Evolving standards

You know, I'm actually kind of surprised to see newspapers dropping Ann Coulter's column over the whole "John Edwards is a faggot" incident.

Let's be clear -- I'm not that old. But not ten years ago, I'm quite certain this wouldn't have gotten Crazy Annie dropped from any papers, much less 6. Ten years ago you would have had some Conservative applauding her brave words and stance against the dreaded "political correctness".

I think it's fascinating to remember just how acceptable Ann's kind of homophobia was within my memory. (My parents, of course, get to remember a whole different level, lucky them.) I remember very clearly, about fifteen or so years ago now, CBC deciding to air some whackjob who blamed the entirety of the AIDS epidemic on gay men. Because, you know, no straight people ever have unsafe sex, ever. Or something. Also, around the same time, I wrote a school project on the history of the Gay Rights movement in North America, and for my trouble I got threatened with physical assault from my "peers". It goes without saying that my sexual orientation was also questioned, but that was (still is?) kind of a given for all boys that age.

It's important to note that the conservatives Crazy Annie was talking to cheered her remarks, and applauded her homophobia. I'm not painting anybody with that brush -- unless you were in the audience, I guess -- but it's clear that gays and lesbians still have a lot of work ahead of them. Still, it's moments like this where I can't help but remark how much has actually changed.