Homophobic abuse of Brian Coleman is totally out of order

Yesterday there was a spat at City Hall between Mayor Boris Johnson and the the London cabbies. Boris described them as Luddites at Mayors Questions. A large number of cabbies were in attendance and the resulting furore lead to suspension of the session.

As is his want, disgraced ex Tory henchman of Boris, Brian Coleman waded into the row on Twitter, posting a series of highly inflammatory Tweets. This was met by an absolute torrent of rebukes from members of the cab trade. As Coleman is a convicted criminal, having pleaded guilty to assault by beating of Finchley cafe owner Helen Michael, there is no love lost between him and the cabbies. Most see him as an ignorant boorish thug and a bully. This was made clear in the vast majority of responses. Sadly a small minority of the responses were homophobic and highly offensive. 

Homophobia is never ok. Like beating up women, it cannot ever be justified. Much as I dislike Coleman, I cannot stand by and let such matters pass. I happen to believe that one of the reasons Colman is so revolting a person is a reaction to years of bullying in his youth. Every homophobic taunt simply pours petrol on his feelings of victim hood and is not only an insult to Brian but to every member of the LBGT community. If anyone excuses homophobia against Coleman,they are in effect opening up the whole community for abuse, bullying and worse. 

Those who left the comments have in effec destroyed the justified case for rebuking Colemans boorish behaviour.

It may seem odd to some that a strident critic of Coleman such as myself should seek to defend him, but we can't have different standards for friends and enemies. Homophobia is never ok.