JUST
MORE THAN
TWO
years
ago,
the
British
gay
rights
activist
Peter
Tatchell
issued
a
warning
to
the
public
in
the
aftermath
of
the
7/7
London
subway
and
bus
bombings
that
took
the
lives
of
more
than
50
innocent
people.
“Gay
venues
could
be
bombed
by
Islamic
terrorists,”
he
said.
“All
gay
bars
and
clubs
should
introduce
bag
and
body
searches.
Muslim
fundamentalists
have
a
violent
hatred
of
lesbians
and
gay
men.
They
believe
we
should
be
killed.
Our
community
could
be
their
next
target.
This
is
no
time
for
complacency.”
In
light
of
the
more
recent
thwarted
attacks
—
in
which
Islamist
terrorists
hoped
to
detonate
massive
bombs
outside
a
London
club
featuring
a
“Ladies’
Night”
—
can
anyone
seriously
doubt
that
a
gay
nightclub
or
bar
is
on
the
Islamofascists’
agenda?
Indeed,
London’s
gay
district,
Soho,
is
just
blocks
from
where
police
found
the
car
bombs.
Before
the
United
States
liberated
Afghanistan
from
Taliban
rule,
the
only
discussion
there
about
homosexuality
seemed
to
be
whether
or
not
gays
should
be
thrown
off
the
roofs
of
buildings,
flattened
by
brick
walls
or
buried
alive.
Today,
the
major
debate
in
the
Islamic
world
about
gays
is
whether
they
should
be
hung
(favored
by
Iran)
or
publicly
beheaded
(Saudi
Arabia’s
method
of
choice).
Gay
people
have
a
special
role
to
play
in
the
war
against
Islamic
totalitarianism.
We
are
not
just
random
potential
victims
like
anyone
else
in
the
West
—
we
are
special
targets.
As
such,
gays
must
speak
out
with
special
fervor
about
the
threat
this
mortal
enemy
poses
to
Western
freedoms.
IN
THE
WAKE
of
the
recent
foiled
attack,
gay
clubs
and
bars
would
be
stupid
not
to
institute
the
tough
security
policies
Tatchell
recommended
two
years
ago.
That
means
working
with
local
law
enforcement
officials
and
the
FBI
to
take
any
and
all
appropriate
measures
to
secure
the
physical
establishment
—
installing
security
cameras
outside
and
inside
buildings
to
prevent
the
planting
of
bombs
—
as
well
as
the
“bag
and
body
searches”
suggested
by
Tatchell.
Sure,
such
personal
intrusions
may
inconvenience
club-goers,
but
the
minor
annoyance
of
being
patted
up
by
a
security
guard
(which,
depending
on
the
guard,
might
not
be
so
much
of
an
annoyance)
pales
in
comparison
to
being
blown
to
smithereens
by
radical
Muslim
thugs.
Some
gay
clubs
already
institute
such
policies,
but
current
security
measures
seem
aimed
more
at
preventing
the
sort
of
violence
that
normally
erupts
at
nightclubs
—
violence
often
perpetrated
by
club-goers
themselves
sparked
by
lovers’
quarrels
and
drunken
misunderstandings.
The
sort
of
security
now
required
must
seek
to
thwart
potential,
premeditated
terrorist
attacks
of
the
kind
witnessed
five
years
ago
in
Bali.
There,
an
Islamist
group
bombed
a
bar
frequented
by
Australian
tourists,
killing
202
people.
I
JUST
RETURNED
from
a
three-week
trip
to
Israel.
Nearly
every
restaurant
and
bar
has
a
security
guard
stationed
outside
who
checks
bags
and
monitors
the
premises
for
suspicious
characters.
Israel
is
a
country
that
suffers
a
severe
terrorism
threat,
surrounded
as
it
is
by
regimes
and
terrorist
organizations
that
seek
its
destruction
and
that
view
the
killing
of
Jews
as
a
godly
act.
In
Ramallah,
the
de
facto
capital
of
the
Palestinian
Authority,
I
asked
a
young,
cosmopolitan
Palestinian
girl
who
follows
Paris
Hilton’s
every
move
what
would
happen
if
a
gay
club
were
to
open
in
the
Palestinian
Territories.
“You’d
see
the
flames
in
the
states!”
she
laughed.
The
Palestinians,
as
we
are
frequently
told,
are
the
most
secular
and
educated
Arabs
of
the
Middle
East.
Gay
people
have
fought
long
and
hard
against
domestic
political
opponents
in
the
battle
for
civic
equality.
We
have
not
apologized
about
our
way
of
life
or
equivocated
about
the
continuing
injustices
we
face.
Likewise,
the
medieval
adversary
of
Islamofascism
is
one
that
we
must
stare
down
with
even
greater
fervor.
