Can you imagine living in a nation where a standing member of the United States Congress could face six months in jail or a $25,000 fine or both for publicly offending homosexuals? Doesn't that just give you a tingle? You sigh deeply and then imagine all the other fantasies you harbor about an alternative America that could only be entered through a magical portal in the back of your wardrobe...
Or you could just move to France.
Christian Vanneste, a member of France's ruling UMP party, could face jail this coming week. If so, the 58 year-old professor of philosophy, will be the first person to be prosecuted under France's law against homophobic speech. Only last year homophobic comments were added to the existing legislation banning hate speech.
Vanneste made a series of anti-gay speeches in Parliament but they are protected by parliamentary privilege. However, he then went on to make the same remarks in newspaper interviews. In one he called gays a "threat to humanity". Vanneste defended himself by insisting that he did not say homosexuality was dangerous "only that it is inferior to heterosexuality and could, in extreme circumstances, become a danger to mankind."
The public prosecutor filed charges following complaints by LGBT rights groups Act Up-Paris, SOS Homophobie and Sneg, a national umbrella organization for gay businesses.
The prosecutor said Vanneste was guilty as charged but made no recommendation on sentencing. Judgment will be handed down on January 24.
Right now I'm having a warm tingly sensation thinking about Pat Robertson, Bill O'Reilly, Don Wildman, and Fiddy Cent bending over to pick up the soap in the slammer shower.