It’s fairly well known by now that Jörg Haider, far right Austrian nutbar extraordinaire, died in a car accident some weeks ago, and that an allegation surfaced shortly afterwards claiming he secretly enjoyed some of the ol’ Hellenic lovin’ when not busying himself spouting xenophobic rhetoric, popping in for a spot of afternoon tea with Saddam Hussein or praising the “orderly employment policy” of Adolf Hitler.
Jörg Haider (1950 – 2008)
The gay allegation gained frenzied momentum when reports emerged that on the night of his death Haider was seen drinking himself silly on champagne and vodka at a gay club in Klagenfurt, an Austrian city with a population almost half the size of Geelong. It was there eyewitnesses claim he engaged in a bit of how you doin? with other patrons of said gay club after an earlier quarrel with his deputy and reputed lover, Stefan Petzner. Haider sped off shortly after midnight and flipped his car around half an hour later having smashed into a pole at 142 km per hour while attempting to overtake another vehicle. Forensic experts confirmed there were no skid marks at the scene.
Rumours about Haider’s sexuality have circulated for quite some time and gained even further credibility when, in his grief, Petzner publicly stated that Haider was “the man of my life” and they both shared “a special relationship far beyond friendship”. As far as I am aware there has been no dispute over Haider’s sighting at the gay club, nor has an official repudiation of the claims been released. I am not one to jump on spurious accusations simply because I don’t appreciate someone’s politics, however based on the above information it would appear quite safe to assume Jörg Haider was indeed a closeted homosexual.
I don’t particularly care if the man was gay, I feel sadness that his wife and daughters had to discover the truth in such a public manner (although it has been said his wife accepted the situation) but I do not believe the private lives of politicians are anything of my concern unless they impinge upon the ability of a politician to execute their public duties efficiently and with the best interests of the population at heart. Do I care that Bill Clinton had a faulty zipper while in office? Not at all. Did I care about his politics? Gosh darn you betcha. Nevertheless, when it comes to Jörg Haider I find it most disappointing in this day and age someone is forced into hiding their sexuality in order to maintain their appeal to the electorate. It begs the question of whether Conservative politics and open homosexuality are mutually exclusive; I don’t believe they have to be, but the prompt ousting of Stefan Petzner from Alliance for the Future of Austria after all but admitting to his affair with Haider appears to have answered that question with a resounding yes.
It’s fairly evident that Ms Rachy here is politically schizophrenic, on some matters I hold firm Conservative views but on others I am pretty laissez-faire. I believe in small government and the right of individuals to live their lives without interference from the State, so long as one’s choice of lifestyle in no way interferes with the right of others to live their lives accordingly. Basically, you do your thing, I do mine, be kind to the vulnerable and lesser fortunate and leave me alone.
I am lucky to have a large and varied circle of friends which just happens to include a number of teh gayz and over the years I have met a handful of closeted individuals who hold views much, much more Conservative than my own either living a lie to maintain the Conservative facade, or ostracised from fellow Conservatives due to their sexuality. It is simply not the case that all gay people grow dreadlocks, eat tofu and keep copies of Marx under their pillows.
In conclusion, I still think Jörg Haider was a populist bigot, I just find it disappointing he was not able to be an out and proud populist bigot. His politics wouldn’t even allow him to tolerate his real self. The only thing about this situation which really disturbs me now is after the Austrian public were made aware of the existence of dirty homos among the top ranks of Alliance for the Future of Austria they could well take their disillusionment and turn even further to the right. Something Europe and the rest of the world needs like a hole in the head.
October 28th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
That may be true, but all straight men do watch straight porno, whether it be in magazine or video format, or, worst case, anecdotal porn. So you’re right, a lack of Marx doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not gay: look for the lack of porno and you’ll have your answer.
Most people totally forget what the issue was in the Clinton Zipper Saga. His personal life had nothing to do with it. Several things happened in public that showed us what a typical politician he is. Clinton signed a law on sexual harassment (signing a law is a public affair). He soon after committed sexual harassment himself, as defined by that law. Crimes are public matters also. These two acts in conjunction constitute a tremendous hypocrisy; this is what I expect from typical politicians, and that’s what Clinton turned out to be.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Not true! I actually know a straight guy who doesn’t like porn (mind you I am not talking about an ex-boyfriend or anyone I have ever been involved with, meaning they weren’t trying to impress me or anything). He also thinks strip clubs are stupid, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been to one. He got a lap dance from a mate at a friends buck’s night and couldn’t stop laughing the whole way through, he reckons that if you don’t get to touch there is no point.
I agree with you on the Clinton front, I guess I was referring directly to the Monica Lewinsky incident. As for the sexual harassment that you mention which specific case are you referring to, and which law exactly? I guess all I meant was I really don’t care about what Clinton does with his Johnson as long as it doesn’t affect his politics, which as you have so aptly pointed out in fact did affect his politics.
Nevertheless, in both Australia and the US of A our heads of state would never get away with the recent shenanigans of Sarkozy for example. What would happen if George Bush or Kevin Rudd (our PM as of last year) divorced their wives while in office and then started dating a former model who has posed in the nude and married her less than three months after beginning dating? There would be a public outrage.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:11 am
Dunno about outrage here in the US, but certainly disgust and an end to much support for anything remotely difficult they (hey, it might be a woman next time) attempted.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:21 am
Good point, I reckon that’s what would happen until they were driven out of the job. It is very rarely the case in Australia that someone can enter Parliament without being married, although there are a few exceptions.
One of our former Prime Ministers, Bob Hawke, was having an affair with his then mistress, now wife, throughout the entire time he was PM. I was only young at the time so I don’t know how much of an open secret it was with the public, but his wife stayed with him “for the sake of the cause and the party” (in this case the ALP, Australian Labor Party) and then soon after he was ousted by Paul Keating he left his wife and married his mistress. His wife stood by him in spite of his activities when he needed her, but he left her knowing she was suffering from Alzheimer’s. But who knows, maybe they were both better off for it.
Then it wasn’t too long after the end of Paul Keating’s reign as Prime Minister that he dumped his wife, in front of friends at a dinner party at that. So high-profile political divorces – while politicians are in office – are just something that don’t happen here in Australia, well not that I know of or can remember anyway (apart from Jeff Kennett, former Premier of Victoria, separated from his wife while Premier, although they made it clear they would get back together and actually did. I do remember it being much debated at the time).
It’s funny, for a country of larrikins there is certainly a strong thread of prudishness that runs through Australia’s political system.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:26 am
I have never known a homosexual that would be caught dead in dreadlocks.
I don’t believe that for a second. Most conservatives don’t give a rats ass if somebody is gay. Quite often people already suspect they are gay.
The religious nutjobs on both the right and left will have a problem and so will the we love to hate crowd. Not to mention the fact they are more likely to be crucified by the left for daring to be gay and not one of them.
Conservatives being anti-gay is a myth or most of us conservatives would be lefties.
Gays stay in the closet for many reasons. If they have a family I would hope it was out of respect for their spouse and children.
Sometimes it is because they are uncomfortable with their own sexuality and struggle with it. Acceptance doesn’t necessarily quiet the demon inside especially if they believe it is wrong. That struggle is usually what makes a person look like a hypocrite.
But honestly Rachel my favorite reason for a conservative homosexual not coming out of the closet is, ‘because their sexuality isn’t anyone’s damn business” they aren’t looking for acceptance based on their sexual preference.
You should know there is never a ‘one size fits all’ answer for anything. Not every gay person feels the need to be a poster child for ‘gay rights’. If they did feel that way they would be lefties.
October 29th, 2008 at 5:55 am
I beg your pardon? I am not in the habit of making things up to make a point, I am not Michael Moore. Meanwhile, considering the issue I was discussing I’m certainly not going to provide names and addresses to prove that I am not lying. All due respect, but I am indeed acquainted with closeted Conservatives who fear the repercussions of being outed. It’s not a pleasant situation to be in. Mind you, at no stage was I intending to attack Conservative politics as a whole, especially considering I hold various Conservative views myself.
I never said there was.
I didn’t say that either.
I understand full well that not everyone wants to be out and proud, pumping their fists at rallies, being a community spokesperson (As much as I do not feel the need to be a poster child for spinal cord injuries). I just find it disappointing when someone has to live a lie just to satisfy their political base. When I talk about the political party in Austria Haider belonged to, we are not just talking about your everyday, average Conservatives, we are talking about complete nutbars. At no stage did I imply a one size fits all approach to Conservatism.
I never meant to imply that all Conservatives are anti-gay, I just meant that some are, especially this particular ilk of Austrian conservatism. The only reason I didn’t bring up the attitudes of some lefties in this particular post is because I was talking about the death of a closeted right wing, Conservative politician, not a closeted lefty.
PS the dreadlocked thing was sarcasm, silliness.
October 29th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Thankfully I don’t vote conservative, so no one suspects me of being gay.
All jokes aside, it is a pity that people in this day and age, feel the need to cause harm to someone else (physical or mental) simply because their views are different.
I know a lot of people who are gay, and I have no issue with it. Where they chose to stick their body parts is of no interest of mine. I really don’t care who they do it with, or in what position, or with how much lube. The only person I would care about in that regard is the person I am sleeping with. If someone who is gay tries to crack onto me, I politely say “thanks, but no thanks”, and life goes on. In fact, I would feel quite honoured that someone found me attractive enough to want to swap body fluids, but it doesn’t mean I want to swap said fluids with them.
I have enough things in my past, that if I told people about, then some of them would have issues with said things. It is not that I am hiding things from them, it is just not in anyone’s interest to know about my past. Equally, I have no interest in knowing everything about everyone, as long as they are not harming me or my children, then I am happy.
Now, to deflect interest in my past, the following high profile people are gay:
F…….. O…….
R… G…….
E…….. T…….
I….. T………..
N… O……
T…. G…..
O……. I……….
N…. G…..
T…… O……..
T…. E………..
L…… L….
October 29th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Geeze, what is it with the far right and repressed gayness? There was a commentor on this thread –
http://timworstall.com/2008/10/22/gay-nazi-party/#comments
- who said that the split between the National Front and the BNP was over homosexuality, with all the gay skinheads staying in the NF and the conservative/straights heading over to the BNP. Weird!
October 29th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Wickedly inventive, as usual.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Rebecca,
Indeed, I wish also it were a nonissue. I would say the main thing about letting people in on personal secrets would be to gauge how you think the other person is going to react first. Why would someone with Conservative views want to reveal the fact they were gay to fellow Conservative friends when every exchange they had had with such friends, and other acquaintances, in the past about homosexuality has revolved around faggot jokes and the like. Naturally not all Conservatives hold views such as these, I’m just saying that I know of people (I’m trying to be as non-descriptive as possible here) who hold Conservative views who are too afraid to be honest about their sexuality lest they be ostracised. By ostracised I don’t mean being expelled from a political party, I do not mean institutional discrimination, I just mean one’s fellow Conservative friends would not want to hang around with you any more. I am sure you would understand, with whatever in your past are talking about, that it’s not too difficult to gauge how many people will react. There are always surprise cases, but sometimes no matter how calculated a risk like this just isn’t worth taking.
TimT,
That’s a very good point about Fortuyn, thanks for the reminder. I would say it is fairly typical of Dutch society that it wasn’t even an issue worth mentioning, and hence not an issue worth hiding, about Fortuyn’s sexuality. It also goes to show that not all gay people are dreadlocked hippies or Ken dolls. I am by no means saying that all Conservatives are raving homophobes who want to lock up the gays, I have too many awesome Conservative friends to make such a sweeping generalisation, and I’m sure there are some circumstances of widespread acceptance, it’s just in the few cases I know of Conservative gays I know of they are too afraid to live openly and have either repressed it or moved on.
I was just thinking, with your linguistic skills you can help me come up with headlines for the possibility of One Nation’s David Oldfield coming out of the closet (is he still around anyway?). I guess One Nation would be the closest parallel Australia has to Haider’s party (there is a nice little libertarian movement among some of the younger Liberals). I wonder if people think I was being sarcastic about Haider in the first paragraph? The fact is he really did say that about Hitler’s employment policies, he really did go and visit Saddam Hussein and well criticism of immigration policy is often merited his rants were famous a.k.a. One Nation style. So anyway, back to David Oldfield, can you imagine the uproar if he came out of the closet? As I understand it he is happily married with children, but hypothetically (and I am only speaking hypothetically here, I don’t want people reading things into this hypothetical that simply aren’t there) I imagine Oldfield would lose a significant amount of votes if he were to be revealed as a pillow biter.
But re: Pim Fortuyn, who was openly gay. In Holland, and I have been there many, many times, the large majority of the population are rather nonplussed about homosexuality, whereas after years of a largely open door immigration policy Fortuyn was able to shore up support for himself with his anti-immigration policies. The Dutch do not regard homosexuality as a threat, but immigrants? That’s a whole different issue. I’m not surprised he was successful in Holland, but here in Australia I can’t see any openly gay blokes leading the One Nation party any time in the near future.
Wait a minute, gay Nazis… how could I forget?! Turn your speakers down, make sure nobody is watching and do the Hitler rap. Ziggety heil.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Oh Tim, I just read the comments section properly. Oh dearie me. Where would someone get that from????
PS I loved your response!
October 29th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Oh man, I LOVE the Hitler Rap, thanks for reminding me about that!
As for headlines about David Oldfield, hmm. Not sure…
Gay-vid Oldfield? (Too obvious?)
One Nation Hard Man likes… Hard Men?
From One Nation to FUN!!!! Nation!
October 29th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
I did not imply you were lying I believe they are copping out when they say that. A gay person is more likely to lose lefty friends by coming out as conservative than they will lose righties for being gay.
You my dear go on the defensive the minute anybody dare say anything that isn’t kissing your ass over your opinion. If that is all you want here then don’t worry I won’t bother commenting again. Sorry to offend you
October 30th, 2008 at 2:51 am
Nah, she likes good comments like yours.
October 30th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Hmmm let’s see if I can figure these out:
F…….. O……. = Faggoty Ohole
R… G……. = Real Gaylord
E…….. T……. = Erectile Tongue
N… O…… = Nicer Orgasm
T…. G….. = either TimT or TomMiller Gayman
O……. I………. = Oliver Iciclesucker
N…. G….. = Naughty Gayson
T…… O…….. = Titsontits Orgasmillis
L…… L…. Lick’n'lap Labia
Wow, I can’t believe all those people are gay! Half of them work at the white house.
October 30th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I will not pretend that I am anywhere near as politically savvy as almost anybody that comments here. Let’s face it, I’m not.
In a lot of situations, I don’t have the time or I just don’t care.
In my mind politics is a place where people construct themselves to fit what they see as whatever it is that the population wants. Whether that be that most all are ’straight’ or that Malcolm Turnbull understands the rental masses.
‘It begs the question of whether Conservative politics and open homosexuality are mutually exclusive’. I agree that it shouldn’t be – but that is what is constructed to be (I think that makes sense).
To throw in another political pickle, there have been issues in relation to the gun lobby in the past, where it was seen as a hot potato to support sporting shooters.
Recently you need to be seen to understand ‘how hard’ it is to afford a home loan and the groceries.
It is all constructed from the politics of the day. I hope that one day it will be seen as okay and normal to be gay. And that gay people can get married. And that you can come from any political background to do so.
November 1st, 2008 at 11:04 am
The sporting shooters that most worry me are the ones with AK-47’s and the like.
November 4th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Holy shit, where do I start with the lectures?
First up, anyone wanting to comment on Clinton and the oral sex eagerly thrust upon him in his off – the – oval – office bathroom and wanting to call it sexual harassment, really needs to read The Starr Report. What happened to Clinton had NOTHING to do with his sexual behaviors or sexual harassment laws.
Good fucking grief!
Nor, by the way, did it have anything to do with any of his long and tawdry affairs with big haired women. I
T WAS POLITICS – PLAIN DIRTY, GUY AGAINST GUY POLITICS.
You really think ANY of the men who pursued Clinton give a hoot about women or sexual harassment? Jeez. Give me a break.
Rachy – Blanche and Bob had a major falling out, for more than a decade, after she finished his biography. Their affair wasn’t carried out through his time in gov’t. His rooting around with any women within grabbing distance (not only Blanche) was no secret. Blanche wasn’t hot gossip when Hawke was in gov’t. Nadda. I was living in Canberra that entire time, and working in the gov’t. They didn’t resume their affair until after he left office.
Of course Hazel stayed, what else was she going to do – divorce the one time “father of the year”, who by his own admission was never there? It’s not as though Hazel had a job, her life was her husband and her children. That’s the way it was. A lovely down to earth woman, a wonderful spirit. She deserved better.
I’ve never had to announce to anyone that I’m heterosexual, why should gay people?
I was bitterly disappointed that Jodie Foster succumbed to decades of pressure last year, acknowledging her long time female partner (then spectacularly breaking up with her only months later!).
Why? Everyone knew she was gay, it wasn’t a secret. Why was she hounded to announce the obvious? Like having to admit she has blue eyes, and confessing such in public. Why was she forced to demean herself?
Why are gay people harassed into “admitting” their sexual preferences – the confession, the public ritual, that is never required of heterosexuals?
March 4th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Have we all forgotten about the Paula Jones episode?