As a straight person who has lived in Brighton all of my life I couldn't quite get my head around Jay Hammond's rhetorical question: "Is an anti-gay song more offensive to a gay person than a gay Brighton is to a straight person?" (Letters, July 22).
How can you compare the two? Brighton does not go around saying all straight people should be killed, whereas Buju Banton's horrific lyrics clearly state that attitude to gay people.
Obviously, Mr Hammond is a Buju Banton fan and was upset at his concert being cancelled but I feel the work of groups/artist which displays any discrimination should not be seen as music, but rather as a racial/sexist/homophobic attack.
Perhaps Mr Hammond would feel differently if an artist/band were to display similar lyrics towards people of his race or sexuality.
This is not about musical tastes being censored but about lyrics that, without the music, would be seen as a homophobic attack.
I am unaware of Brighton turning into a "Pink Palace", perhaps because I do not live in Kemp Town, but I see Brighton as a place for, as Mr Hammond says, "free spirits", whether they are gay, straight, black, white, pink or purple.
If Mr Hammond is actually part of "free-spirited Brighton" as his letter suggests, perhaps he should rethink his attitudes towards people.
-Amy Elliott, Peacehaven
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