These three lesbians walk into a bar, which sounds like the start of a joke, except the punch-line will ultimately be delivered by a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.
In yet another example of our burgeoning culture of complaint, three admitted sisters of Sappho took umbrage with a Toronto comedian who answered their incessant heckling of his act in a Vancouver nightclub by tastelessly riffing on their sexual orientation. According to the complaint, the three were subjected to a “tirade of homophobic and sexist comments.” In his defence, Guy Earle says he regrets the unsavoury exchange, but insists the tribunal hearing is taking him out of context.
If, by context, he means the setting of a comedy club, he’s spot on. What part of this unbridled art form don’t these three understand? When did bad taste or a perceived slight in any idiom become enough to invoke the full weight of the state’s bureaucratic complaints department? Going into a comedy club with delicate sensibilities is like heading into the deep end with water wings. Enter at your own risk, and if you’re in over your head, just leave the pool. Don’t drag the rest of us down with your petulant assault on one of our last cherished forms of free expression.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 20:06 and is filed under freedom of speech.
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