Saturday, May 14, 2005

What is the Correct Left Position on This?

It may be Europe's most liberal city - but if you are gay, you had best beware
[...]
Herman Terbalkt, of the Amsterdam Tourist Board, said: “Gay visitors should be careful and alert. Some people in Amsterdam are not tolerant of other people. It is a social problem.”

Social tensions have permeated to the heart of Reguliersdwarsstraat, the main gay street, known simply as the Straat, lined with cafés, restaurants and bars. Paul Buckley, originally from Birmingham, who works at the Downtown Café, was recently chased down the Straat by a Moroccan youth shouting flicker — Dutch for “faggot” — at him.

“I had to run into a café and hide, and he stood outside shouting abuse and threatening us for five minutes,” he said. “It was horrible. A lot of Moroccan and Turks aren’t that tolerant of homosexuality. They stand around causing trouble.”
[...]
I will immediately post any denunciation of this violence against homosexuals in Europe by any Islamic religious leader. I am listening.