Mail On Sunday: Up The Duff

If you read the story, you'll find this headline is bollocks.

Basically.

Naturally, Britain's leading transphobe Julie Bindel is up in arms - and in cahoots with the Mail On Sunday.

Free Speech: Oh Do Shut Up!

Yet another right-wing shitbag leaps to the defence of Bindel and Tatchell - here, Rod Liddle in The Sunday Times - completely missing the point in the process.

Fagburn preferred it when Liddle was pointing out what a pointless wanker Saint Peter has become.

No-Platforming: A Golden Age

Bindel and Tatchell as activists for feminism and gay rights have recognised the truth about free speech: free speech is in the eye of the beholder. It is the frequent defence of the oppressor who knows that minorities lack the same power to exercise their own free speech in approved ways.

Bindel and Tatchell sought to express their politics and defend against powerful majorities using whatever tactics they could to rectify an imbalance of power in society in favour of women and gay people. How strange that now they scorn this in students and trans people.

No-platforming is as valid a means to exercise free speech as any other. We are not in a declining era of free speech - but we appear to be in a golden age of entitled hypocrisy.

Sean Faye, Independent Voices.

Best thing I've read all week.

Though the list of Tatchell's long-standing and passionate opposition to free speech is far, far longer than indicated here.

For the record, I should stress I'm against no-platforming.

PS Statement Of Solidarity With Fran Cowling, Solidarity For Students.

We are appalled at Peter Tatchell’s actions in dragging a dedicated, hard-working and passionate activist through an appalling media circus which has led to them receiving a torrent of vile abuse with no other apparent purpose than to salve his own ego.

'So Brave' Watch: Caitlyn Jenner

'Changing sex is so brave...' Rachel Johnson, Mail On Sunday.

'Changing sex is vain, not brave' Julie Burchill, The Sunday Times.

Has Katie Hopkins stuck her oar in yet?

Bindel?

Born That Way: Julie's Choice

None of the science dedicated to finding a gay gene holds water, so why not make a positive choice to reject heterosexuality and decide to switch sides? Julie Bindel explains why she believes she chose her sexuality, rather than it having chosen her. But, she asks, have we returned to the essentialist notion that we are either 'born that way' or that we are unthinkingly heterosexual?

The Guardian.

Can't be arsed to watch this - cos Bindel.

The thing is nobody has a clue why people are gay.

Perhaps human understanding will never reach a point where we know.

It's most likely a combination of nature and nurture.

How odd that noted binary-phobe Bindel thinks it's a straight choice between being 'born that way' or 'choosing it'.

Maybe it's just something that happens to us?

Roger Scruton: The Strangely Enduring Appeal Of Kitsch

BBC Radio 4 and BBC News magazine.

Thought this was good.

Yup, that's right, I thought something Roger Scruton wrote was good.

He of fox-eating right-wing 'philosopher' fame.

Next thing, I'll be agreeing with an article Julie Bindel wrote!

Matthew Shepard: Rises Again

The Observer.

The book this is based on, The Story Of Matt, came out over a year ago.

The Guardian first wrote about it in October 2013.

Fagburn wrote about the problems many had with both the book and the Matthew Shepard 'hate crime' case here.

Many of the book's allegations have been circulating since right after his death - and were examined 15 years ago in a thoughtful, lengthy Vanity Fair article by Melanie Thernstrom, The Crucifixion Of Matthew Shephard.

And in a three-part series for Harper's in 1999 by JoAnn Wypijewski, A Boy's Life.

So why is The Observer publishing this article now?

And why is Bindel - valiant attacker of smears on the character of rape victims - so quick, and yet so slow, to give credence to those against the murdered Shepard, and on blaming the victim?

Hmm...

PS A reply to JB, The Story Of Matt as a work of fiction by Media Matters.

Update: Book of Matt author responds to Media Matters.

Patrick Smugtwit: The Return Of Our Star Columnist

How does someone become a homosexual?
It is a question that has vexed people ever since [Subs: Couldn't find this on Wikipedia - please fill in].
More recently Lady Gaga, a popular singer, has sang; 'Born This Way'.
But were we? I say 'we' because I too am a gay homosexual.
Get used to it, Mr Bigot!
Anyway, now someone else has waddled into the room; a fighty, flighty, feisty, fizzy, fuck-you, radical feminist lesbian, who writes for the left-wing papers ie The Spectator. 
Julie Bindel, 62, journalist, self-styled campaigner and flatulent pain in the arse, has resurrected this in-no-way-tiresome controversy about the causes of homosexuality in the most contentious chapter of her new book, Straight Expectations.
Thus titled - she tells me - as only straight people can still be expected to find any of this interesting.

If you don't know Miss Bindel, you should.

She's like the lesbian me. 

Julie has thrown a literal nuclear bomb into the kitty litter of conventional thinking on this. 

She says she CHOSE TO BE A LESBIAN!

Most gay people, but most importantly me, disagree with this. 

Hey, Mrs B, I tell her; 'I did not chose to be a lesbian.'

'But I did,' she shouts huskily. 'Trust me, if anyone knew you were you in the womb they would have aborted you, chuck.'

Wow, bit controversial, but that's "straight-talking" (!) Judy! 
This really is a meeting of two great minds, I think. 

Reminds me of the School Debating Society at St Cakes.

'Ms Bindel, I put it to you, if you look up the word gay in the dictionary...'

What The Independent thinks you look like

[Continues as tediously as this for far, far too long - in which Smugtwit spouts such embarrassing fifth-form gubbins, you start siding with La Bindel. Everyone skim reads til the end].

After nearly two hours of arguing, Bindel pushes me out the front door and sighs loudly.
“By heck, you’re a boring posh twat,” she says, exasperated. 

I suspect it’s a compliment.

And who else but me could end an interview with a quote about himself?

Julie Bindel: Dear Pot...

Said the reactionary anti-gay bigot.

The dreadful Julie Bindel plugs her book, Straight Expectations, in The Guardian.

A look at modern LGB (No T - she hates them even more) Britain based on a completely unscientific survey of some readers of Guardian online.

And well done to The Guardian for illustrating the article with yet another gay shaming photo of a man without a recognisable face.

PS Fagburn notes that at the Guardian's panel discussion, Born That Way, Peter Tatchell has been replaced by Patrick 'The man without a brain' Strudwick. Yay!

The Gay Gene: Born This Way?

An estimated 3 per cent of the population are lesbian or gay. Is it genetic – a biological 'accident of birth' predetermined in the womb – or could it be a choice? In other words, is sexual preference a social construction, or are we simply born that way?

With the gay rights agenda still very much in the news this question lies at the heart of the current debate. Join us as we explore these questions with our panel, chaired by Guardian writer Kira Cochrane and hear both sides of an issue that continues to polarise opinion.

The Guardian.

In answer to your question.

Nobody has the foggiest idea.
Anyone who claims they know is a liar.
Perhaps human understanding will never reach the point where we can answer this question.
People - gay or anti-gay - often just choose the option they feel most comforting.
This is an amusing parlour game, no more, no less.
No rational person would think it should have any impact on how gay people are treated.
Thanks for asking.

Panelists include Julie Bindel and Peter Tatchell - don't all rush at once.

Surprised they didn't ask that intellectual titan, Lady Gaga.

Why I'm glad I have the gay gene, Theo Merz, Telegraph, June 11th...

Haters, as is their wont, continue to hate, saying that if homosexuality is genetic, it’s nothing more than a birth defect. They add that if a gene can be isolated, removing it becomes easier. At the other end of the spectrum, among my London-based, 20-something gay and straight friends, the reaction is largely: who cares? Why this obsession with cracking a possibly non-existent gay code? As the actress Cynthia Nixon, who is married to a woman, commented on an earlier study, “It doesn’t matter if we flew here or we swam here, it matters that we are here”.

But while, as they’d say on the BBC, other gay opinions are available, I find the idea of a biological basis for my homosexuality extremely comforting. For me, the fact that we were born this way remains a convenient truth to fall back on in moments of self-doubt.

See? Told you.

Note the excited squeal with which Queerty reported the latest research...

And note the unwittingly ironic sub-header, 'Blinded with science'.

Julie Bindel: Why I've Always Hated...

It was early evening and I had not yet eaten, so I took a glass of wine and a packet of Haribos into the private screening of I Am Divine: the story of Divine. I touched neither, because early on in the film I felt a little sick. I’m unsure as to whether that queasiness was a result of the mention of dog excrement (more anon) or the scale of misogyny contained within its 90 minutes...

Footage from Divine’s one and only appearance on Top of the Pops (he was banned as a result of complaints about obscenity) in 1984 singing ‘You Think You’re a Man’ reminded me why I always hated drag. Feminists at the time of the TOTP atrocity labelled Divine ‘woman hating’.

So by the time, towards the end of the film, we were treated to footage of Divine in Pink Flamingos eating dog excrement, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to want dinner that evening. The fact that it was alluded to at the beginning of the film (it being the stuff of cinematic legend) made the rest of the film pretty unpalatable.

Julie Bindel - who else! - writes for Britain's best-selling right-wing magazine, The Spectator.

A bizarre lesbore who hates gay men and trans women - so tries to justify it with endless ridiculous bilious articles about how they hate women.

I guess she must practice being dull and sanctimonious.

Anyway, hope that slag-off by the dreadful Bindel's left you gagging to see the film - here's the all-singing all dancing website.

And here's a video interview with the director Jeffrey Schwarz at Flare: The BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.. 

Fagburn: Slow (Cooker) News Day

From the Express, but the nation's newspapers were united in joy at this news.
Don't blame them - I love our Nige.
And his racy, tell-all memoirs, Toast, are one of Fagburn's favouritest gayist books.
Coincidentally, Life Is Sweets, his adorable Proustian personal and social history of sweets is on BBC 4 on Wednesday.
I think my mum would be happy if I got gaymarried to Mr Slater.
Either him or Alan Bennett.
Sorry, miles way...
There's nothing that's really gripped me today.
The Times is running the obligatory "I'm a gay dad!" story.
The Sun reports about a new gay-ish sort-of scandal at the Beeb!
'THE BBC was slammed last night for airing a Top Of The Pops repeat featuring paedophile Jonathan King'
Apparently "Outraged viewers vented their disgust online."
They quote one tweet.
Apparently Channel 4's Sex Box, which is on the tellybox tonight, is a bit boring.
The Guardian note; "Unfortunately, the actual show's post-sex conversations make post-match interviews with football managers seem exciting."
And the sex box is not opaque, as previously reported, but made of wood.
SO YOU CAN'T SEE NUFFINK!!!
I really can't be bothered with Julie Bindel's latest instalment in her Guardian online series on lesbian and gay (but not bisexual and trans) life in the UK.
Today the lesbigot is writing drivel about the Pink Pound - groundbreaking stuff!
Fagburn is going to do some hoovering, pay some bills, and pick up something from the post office.
I'M LIVING THE DREAM!

Julie Bindel: We Aren't Family!

Can't believe the alphabet soup has been extended to LGBTQPIA. Is it only straight men with a comb over, a  car coat and a whippet excluded?
— Julie Bindel (@bindelj) September 12, 2013

The Guardian continues to add to the gaiety of the nation with a new instalment of leading lesbian comedian Julie Bindel's look at the state of the queer "family" in modern Britain.
Which is like asking Richard Littlejohn to write about muliticultural Britain.
Hilariously this week's trite meandering is titled Lesbians and gay men: One happy family, or world's apart?
This is from the lesbigot Bindel who's already decided not to include transsexuals in her survey - because she's transphobic.
And also doesn't consider bisexuals part of the family - because she's biphobic.
She also doesn't like gay men very much.
The feeling's mutual - watch this video to see the sort of warm reception Bindel gets from the LGBT community whenever she speaks in public.
So, all in all, a perfect author for this series, and I can't wait for the barking book she's milking out of all the readers' comments.
Beats working!

@mrsnickyclark @mePadraigReidy It is a wonder it isn't for 'paedophile'. Queer movement used to support Paedo Info Exchange (PIE)
— Julie Bindel (@bindelj) September 12, 2013

Stupid Thought For The Day: Julie Bindel

According to popular belief anti-gay bigotry is all but dead in the UK. With the passing of equal marriage legislation the assumption is that lesbians and gay men can now rest easy...

The opening lines to Julie Bindel's latest error-strewn installment on gay life in Britain today running in The Guardian online. 
So homophobia didn't disappear the day they legalised gay marriage?
WHO KNEW!!???
Take that, strawman!
Does she really think anyone thinks this?
And - again - the gall and hypocrisy of this notorious homophobe and transphobe writing against bigotry and bullying is sickening.
Was the sub having a sarcastic dig by titling it 'Fear and loathing'?
Shame on The Guardian for falling for this fraud.

PS I understand various complaints posted by trans people have been removed...

The Guardian: A Queer Sort Of Queer Politics

Have we reached the utopia of equality, or have we simply blended into a straight society hell-bent on making us respectable? I want you to help me figure this out by answering my questions online and following me as I focus on topics such as religion, the science of sexuality and gay and lesbian families on Comment is free over the next few weeks. The 70s and 80s may well be viewed as the golden age of "gay politics". But has this politics really gone away, or just slipped below the radar? Is the personal still political for gay people in the 21st century? We shall see.

To fill out the survey that will inform Julie Bindel's book Straight Expectations, visit bit.ly/bindelsexuality

The Guardian Comment Is Free.

Translation; "Can you do my homework for me, please?"
Could The Guardian have chosen a less suitable journalist to survey the state of the queer nation than noted homophobe and transphobe lesbigot Julie Bindel?
Was Richard Littlejohn busy?
And why do the supposedly liberal straight newpapers, The Guardian and The Independent, give so much space to the most reactionary lesbian and gay voices?

The Gay Right: Whose Side Are You On?

This video has - as they say - gone "viral".
Unfeasibly right-wing gay Neocon Jamie Kirchick goes on Russia Today to talk about Bradley Manning's sentencing; "I'm not really interested in talking about Bradley Manning..."
Who knew? *
So what does our little Homocon want to talk about?
He launches into a hysterical, poorly informed - or rather willfully misinformed - rant about; "The horrific environment of homophobia in Russia right now...."
Zzzzz...
Much of the gay media are declaring him a "hero" - Kirchick that is, not Manning, obviously.
What? For wearing a pair of rainbow braces on TV!
Again, ask yourself why this issue is so animating the gay right - who here literally ignore what a great injustice their own beloved country has done to a gay man like Bradley Manning, to rant about Uncle Sam's mortal enemy, Russia?
Only the deeply indoctrinated could see this right-wing hijack as something to celebrate.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you thought control in a democratic society in action!

Funny! American journalist tried to disrupt @RT_comhttps://twitter.com/RT_com">@RT_com

> saying they lie about USA. And @cnnhttps://twitter.com/CNN">@cnn> does not lie about Russia?!— Nikolai Alexeyev (@n_alexeyev) August">https://twitter.com/n_alexeyev/statuses/370375714690039808">August 22, 2013

* Here Kerching argues the "traitor" Manning should fry in an electric chair. Which is nice.
Here's a panel debate on the boycott from Russia Today.
(Kirchick, laughably, claims RT has ignored this topic).
Against? A man from the Russian LGBT Sports Federation, a British gay journalist who lives in Russia, and two other Russian people who actually know what's happening in, err, Russia.
And for a boycott? Reactionary British lesbigot, Julie Bindel!
You really couldn't make it up.

Update: And finally... Eddie Mair takes on the architect of much of Russia's recent anti-gay laws, Vitaly Milonov. That's the way to do it etc etc. Listen here. 

The Guardian: It's Time To Face Up To The Problem Of Sexual Abuse In The White Community

Every day across Britain, it seems, there's a new and horrific revelation of sexual abuse: last week we had the guilty plea of veteran TV presenter Stuart Hall, who confessed to 14 cases of indecent assault against 13 girls, the youngest only nine years old.
Days earlier the possible scale of child abuse in north Wales children's homes was revealed. We now know there were 140 allegations of historical abuse between 1963 and 1992. A total of 84 suspected offenders have been named, and it's claimed the abuse took place across 18 children's homes.
But after the shock has subsided and we have time to reflect on these revolting crimes, the main question in most reasonable people's minds must surely be: what is it about white people that makes them do this?

Joseph Harker in The Guardian.

A puckish satire on contemporary mores, media hysteria, moral panic, racism, Islamophobia, and Orientalism.
"Imagine if they said that about gay people!" etc etc.
Or straight people.
Here's a textbook example of what Harker's satirising by Julie Bindel in the Sunday Times.
Or you may want to read Johann Hari argue, "Yes, it is “Muslim culture” today to be bigoted against gay people" in 'Can we talk about Muslim homophobia now?
Or you could read Lenin's Tomb's response, Can we finally talk about Johann Hari's Muslim problem?
Odd how Hari thinks he's saying something unsayable with this claptrap, when you don't have to look too hard to find other gay journalists saying it. 
"A herd of independent minds", indeed. 

The Observer: And Now Some Good News?

Statement from John Mulholland, editor of The Observer:

We have decided to withdraw from publication the Julie Burchill comment piece 'Transsexuals should cut it out'. The piece was an attempt to explore contentious issues within what had become a highly-charged debate. The Observer is a paper which prides itself on ventilating difficult debates and airing challenging views. On this occasion we got it wrong and in light of the hurt and offence caused I apologise and have made the decision to withdraw the piece. The Observer Readers' Editor will report on these issues at greater length.

The comments posted beneath the article have also been removed in line with our deletion process and as a result these comments will no longer appear in individual users' profiles. 

The Observer online.

The above statement has replaced Julie Burchill's disgusting transphobic rant, following a storm of protest.

Not sure what the Orwellian act of deleting it from the web changes - and I don't think it's a good thing, bar as an admission of guilt - but well done to all who kicked up a fuss.

Let us hope this awful saga means we have now reached a turning point. 

Next I'd like to know why The Observer decided to run that trash in the first place.
This isn't about freedom of speech, it's about a newspaper deciding what to publish.

PS Suzanne Moore has sort-of apologised for her comments. No word yet from that serial transphobe - and homophobe - Julie Bindel. I wouldn't hold your breath...

PPS Poor beleaguered Julie - so silenced, so censored - soon had her article re-published by the Telegraph online.

Update: Over the following few days Independent Voices ran several pieces like this defending Burchill and criticising The Observer - all very silly and partisan school playground stuff...

Julie Burchill: And The Illiberal Liberal Media Elite

Julie Burchill's probably sprawled out on her Hove sofa cackling into her sixth glass of champagne right now.
In today's Observer she writes a now thankfully all-too rare article.
It starts with the offensive headline, Transsexuals Should Cut It Out - Gosh Julie, you're so provocative! - then rapidly proceeds to descend downhill.
I'm not sure what there is to say about Burchill's predictable wading in to defend her journalism-as-showbusiness chums, Julie Bindel and Suzanne Moore.
Apart from how La Burchill doesn't leap into print to defend much of late; bar Israeli Zioinism.
I said what I think about "this sort of thing" on Friday here - On Journalism As Vanity.
Now just add "and Julie Burchill".
(Odd how Bindel keeps complaining about some "trans cabal" out to get her, but watch how these three media manger-hoggers have closed ranks now).

I've made the point endlessly that people who are trans now occupy the same place in the media as gay men did in the 80s; they're usually only allowed to be presented as figures of fun or fear, and you can get away with saying whatever the diddlybum you want about them.
And heaven forfend if any of their pesky trouble-makers dare talk back!
One can only hope this week will be a "Stephen Gately/Jan Moir" moment and the media might take note of the offence they keep causing, and how readers don't find this as "amusing" as their writers do. 
For star journalists like these, controversy is their currency - they get off on our outrage.
They must be loving this hooha.
Maybe tis best to ignore them, then?
Should we be surprised that The Guardian/Observer have published this reactionary, bigoted, juvenile junk?
There's no such thing as bad publicity, as the old cliche goes, and just look at all the traffic this has brought to their website!
This is the economy of the mass media. 
Welcome to the new hegemony of the illiberal liberal media elite.

Fagburn: On Journalism As Vanity

I feel I should say something about the recent Julie Bindel and Suzanne Moore hoohas, as they've become quite "a thing".
But I'm not sure I can be arsed.
Why add to the pyre of ire they so clearly desire?
I can't even be bothered to add links, so Google it.
And why argue the toss with intellectual idiots?
You'll be familiar with that old cliche/truism about how "power corrupts..."
It's so banal you probably heard it in primary school.
But it's a classic example of ideological arse-over-titness.
It's far more often the case that the corrupt seek power.
As we see here - and there and everywhere.
The worst kind of journalists are the ones who clearly get off on seeing their names in print.
Or worse, their stupid photo.
Egomaniacs wanting nothing but self-advancement.
No noble aims, just a quest for fame.
When not being obediently banal and stating the bleeding obvious, controversy is their currency.
Are you surprised these professional sociopaths' writing shows such contempt for other people?
That they act like such bullies, then go batshit if anyone dares point out they're just bullshit generators?
Getting their mates to back them up, school playground style.
Did you really expect them to be moral agents?
They can claim to be a radical or on the left all they want, but it's laughable when so much that they write are just flatulent expressions of right-wing hegemony.
This is what Ulrike Meinhof called "Columnism".
"A herd of independent minds" feigning dissent while conforming to the new spirit of the age; "Forget all but self".
Moral: Always, always run from the vain.