Sir

Mr Grant, (Letters 12 March) seizes his opportunity to party-politicise the situation concerning Cllrs Dance and Arbour, and the allegations of homophobia directed against them, by making reference to "Blair's strange obsessions (on quangos i.e. Standards Board for England)" and complains that "people who think like Cass Mann will be amply represented". He ends by saying that "One day we will hear those words again: 'It is a free country and I can say what I please' ".

This may come as a shock to Mr Grant, but there is no such thing as cost-free speech, as laws have been enacted in our land to protect the rights of socially excluded minorities, including lesbian women, gay men, bisexuals, transsexuals, trans-genders, as well as black and ethnic minorities, against whom it is now a criminal offence to defame, slander or libel them (us). Free speech carries a high price as it is welded to the responsibility not to abuse it. If Cllr Dance had instead made the statement "God did not originally make blacks and whites to love and complement one another" (I am not for a moment suggesting she would have) can you imagine the tremendous uproar and political fall-out which would have ensued? Not much between the two statements, in my view though - same offence, different minorities.
However, what really takes first prize for utter hypocrisy is Cllr Cranfield-Adams' statement in the same letters page when he writes "The same freedom of _expression and acceptance that you (gays and lesbians) want is one that should be shown toward others, even though they may not agree with you and you with them, adding "We are in danger of losing that (live and let live philosophy) through the intolerance of those who themselves demand tolerance from others".

Your readers may be interested to know that at the same time he was emailing his letter to you, he was threatening the local borough-wide independent community websites and their ISP with immediate closure for depicting him in a satirical cartoon as a member of the disco band Village People. He thundered last week in an email: "I have today instructed my solicitors to advise me on potential libel proceedings against you for the defamatory photograph that appears on your site depicting various members of the Conservative Group on Richmond Council in costumes not dissimilar to those of 1970s pop group 'Village People', the style of which had/has strong homosexual overtones". He later adds: "Further to my email, I am now advised that the depiction of the Councillors...is in fact defamatory. Therefore, if it is not removed by noon...I will be contacting your ISP to ensure they take action to remove the material...this may involve the remove of your entire website".

Damon Silk
Chief Executive
Gay Men's AIDS Forum