Monday, April 25, 2005

HomO?

A Reuters story about a lesbian couple who were thrown out of a restaurant says that Sweden's ombudsman against sexual discrimination is known as "HomO".

First, I'm assuming that it's actually the office of the ombudsman, not the ombudsman himself, Hans Ytterberg, which is known by that name. Second, I'm wondering if this office was created solely to deal with gay, lesbian, trans-gender, and similar issues, or if it is the larger sexual discrimination arena (including gender discrimination) that it is involved with, and if the latter, when were sexual orientation issues added and when did the nickname "HomO" get assigned? And last, doesn't the term "homo" have the same negative connotations in Sweden as it does here? I suspect that there would be a bit of a hubbub if the US gummint used the same nickname for an agency which was supposed to protect the rights of homosexuals, etc., etc.

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