Man charged for calling horse 'gay'

[Hakluyt]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/oxfordshire/4606022.stm

'Gay' police horse case dropped

A student who called a mounted policeman's horse "gay" will not be prosecuted, it has been revealed.

But police have stood by their decision to take Sam Brown to court for making "homophobic comments" despite the Crown Prosecution Service dropping the case.

Mr Brown, 21, a student at Oxford University, had said to an officer: "Excuse me, do you realise your horse is gay?"

Police took the case to court after Mr Brown refused to pay a £80 fine.

Mr Brown, who made the comment during a night out with friends in Oxford after his final exams, was arrested under section 5 of the Public Order Act for making homophobic remarks.

Evidence lacking

His remarks were deemed likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

The English Literature graduate, from Belfast, spent the night of 30 May last year in a police cell.

It emerged at Oxford Magistrates' Court on Thursday that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had chosen to discontinue the case.

Prosecutor Cariad Eveson-Webb said there was not enough evidence to prove Mr Brown had been disorderly.

Thames Valley Police defended their decision to take the case to court.

A spokesman said: "We present the case to the CPS and the CPS make the decision to proceed or not.

"He made homophobic comments that were deemed offensive to people passing by."

[Felix the Cat]

Dunno about homophobia, but he deffo deserves a clout over the head for being cheeky

[RikuDrak]

This is getting ridiculous. Now you can't even say something is gay? What is it now a cuss word? Will little kids have to be punished for uttering homosexuality?

What are they trying to prove now? The police officer was probably homosexual himself or something. Though the kid was just being immature.

[Jonathan]

Now you can't even say something is gay?
Probably. The Police just took this so seriously because they wanted to teach the welp a lesson though.

[Fade the Butcher]

Plato describes in The Republic how democracy naturally degenerates into tyranny. Alexis de Tocqueville formulated a similiar argument in the nineteenth century. This incident illustrates one of my favorite criticisms of democracy: that it has an inherent tendency to self destruct. The democratic system can only be sustained in the long run by combining it with some form of antidemocratic restraint. Also, I don't make much of a distinction between liberalism and democracy, as the former is the ethos and the latter is the political expression of the same fundamental worldview.

In the U.S., this takes the form of a constitutional straitjacket that stiffles the liberal/democratic element when it conflicts with the interests of the oligarchy. The various components of the American system of government (i.e., liberalism/democracy and constitutionalism) are in strong tension with each other. You can see this playing out in virtually all Western countries (although less so in America). How can hate speech laws be reconciled with free speech? How can civil rights legislation be reconciled with civil liberties like freedom of association?

[Ambrosio Spinola]

Chances are the police officer himself was an offended fag.

[Jimbo Gomez]

Chances are the police officer himself was an offended fag.

Very likely. The idea of being punished by such a waste of DNA alone is a horror.

[il ragno]

Mr Brown, 21, a student at Oxford University, had said to an officer: "Excuse me, do you realise your horse is gay?"

Police took the case to court after Mr Brown was arrested under section 5 of the Public Order Act for making homophobic remarks.

Damn straight; there is no such thing as 'separate but equus'.

[Jimbo Gomez]

hehehehehe