Weird event on National Review’s website. John Derbyshire wrote one of his usual posts, celebrating a Scottish bed and breakfast for refusing to give a gay couple a double-bed. He delighted in the fact that someone somewhere was taking a stand against the evils of “oppressive tolerance,” and quoted the piece at some length, especially the owners’ abhorrence of “perversion”. A short time later, his post was truncated to a small blurb; and the quotes from the linked piece removed entirely. Does this mean that NRO actually thinks that celebrations of anti-gay intolerance are not something they want to endorse? But why start now? Derbyshire is on record supporting prejudice – pure prejudice – against gay people, proudly describing himself as a mild homophobe; he supported the abuses at Abu Ghraib with the immortal words “Kick one [a prisoner] for me;” he has proclaimed his refusal to live anywhere where there are large numbers of African-Americans; and on and on. NRO think they can prettify this by the occasional retroactive edit? Here’s the story that warmed Derbyshire’s heart:
Tom Forrest, owner of the bed-and-breakfast accommodation in the Scottish Highlands, where a sometimes stern Presbyterian spirit remains strong, had other ideas.
He would be happy to rent the couple a room with twin beds at the guest house in the village of Kinlochewe, “but we will not condone your perversion” with a double bed, he wrote in an e-mail, the Times newspaper said Wednesday.
Angry at the response, Nock replied by suggesting that Forrest was bigoted.
“Bigot? No. Respect for other guests,” came the reply.
“Homophobic? No, I have no hatred or fear of poofs, etc — I just do not approve of unnatural acts being performed in my home.”
Nock in return asked the Scottish tourism board to remove the guesthouse from a list of recommended accommodation on its website, saying that the prejudice had “depressed” him, the report said.
The tourism board asked the guest house owner to act differently, but he has refused to back down, saying he ran a “respectable” establishment.
“I have had bent people coming to stay, but they have had a twin room and respect our wishes,” Forrest was quoted as saying.
Notice that it is not homophobic to call gay people “poofs,” or “bent”. Maybe NRO merely didn’t want those words on its website, which is commendable. What is less commendable is their desire to endorse the sentiment that makes sense of them.
The Dish 