Progress (?) On Both Ends of the Pond

A British man films a gay couple openly having sex in a nearby public park, posts it on the internet to "shame" them, then finds himself in court. Charged with endangering a "vulnerable minority," he is found guilty and is sentenced to probation and 200 hours of community service.

Although there are British laws against public sex (gay or straight), no charges are brought against the copulating couple.

Despite Britain’s public decency laws, homosexuals routinely meet for sex in public lavatories in parks and other public places such as bus stations, train stations, airports and University campuses, calling the activity by the slang term “cottaging.”

“Guidance” released by the Deputy Chief Constable Michael Cunningham last year said that UK police officers should balance the law with the “human rights of those people who frequent open spaces for the purposes of having sexual relationships with other like-minded people.”

British authorities say they worry that police intervention against gays engaged in sex will result in stress levels so elevated that the gay people might try to hurt or kill themselves.

You'd think someone brave enough to "do it" in the open ought to have a little thicker skin about getting caught.

In unrelated news across the pond, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation declaring June "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Month."

"The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress," Obama states in the official proclamation, "but there is more to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect."

The proclamation, released on Monday, credits the LGBT movement with being a factor in more Americans who ascribe to those groups "living their lives openly today than ever before."

Thanks to our new president, we can now be proud that we live in one of the largest Muslim countries in the world -- and undoubtedly the only one that sponsors an LGBT month.