| Nine firemen rapped for refusal to give out leaflets at gay march
A SENIOR firefighter was demoted and eight of his colleagues were handed official warnings yesterday for disobeying orders and refusing to hand out safety leaflets at a gay pride march. The nine officers from the Cowcaddens station in Glasgow were also ordered by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue (SFR) to undergo intensive "diversity training" as part of their punishment. .
GENDER IS OVER-RATED
At a recent family affair, my philistine cousin was complaining about the gay sex shops in the West Village. He recently moved to New York and finds the openly gay culture "offensive" and "abrasive." Feeling the need to defend the gay community (and being bisexual myself), I said, "Intolerance is rooted in fear. Maybe you’re afraid that one day you’ll be attracted to a guy." His response: "If the guy had breasts and didn’t have a penis and looked like a woman, then maybe I would." He could have been describing a transsexual. "You see how gender is irrelevant?" I said. Ignoring my point, he reiterated his heterosexual pride: "I just want everyone to be like me. Fuck you." Of course I wanted to slap him, but I found enlightenment in his insulting comments. My cousin is an extreme example of the human tendency to perceive gender as a fixed state of being, attached to expected qualities and behaviors.
Firefighters disciplined over march
Nine firefighters who refused to hand out safety leaflets at a gay pride march have been disciplined by their bosses. The group have faced a series of disciplinary hearings since disobeying orders at the Pride Scotia parade in June. After several days of deliberation, fire chiefs at Strathclyde Fire and Rescue (SFR) announced the nine officers would be made to undergo an intensive course of "diversity training" as a result of the incident. .
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