Originally Posted by Francis Fitzgibbon
We felt that sinking level of disappointment [when we heard the comment]. Kind of like the "here we go again" feeling. We felt not so much anger, more so disappointment. It's not even the word. You say the word "queers" there. When we're joking among ourselves we occasionally call each other queers. We're having a laugh and we're joking. I don't have such a problem with the word, but it's the sentiment of "we're the lads, and ye are separate or different over there"; that demarcation of "us" from "the gay people". And it's that connotation of, y'know, that "we didn't want to be considered as queers because obviously they're bad things".