Falconer: Donβt say Homosexual - you might offend gays!
Daily Mail, April 22, 2006
By Steve Doughty Social Affairs Correspondent
The Lord Chancellor has banned the word βhomosexualβ from official documents on the grounds that it is offensive.
Lord Falconer and his staff have stopped using it following a report which warned them that some homosexuals consider the term derogatory.
The word joins a lexicon which judges have been told to stop using because they are regarded as giving offense to or reflecting prejudice against various groups.
These include βimmigrant,β βAsian,β βman and wife,β βmixed race,β βWest Indianβ and βasylum seeker.β
The ban on βhomosexualβ was imposed following a report commissioned by the Lord Chancellor on how well βdiversityβ rules are obeyed when judges are chosen. It declared that the wording of application forms for judicial jobs βmay be considered offensive.β
Until recently, the forms sent out by Lord Falconer said that in picking judges βthe Lord Chancellor pays no regard to sexual orientation and has made it clear that homosexuality is not a bar to appointments.β
This wording was introduced in the 1990s following pressure from the gay lobby.
However the report on Judicial Appointments and Diversity by academics from Queen Mary, University of London, said: βIt is important to recognise that the term homosexuality is considered inappropriate by many gays and lesbians today.β
The academics said the gay pressure group Stonewall regards the word as derogatory, and added: βIt originates from a medical definition when same-sex attraction was construed as mental illness.β
The report added that βit should no longer be used in official documentation. Stonewall recommends that βlesbian gay and bisexualβ is a more appropriate term.β
Furthermore, the report said, the application form statement that the Lord Chancellor βpays no regard to sexual orientationβ is negative and does nothing to encourage gays to apply for judicial jobs.
A spokesman for Lord Falconerβs Department for Constitutional Affairs said: βThe equal opportunities statement in the guide to applicants has been changed to reflect good practice in line with the recommendation in the report.β
The forms now declare that Lord Falconer βwould particularly like to receive more applications from people in those groups which are currently represented in relatively small numbers.β
The change of wording brought protests from opponents of political correctness.
David Conway of the Civitas think tank said: βI am offended that the homosexual lobby has appropriated the use of the word gay. But no one listens to me, or to anyone else who complains that they can no longer use the word because it has been taken over by a single issue group. This is a word game that can go on for ever. Itβs another wrong turn over political correctness by a Government which has made many.β
βHomosexualβ remains in use by the Women and Equality Unit at the Department of Trade and Industry, which leads Government policy on gay issues. The term is used in a document on discrimination law published last month by the Unit, which is headed by former Stonewall chief Angela Mason.
Judges have already been barred by their training body, the Judicial Studies Board, from using a long list of words identified as likely to cause offense, including βcoloured,β βcommon senseβ and βhandicapped.β
Another term forbidden to judges is βmental illness.β The Queen Mary academics who used it in their report for Lord Falconer are apparently unaware that judges have been instructed to say βmental health problemsβ instead.
Poor Lot was "vexed" living in Sodom and Gomorrah. His existance amongst an evil people, marked for destruction, was a painful one. Thus do we find our "lot" in this growing anti-Christian state. The human condition is diseased by iniquity and today the patient appears to steadily worsen. Symptoms become more evident almost daily, and the pandemic is diagnosed and the prognosis does not look good. Yes there is a cure. But as a nation it would seem very few are to receive the necessary remedy.
I'm glad this list didn't include terms like nut case, half wit and even amadan and eejit which are in common currency among my friends and acquaintances to describe members of the British government.
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4/28/06 4:53 PM
