Fact checking the Pauline Howe issue

A couple of days ago, Zack brought up the case of an elderly woman, one Pauline Howe, who was purportedly visited by police for protesting a gay pride march. The story seemed a little unusual, and the visit excessive, so I decided to fact-check it a little bit. In researching, I found that, while a real event, the topic was really only mentioned in a couple of sources, particularly the far-right UK tabloid the Daily Mail. As this might indicate, the event took place in the UK, not any US location. Though free speech is of course still valued there, there is no constitutional enumeration protecting it to as high a level as in the US. As such, an attempt to equate hate crime policies in the two countries is futile at best.

The second issue is that, contrary to the Mail's claims, her attitude toward gays seems rather serious. From the Guardian UK:

The Mail described Howe's letter as an attempt to "complain", although the article later mentions in passing that Howe had described homosexuals as "sodomites" with "perverted" sexual practices that spread sexually transmitted diseases.

Further, it wasn't as if she was simply sitting at home writing letters, but actively attended the rally with the sole purpose of being intentionally intrusive to the marchers. Granted, no one has the right to not be offended, and the police visitation was more than a little excessive, but think: If someone showed up at the Million Man March dressed in the robes of a Klansman, what exactly do you recommend? Contrary to the protestations of some, there is absolutely a connection between these attitudes and very real violence. Attitudes like this don't happen in isolation, and people who go on about how much they hate gays, but always add "oh, but I wouldn't hurt them. I just think they deserve to die" need to learn that.