[Closed] This is the 21st Century isn't it?

France has idiots too.
Everywhere has them.

Paris is gay.

[img] [/img]

I'm fully in favour of the democratic right to demonstrate topless.

Paris is gay.

He does seem quite happy...

[img] [/img]

last I heard call me Dave was going to make it compulsory

[img] [/img]

The onion has it right:

[url= http://www.theonion.com/articles/marauding-gay-hordes-drag-thousands-of-helpless-ci,19325/ ]http://www.theonion.com/articles/marauding-gay-hordes-drag-thousands-of-helpless-ci,19325/[/url]

Hundreds of thousands of french have a different point of view than narrowminded stw poster.... life sucks eh

Hundreds of thousands of french have a different point of view than narrowminded stw poster.... life sucks eh

Interesting...

Itz cuz they're Catholics like.....who have totally.....definitely.... never been known to condone institutionalized attraction to willies, boys and bum sex.....the Catholic church is and has always been totally straight.

Western liberalism is not universally popular - we are very much in the minority.

Gay marriage is at the cutting edge of Western liberalism and thus completely unacceptable to the vast majority of the human population.

Britain is usually at the forefront in the promotion of tolerance - just look at attitudes regaring racism in sport in Britain compared to those in the rest of Europe - Spanish F1 fans blacking up to welcome Lewis Hamilton, behaviour at football and rugby matches etc.

It's easy to forget what an amazingly tolerant, forward thinking, progressive country we live in.
We're very lucky to be British, all in all.
Makes you proud, doesn't it?

Ah, La Belle France, never knowingly misses an opportunity to have riots in the streets. Have they started building barricades and lobbing cobblestones yet?
All they'll need is a massed chorus of Montmartre prostitutes singing 'I Dreamed A Dream' and they'll be well away. 😆

Rusty Spanner - Member

Western liberalism is not universally popular - we are very much in the minority.

Meanwhile in France, which is western and liberal, there is majority support for gay marriage, and majority distaste for the church's stand against it.

Er, yes I know.

What's your point?

My point is that banging on about how great and rare british liberalism is, when this story's actually about how the French are much the same, and other countries have us beat, seems odd.

Britain is usually at the forefront in the promotion of tolerance

But not in the case of gay marriage. About a dozen countries have legalized gay marriage, including Argentina and South Africa, but Britain isn't one of them.

And I wouldn't overemphasis Britain's commitment to "Western liberalism"........I'm not sure there is any country which is signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights where there is such widespread opposition to Human Rights legislation - hardly a day passes without the press slagging off the HRA. And both the Prime minister and the Home Secretary have publicly said they would like to scrap it.

I won't dispute that Britain does however have an excellent record in opposing racism. That is indeed something to be very proud of.

Northwind - Member

My point is that banging on about how great and rare british liberalism is, when this story's actually about how the French are much the same, seems odd.

My comment was intended to highlight the fact that we've not had a minimum of 350,000 on the streets protesting against gay marriage.
Which was also the op's point, as far as I can tell from his post:

22 miles of water with a seemingly different attitude to the same issues.

But not in the case of gay marriage. About a dozen countries have legalized gay marriage, including Argentina and South Africa, but Britain isn't one of them.

True Ernie, but hopefully only a matter of time.
Cameron seems fully aware that legalizing gay marriage will enable him to counter 'nasty party' accusations with some partial legitimacy, on one issue at least.

I'm not sure there is any country which is signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights where there is such widespread opposition to Human Rights legislation - hardly a day passes without the press slagging off the HRA. And both the Prime minister and Home Secretary have publicly said they would like to scrap it.

Good point - both this and the previous governments have attempted to impose limits on the freedom of the individual and have belittled the HRA.
However this hasn't exactly proved popular with the public.
The steady drip drip of rhetoric seems set to continue however - the government seems determined to convince us that to protect our enshrined freedom we first have to give it up.

and why not?

Rusty Spanner - Member

My comment was intended to highlight the fact that we've not had a minimum of 350,000 on the streets protesting against gay marriage.

Tells you less about attitudes to the issue, and more about attitudes to protest. We're pretty bad at it tbh.

(also, we have demented laws against peaceful protest, but that's by the by)

(also, we have demented laws against peaceful protest, but that's by the by)

Do we ? (Genuine question)

nealglover - Member

Do we ? (Genuine question)

Yup... Liberty is a good starting point.