. Panti is amazing.

So consider this post a thank you note to ****ty bigot John Waters and ****ty bigot Breda O’Brien and all the ****ty bigots at the Iona Institute. Thank you for bringing Panti Bliss to our attention. Thanks to your stupidity and Rory "Panti Bliss" O'Neill's eloquence, Panti has gained an international following. And if you ****ty mother****ers are dumb enough to sue Panti, know this: she not only has thousands of supporters in Ireland, she has thousands of new supporters all over the world. Myself included. And we will spread the word and we will raise money and we will call you ****ty ****ing homophobes without a moment's hesitation. Because you're a bunch of ****ty ****ing homophobes.

So congrats, you dumb ****ing haters. You made that Irish drag queen an international superstar—and if you are stupid enough to come after her, you've made her an international cause célèbre.

Cydoniac wrote: »

Dan Savage has always been fairly direct in his views, much respect to him for calling it as it is. He told Rory that if a serious case was brought forward he'd be at the forefront of a support fund.

Cydoniac wrote: »

Dan Savage has always been fairly direct in his views, much respect to him for calling it as it is. He told Rory that if a serious case was brought forward he'd be at the forefront of a support fund.

floggg wrote: »

Without side tracking this into a discussion on Dan, he writes an awful lot of stuff on trans and bi issues, and is my primary source of knowledge on trans issues.

I think some people on the fringes love to see him as a target, but if you read what he writes as a whole he's very supportive of the trans community, and while he has acknowledged being wrong about bi issues in the past, his main issue these days is that not enough bisexual people come out as such.

He might not always be the advocate people might want him to be, but he is a very vocal advocate.

Doctor Jimbob wrote: »

Oh I really hope Iona try to sue panti.

Links234 wrote: »

Being gay doesn't mean you're not a bad person, sad fact.

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

I'm not talking about the word gay. It is the prefix 'the' that seems ridiculous. I don't know why, and it's not my place to decide what is offensive for others I agree, but why 'the'? I wouldn't like 'the women' or 'the foreign people' either. Why not just gay people? I am perhaps being pedantic but it is annoying.

Links234 wrote: »

I actually really like Dan Savage sometimes, but please get better sources on trans issues :pac:

Part of his problem is that he's very abrassive in general, and I do get that that's part of his whole schtick, but while people do get a kind of catharsis out of his undiluted rants, he all too often can respond to other LGBT folks with that same kind of abrassiveness and is very reactionary when being called out on his own slip ups. And to be fair, some of the things he's said about bisexual, asexual and trans folks as well as women in the past have been pretty genuinely awful. The flip-side to that is the tumblrites who seemingly want to call everyone a ****lord for just about anything, but I'm guessing that's the fringe you're talking about there.

*Edit: For clarity, Dan Savage is the guy who told a rape survivor that she was 'being a total ****' for not having sex with her husband afterwards, and that being raped isn't a 'get out of being a human being' card. Folks have a right to be pissed with him in general.

My husband and I have had an open marriage for the last two years. Up until five months ago, it was working beautifully. At that point, however, I was sexually assaulted by a former partner. Since that incident, I cannot stand sex with my husband. I completely flip out when he tries to initiate sexual contact. My skin crawls. I become panicked and feel repulsed. I just cannot handle it. Those times when I go along with it anyway leave me feeling enraged and disgusted.

I don't think this is completely unheard of for someone who was relatively recently assaulted, and I am considering therapy to help me work through it. The immediate "problem" is that I have no difficulty having sex with my boyfriend. In fact, the sex with him is amazing and leaves me feeling loved and whole and wonderful.

This is breaking my husband's heart. He has become incredibly jealous of my relationship with my boyfriend. He's depressed. He's angry. He accuses me of no longer loving him, and he wants me to stop sleeping with my boyfriend until our marriage is back to normal. I feel like a horrible person, but I just can't do that. I need that outlet. I need that support. And I admit I have a hard time believing that my husband and I will ever be able to go back to the way things were before.

I feel like I've already lost my former partner (****ed-up though that may seem) and my husband. It kills me to think about cutting out the one positive relationship remaining. On the other hand, I do love my husband—very much—and watching him suffer like this is unbearable.

Potentially Traumatized Sexual Deviant

I'm sorry that you were sexually assaulted—that's awful, PTSD, and I hope you went to the police and I hope you're pressing charges. But I also hope you know that being the victim of sexual assault is not a Get Out of Being a Human Being Free card.

Just because you've been victimized doesn't mean you operate in an alternate moral universe where you're not obligated to take other people's feelings into consideration—particularly the feelings of people you profess to love and happen to be married to. Your first priority in the wake of your assault had to be your own physical and emotional safety, of course, but your behavior toward your husband is both cruel and selfish.

If you truly loved your husband and valued your marriage, PTSD, you would've put the boyfriend on hold and gotten your ass into therapy without having to be told. It looks to me like you want out of this marriage. But instead of taking responsibility for wanting out, you're playing the victim card while slamming both hands down on your marriage's self-destruct button.

To sum up, PTSD: You're being a total ****. Do you love your husband? Is your marriage a priority? Then start acting like it: Cut the boyfriend off—for the indefinite future—and get your ass onto a counselor's couch. If you're not willing to do those things, PTSD, then stop emotionally assaulting your husband and put both your marriage and him out of their misery.