Rights

The Glasgay!  Arts Festival seems to have stirred up the kind of fuss it was after.  And clearly the people putting on the production of "Jesus - Queen of Heaven" have a right to put it on.  But when they say that the banners of the inevitable protesters outside could be viewed as "inciting homophobia", are they themselves guilty of suppressing the legal right of religious groups to express their opinions?  Now that it is possible to take your employees to court on the basis of your environmental views, effectively claiming they are religious (and therefore protected).

I myself suffered when Drayton Parslow put on his dramatic performance at the Husborne Crawley Reading Room, "Beaker - the Musical".  Drayton claimed that the lead role, Archdruid Ethel, of the Beaker Folk of Leighton Buzzard -  a megalomaniac and illegitimate offspring of the Dukes of Norfolk who manipulates other people's spiritual needs for personal gain, was completely fictional.  But you had to wonder.

What is one to do?

I suppose growing a thick skin and respecting other people's rights to their own opinions, regardless of how barmy you think they are, would be a start.  And recognising that a country that clamps down on artists - no matter whether they are provocative, profound, offensive or fatuous - is not one worth living in - that would help.

But we still broke Drayton's ankles, just to be on the safe side.