According to a story on DS, in a part that is in the can, but not yet shown, Mona tells Howard (who is gay), She would not want her six year old son to meet a gay man. Howard was understandably offended. Does anyone else feel this was a homophobic comment, and will it effect the way Mona is perceived?

We had a huge thread re this the other day...got out of hand and closed.

I think its a terrible thing to say. As a mother of 2 boys, i fail to see what harm a gay man will do to them.
Gay doesnt mean peodophile!!
Shes entitled to her views..as bigoted as they are, but its very silly to say it on tv and her views wont help her poor son who is growing up in a society whre gay is perfectly acceptable!!

We've done this.

I usually support this kind of stuff when theres an attempt at a new race row or whatever but in this instance there is no other possible interpretation, so the bottom line has to be yes she is homophobic. But such views don't put me off people as I think we're all entitled to freedom of speech and we should hold our own views even if the majority disagree (but thats a completely different argument) so I won't see her any differently.

Whoops!!!!! Sorry all. Didn't realise this was done the other day. Anyone tell me how to close a thread please?

Dont think you can hun.
It doesnt matter...mods will close it if they see it as a prob

Other people may want to comment who missed it

Well, I didn't see the other thread.

Yeah i made the other thread t'other day, let's just say people got "debating" and it went OTT. Thanks for that whoever.

Maybe if you provide the link to the story this one may work out better. lol

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/theappre...pprentice.html


A link to the story...take from it what you will

Spoiler tags please, Margate is not the next task.

*SPOILER *

Apologies for forgetting to add the link above is a spoiler before guys

So sorry hun, i dont normally post links and i forgot.

It's made me lose respect for her because it seems so narrow minded and, yes, I think it was homophobic. How would she feel if someone else said they would not like their son to meet a black woman, with the implication that black is inferior and not to be associated with just in case you might start having black kids ..

Exactly!!

she's entitled to her opinion, not everyone agrees with homsexuality....

I don't see how you can agree or disagree with homosexuality itself. You agree or disagree on the moral/social connotations.

This was a key point that was raised in the previous thread that spiralled out of control. Some posters argued that Mona was entitled to think what she liked about homosexual men and to keep her child from their company if she wished. Others, (including myself) said that this was all very well and good, but it made her a bigot. And then it started going round in circles, featuring passive aggressive use of smilies and finally name calling.

Yes i agree she is entitled to her view, but its not really fair to say that to a gay man and it was stupid to air it on national tv!!
What would have happened if he had said i wouldnt want my child to meet a black woman???

Yes and a good point was made that she couldnt shelter her child from gay men.
Any member of the public could be gay and she not know...its a very strange thing to come out with really.
Its hard to think of another context she could mean it in without it sounding homophobic

Exactly. When people start airing such views on homosexuality, all you have to do is replace 'gay' with 'black'/'muslim' or whatever to see how socially unacceptable it is. If someone else had said they didn't want their child associating with a black man they'd have been rightly condemned for being racist. Yet when it's about homosexuality, there are lots of people happy to pop up and tell you that they're entitled to their opinion.

So has anyone actually seen this, or just going on that speculative report?

Without seeing the full piece in context, there's a lot of knee-jerk reactions here... it is the Sunday Mirror quoted there, and that's not known for it's journalistic accuracy!

The rest in spoiler tags...(just stuff from the link earlier)


Last edited by sheff71 : 25-04-2009 at 00:15

I completely respect her right to have different views and everything, but it was a bit of a silly thing to say. Not only to a gay man, but also in front of television cameras!

Of course, maybe it's all been taken out of context. She should really know better than to say something which will most likely affect her chances of winning though.

Knowing when not to share an opinion must surely be a fundemental skill for anyone with aspirations to get on in business.

Mona, its time you left.

It's irrelevant whether Howard's idea was any good.

If Mona disagreed with it she could have just said it was a bad idea. Or used another argument to discount why it wouldn't work. She didnt have to say "I wouldnt like my child to meet a gay man" (if those were her words), and there can be no justification for saying that under any circumstances...

Not every one agrees with black people either.

Honestly, people are people, you can judge what they do but not what they are, and all evidence suggests that homosexuality is something you are born like. In other words, you can't agree or disagree with homosexuality, it IS, like blue eyes, or a head for maths. Dislike of homosexuals is just bigatry.

I hear this a lot... But there is no scientific consensus as to what the determinants of sexual orientation are. Hell, you could even dispute the concept of orientation altogether - it's a fairly modern social construct that hasn't even existed in the minds of most human beings for the majority of our history.

By stating this, I'm not saying homosexuality is evil, wrong, ought to be criminal, condoning Mona's behaviour, etc. I'm just saying that at this point in time, we don't really know what causes some people to be attracted to the same gender as themselves, and not others.