Pet Shop Boys turn Irish drag queen's speech into club anthem

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      A speech about homophobia and gay rights by Irish drag queen Panti Bliss (Rory O'Neill) at Dublin's Abbey Theatre took went viral in February.

      The passionate speech was a response to backlash to O'Neill's January 11 appearance on The Saturday Night show during which he called several Irish journalists homophobic. Those named threatened legal action for defamation. The state-owned broadcaster apologized and issued payments as settlement.

      In the speech, Panti Bliss points out how people who have never experienced homophobia in their lives have lectured him on what homophobia is. And, like many aggressors who refuse to take responsibility for their own actions by deferring responsibility on to their victims, how homophobes have turned around the word around to their own advantage. (Are you listening, Rob "I've got gay friends" Ford?)

      So the Pet Shop Boys did the next homological thing and remixed it into a club anthem. After all, nothing says empowerment like a booty shaking on the dance floor (especially when someone hands you a tambourine).

      Dublin-based musicmaker Out!rage also created a dance track from the speech as a fundraiser for LGBT youth services.

      If you haven't heard the original speech, here it is sans beats.

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