Politician, Newspaper Charged With Gay Bashing

FARSUND, NORWAY - A local politician wrote a letter to his local newspaper in Farsund, southern Norway, saying he wanted a gay-free beach in the area. Now they've both been charged with promoting discrimination on the basis of sexual preference.
Odd Djøseland of the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet) claimed in his letter to the editor that heterosexuals were uncomfortable with the thought that gays and lesbians were "drooling" over them at local beaches.
"I therefore want a beach in our community that's free of gays and lesbians, a place where we normal, heterosexual people can sunbathe and swim in peace and quiet," Djøseland wrote.
Reaction to his letter was swift. His own party said they were distancing themselves from Djøseland's letter, and that it didn't represent party politics. On Monday, a local resident named Bent Sandvand filed a police report against Djøseland.
"Djøseland has offended and insulted me, as a bisexual, and a whole group of people," Sandvand told news bureau NTB. "Especially those who haven't yet come out of the closet."
Sandvand said many gays and lesbians have probably laughed off Djøseland's letter, but he maintains that such opinions can be discriminatory, not least since Djøseland is a member of the local township's healthcare commission.
"It makes me furious that a profiled local politician would write something like this," he said. "I'll have to wait and see whether I'll be allowed to set my feet on the beach the next time I want to go swimming."
Sandvand said he expects his complaint to be taken seriously by the police.
Djøseland defended his letter, saying it was written in a humoristic vein. Steinar Spjelkaviknes, editor of Farsunds Avis, said he's relaxed about a complaint filed against his newspaper by another local resident, Marianne Singsaas. She believes Djøseland's letter violated press rules that require respect for such human attributes as nationality, race and identity.
"I was never in doubt that the letter should be printed," the editor wrote in a commentary in his paper. "We must dare to print opinions we don't like."
from Aftenposten