http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20070122&s=wildman012207" target="_blank" class="articlelink" rel="nofollow">piece--about how the European right is warming up to Jews--made me think about another minority group that the right may make headway with: gays. For many years, the European left was the natural home for gays. But, now that gay equality has been enshrined in most European countries, the political landscape is shifting. Muslim immigrants moving to Europe are not exactly keen on homosexuality (never mind its legal recognition), and some of their more virulent spokesmen have repeatedly made clear their desire to not only repeal those laws, but have called for violence against gay people. " target="new"class="articlelink">Pim Fortuyn, the gay Dutch politician (repeatedly and incorrectly referred to as "far-right" by the European media) murdered in 2002 for his statements on Muslim immigrants who refused to assimilate, served as a poignant example of what could soon emerge as a constituency for the European right. The left's loss of Jewish support has as much to do with demographics as it does ideology: It is not just because Muslims vastly outnumber (and thus, provide more votes than) Jews that left wing parties have become so virulently critical of Israel; it's also because of a general shift in European left ideology from supporting the Jewish state soon after its creation (when it was the underdog) to supporting the new underdog, the Palestinians. Gays may soon face the brunt of a similar cynical trend in left politics, as protecting Muslim "cultural sensitivities" proves more important to the European left than winning (comparably paltry) gay votes. Ken Livingstone, the socialist mayor of London, is a prominent example of an ostensibly pro-gay politician selling out homosexuals (and not to mention, women, Jews, and moderate Muslims) to pander to Islamic fascism. How many more will follow? -- James Kirchick