Fundies scream insults at gay couples

The UK has passed legislation allowing civil unions for gay couples putting them well ahead of the US on this count. But the British have always been more civilized.

But by a quirk in the law the waiting period is shorter in Northern Ireland than in England so the law took effect there first. Now Belfast is home to some of the most Neanderthal fundamentalist around. And this hot bed of intolerance and hatred sprang into action. Normally these “Christians” prefer killing Catholics and other heretics.

So when the first gay couple appeared at city hall for the ceremony the Calvinist haters where there to hurl insults. According to The Times the protesters were from Rev. Ian Paisley’s Free Presbyterian Church. Paisley is a very old bigot. I heard him preach decades ago and he seemed monstrously old then.

Paisley refers to himself as Dr. Paisley but his doctorate is entirely honorary. And it came from that bastion of fundamentalist know-nothingism Bob Jones University. When I visited that campus they had a “dating lounge” that was called the furniture shop because it was one large room full of couches. Dates were to be held in public, no hand holding was allowed, males and females were not allowed to be closer than 6 inches and dating anyone of a different race was forbidden at the time. I believe it now allowed provided they provide parental permission first.

Paisley’s church represents under 1% of the population but his anti-Catholic rhetoric is enough to put him in office as a member of parliament. As such he stood up and screamed insults at the Pope when the Pope addressed the British Parliament. Paisley had to be escorted out of the chambers by guards because he was so consumed with hate. Paisley’s web site prominently has displayed on it a link to an article on “5 Reasons Catholics are Not Christian.”

So members of Paisley’s antiquated church lined up to try and ruin the ceremonies for gay couples. Reports said these “Christians” sang hymns and chanted “sodomy is a sin” along with “you’re going to hell” and “filth, filth, filth”. Any one assumed to be gay was subjected to insults such as the scathing “you’re a sodomite and an abomination.”

A couple of wags decided the best way to deal with these bigot is laughter. According to the Times they “infiltrated the antigay ranks wearing garish sports jackets and toothbrush moustaches but no trousers, carrying their own placards.... [which] read ‘Bring back slavery’ and ‘Earth is flat’.” The paper said there “was so much laughter that event he moral indignation of the Christian fundamentalists seemed on the verge of giggles.”