Topic: WorldNetDaily
Nicholas Waddy began his June 15 WorldNetDaily column by complaining that Irish people have stopped hating LGBT people as much as he does:
Recently, I visited Ireland, both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and I came away very impressed by the friendliness of the people, the beauty of the landscape, and the prosperity and dynamism Ireland has achieved, despite a long history of poverty and relative isolation. I also found notable how omnipresent reminders are there of Ireland's struggle for independence. References to the 1798 and 1916 rebellions, for instance, are everywhere, as are memorials to the Irish who died in the struggle for self-rule.
When I got to Dublin, however, Ireland's capital and largest city, I was somewhat taken aback. Completely overshadowing displays of the Irish tricolor flag were displays of the pride flag – that is, the gay pride flag, as it used to be known. Given that June is pride month, that is not entirely surprising, especially when we consider that the White House was recently emblazoned with rainbow flags itself, but it was jarring when I compared my experience of Dublin with my travels in the rest of Ireland, where (with the notable exception of Unionist parts of Northern Ireland) the Irish and EU flags always got top billing. I chalk this up to Dublin's urban sophistication (some would call it dissipation), which, in big cities everywhere, seems to breed broader acceptance of, and even bellicose advocacy for, "alternative lifestyles." So be it.
But what really set Waddy off, though,is that intersex [people are noew represented on the pride flag:
Who are the intersex? While definitions vary somewhat, they are essentially persons born with genetic or physical abnormalities that distinguish them from the vast majority of human beings, who, at birth, fall (neatly or problematically, depending on who you ask) into one of two sexes (or genders, again depending on who you ask): male and female. Put another way, the intersex are those who have at least some of the genetic or physical characteristics of both biological sexes. In ancient times – meaning, several months or years ago – we called such people "hermaphrodites." They now no longer like to be called that, although they sometimes use the terminology among themselves. Keep in mind, moreover, that instances of intersexuality or hermaphroditism that are pronounced enough to occasion medical notice, let alone treatment, are incredibly rare. By this definition, intersex births represent considerably less than one-tenth of 1% of the total.
Wow! So where does this leave us?
First, as the intersex/hermaphrodite progress pride flag diffuses steadily across the globe, and as more LGBT-friendly people adopt it, one thing is for sure: the aesthetic coherence and symbolic clarity of the original rainbow pride flag is being eroded. This phenomenon, though, is an accurate reflection of the audacious expansion of the gender/sex equality movement itself, as well as its burgeoning complexity and pervasiveness – which to some appear almost totalitarian in scope.
Waddy then returned to more garden-variety anti-LGBT hate:
Just recently, the vast majority of Americans opposed gay marriage. Two of them, in fact, were President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. Today, by contrast, gay marriage is a non-issue, and in a recent poll, 89% of Americans 18-29 years of old support it. Likewise, it was not so long ago that Ireland was a deeply Catholic country in which homosexuality was illegal (such laws were only repealed in 1993). Now, the country's most venerable university flies the flag of intersexuality, while there's not an Irish flag to be seen (and certainly not a Christian one). How quickly things change!
Scoff if you wish, therefore, but Trinity College may be a glimpse of our collective future. Someday soon, you may find yourself walking down the street and, if your T-shirt doesn't feature a yellow field and a purple circle somewhere on its design, people will look at you as if you just clubbed a baby seal to a bloody pulp.
My advice? At a minimum, be kind to hermaphrodites, because they might just hold your future in their (ambiguously gendered?) hands.
Waddy didn't explain why he seems to think that intersex people should be ashamed of who they are.
