New Pride window in Belfast City Hall

[TheWitchWon]

https://x.com/ripx4nutmeg/status/1925882503417454717?t=LdPsR5-OaXqN7CJw6pFKlA&s=19

The slogan on the window

"Save Sodomy from Ulster"
It celebrates inclusivity apparently and is the Lord Mayor's proudest moment as the city's Mayor.

Because gay rights were won by people just wanting to live their lives. Just being part of the population without prejudice or shame.
To get married. Work and not be seen as different.
What happens in the bedroom is nobody else's business.
Now we have slogans celebrating sodomy.
Just keep it to the bedroom.
Not an unreasonable expectation
Perhaps that makes me prudish so be it.

To be fair, 25k wouldn't go very far if spent on consumables. A window will hopefully last a very long time. It's OK to just own your homophobia, you don't need to dress it up in faux hand wringing.

The Ashers case is an example of what I mean by Paisley in another guise.
Live and let live
Be tolerant.
Don't be Paisley.

I quite like it tbh. And it centres an actual LGB rights campaigner not a trans person, so that's a bonus.

Might go and see it if I go to Belfast.

But also have a sense of humour ?

Do you know how Councils work? They have Arts and Culture budgets.

Immune to homophobia? I wish I was MatildaMovesMountains, I wish I was! but it gets to me every time - especially the homophobia that lesbians have had to endure from the trans community.

The window:
On the positive side, it highlights lesbians and gays, which is the origin of Pride.
On the negative side - couldn't they have commissioned something more aesthetically pleasing? Obviously taste is an individual thing, but I think it looks confused and a bit garish.

The sodomy reference is a bit immature. Yeah yeah, we get the Paisley reference, but turning the words around does not make it funny, and certainly does not make it relevant to a lesbian and gay-themed design - sodomy? so that's a specifically lesbian and gay thing is it? Worth putting on a stained glass window? Don't think so.

Opportunities for stained art creations on this scale in public buildings are few and far between, it's a shame this opportunity didn't result in something more appealing.

Perhaps 😂
But the Ashers case wasn't funny.
It wasn't tolerant.
There are many ways to celebrate what has been achieved.
I don't agree with this one.

You have worded it better than me.
The automatic assumption that objecting to this is homophobic is an effort to silence anyone from objecting.

Your first sentence is fair. But I still think 25k spent on foodbanks or even a local mental health charity for gay youth would be a hell of a lot more valuable than a feckin’ window. What actually does a window in a building few of us are in or near contribute to gay rights? At the very least the money for this should have been raised separately.

Your accusation that I’m homophobic is just untrue, unfair and a really cheap shot.

Errmmm.. you have a funny idea of tolerance. Truly.

Yes, and 25k on one window isn’t a terribly good use of that budget.

She’s posting on a forum which she’s perfectly entitled to do. What are you trying to achieve?

I'm beginning to suspect that any criticism of the window is going to be condemned as motivated by homophobia.
Happy to be proved wrong of course..

But that is not why OP posted, is it?

She didn't post saying she was against spending 25K on the window. She posted because she was upset about the use of a famous gay rights slogan.

It’s similar to the rainbow lanyards and trains, what do they actually achieve in the real world? A lot of gay and lesbian people I know find it all a bit cringe.

I'm just asking a question. Why do you feel the need to intervene?

Unfortunately not. I made that exact point earlier and was then promptly accused of homophobia.

What else could be the motivation? Genuinely?

I disagree. It's a brilliant use of that budget. £25k on a lasting piece of public art marking the history of our city in our City Hall? Bargain.

And I love that it's easily understood and not abstract.

I wasn’t referencing the OP. I was just picking up on something someone else said that I strongly agreed with.

Why is he proud of an organisation that has such little respect for the legal rights of women? Always a misogynist bloke behind these things.

Sadly, you’re not wrong. It appeals to people who want to present as tolerant and inclusive, gets lols and likes on SM, but in real terms it achieves absolutely nothing for the people whom it’s supposed to represent.

Clearly someone who has no clue about what councils are responsible for in Northern Ireland. Quick clue it isn't libraries, healthcare, or schools....

I can’t work out if you’re deliberately trying to be goady or you just don’t realise it.