(GayWebSource.com – Gay News & Press Network) – Posted by Jake Simpson – TheGayUK.com
Popular Irish Drag Queen and gay rights activist, Panti Bliss, took to the stage on Saturday night in The Abbey Theatre in Dublin to give an impassioned and touching speech on homophobia and the oppression of gay rights.
by Kevin Banks | 6th Feb 2014
It is reported that Panti whose real name is Rory O’Neil, had appeared on Saturday Night Live a few weeks prior and had suggested that some journalists for the Irish Times and members of the Catholic Iona Institute who oppose same sex marriage on the grounds that “marriage can only be between a man and a woman” were homophobic.
Panti’s powerful speech stemmed from the backlash she received from RTE and the broadcaster’s decision to remove her interview from its online media player, air an apology and pay out compensation to some members of the institution and associated journalists that had been named. She tells a story of when she was standing at a pedestrian crossing and some ‘lads’ had shouted a homophobic slur from a car and hit her with an empty milk carton. She explained that it didn’t hurt at the time but after it, it felt oppressive, something that will ring true with a lot of the LGBT community.
What strikes a chord with her honest, emotional and at times funny speech is not that of same sex marriage or same sex parenting but of what gives heterosexual people, who have never and probably never will experience homophobia, the right to define it?
“Have you ever sat down in front of the T.V and seen a panel of people, nice people, smart people, respectable people” she asks “… having a reasoned debate about you? About what kind of person you are, about whether or not you are capable of being a good parent, whether you want to destroy marriage, about whether or not you are safe around children or about whether or not god herself thinks you are an abomination?” She then goes on to say that she feels, in her opinion, those who actively campaign for gay people to be treated less or to be treated differently are homophobic.
The point Panti articulates beautifully in her inspirational speech is that when homosexuals are subject to discrimination or prejudice because of their sexual orientation and whether it manifests itself in being hit by a milk carton from a passing car or having people campaign for you to have less rights than others, it still constitutes homophobia.
Watch why she received a standing ovation below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXayhUzWnl0&feature=youtu.be
Media Provided by the GayWebSource.com – Gay News & Press Network.
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