Fine print

I discovered last night, with a small measure of amusement, that while using a particular internet provider’s services, it is unacceptable to

“unlawfully incite discrimination, hate or violence towards one person or group, for example because of their race, religion, gender, sexual preference or nationality”.

I was tempted to email the company and tell them that their terminology is so last century. “Sexual orientation” or, more accurately, “sexuality” would be a much more appropriate way to allude to discrimination when it comes to sexual minorities in the twenty-first century. The term “sexual preference”, once used in the latter half of the twentieth century to describe sexual minorities (if they were considered at all that is), now it is only used in this sense by the religious right who cling to the mistaken believe that it is a choice or a simple preference, and usually is used in such a way as to deny basic legal protections on the grounds that it is unnatural anyway. I would point out that the “preference” implies a certain amount of choice and fluidity so that while one may prefer, say, chocolate ice cream over strawberry, they will happily partake of either at a pinch. With that in mind, I would argue that the term really refers to discrimination on the basis of issues more along the lines of preferred sex position or whether one enjoys using sex toys, not whether people are attracted to/fall in love with/fuck members of their own sex or gender. I stifled the temptation, reasoning that whoever read my email would probably see only the inane rantings of a nit-picking “gay activist”, and not fully appreciate the pithy humour with which it was written.

Besides, presumably it is perfectly acceptable to lawfully incite discrimination or hate towards any person or group, for example on the basis of their race, religion, gender, sexual “preference” or nationality. A quick look at anti-discrimination laws in this country will show you that it is actually quite easy to legally do such things. You just have to be a part of a church or government body and you practically have carte blanche.