LGBTQ+ groups hailed the 60-day jail sentence a court in Switzerland gave to a writer and commentator for deriding a journalist as a “fat lesbian” and other critical remarks.
The Lausanne court sentenced French-Swiss polemicist Alain Bonnet, who goes by Alain Soral, for the crimes of defamation, discrimination and incitement to hatred on Monday. He was ordered to pay legal fees and fines totaling thousands of Swiss francs (dollars) in addition to the time behind bars.
Soral lashed out at Catherine Macherel, a journalist for Swiss newspapers Tribune de Geneve and 24 Heures, in a Facebook video two years ago. He called her a “fat lesbian” and said Macherel’s work as a “queer activist” meant she was “unhinged,” according to Swiss public broadcaster RTS.
“This court decision is an important moment for justice and rights of LGBTQI people in Switzerland,” said Murial Waeger, co-director of the lesbian activist group LOS, in a statement. “The conviction of Alain Soral is a strong signal that homophobic hatred cannot be tolerated in our society.”
In an email Tuesday to The Associated Press, Pascal Junod, a lawyer for Soral, mockingly blasted the conviction for a “crime of opinion” and said the case aimed to probe whether a person had “sinned against the dogmas of single thought.” Soral will appeal to Swiss federal court and “if necessary” to the European Court of Human Rights, the lawyer wrote.
My understanding is ‘queer’ activism is political and ideological and has little or nothing to do with sexuality or gender identification per se. If he is being charged with insulting her for calling her a lesbian it is the law that is insulting lesbians because it says calling someone a lesbian is an insult. If the person is fat, it’s not an insult and if she is not fat it’s not an insult either; it’s just a bad description. Again, it is the law that is insulting fat people. Would he go to jail if he called her a bitch or said her mom wears combat boots to church? I hate these stupid freaking laws designed to ‘protect’ some designated groups. The left uses morality that only they are allowed to define to stifle the rights of individuals. ABN
American Buddhist Net 