Ann Althouse reminded me that I don't like figure skating. Never have, never will. I also don't like Barbra Streisand. Neither musically, nor politically.

While there's no accounting for taste (and thus no accounting for those who like "Barbra"), I wish people wouldn't make tasteless demands like this:

Call me a stereotype if you will but I think there should be a law requiring all gays to own at least one Babsi "Best Of"! Barbra Streisand is not only one of the greatest vocalists of all time, she's also one of our most enduring gay icons. Like her or lump her, it's hard to deny that Barbra is a part of our gay cultural heritage.

I'd go so far as to say that I dislike Barbra Streisand even more than figure skating. If someone insisted I watch figure skating, I could manage to stay in the same room with the TV set on. But with Barbra Streisand on, I'd leave the room. The sounds of her voice are about as pleasant to me as the unnerving screeching sounds which are made when Coco gets hungry and drags her plastic bowl across the wooden kitchen floor.

However, none of that changes my position on embattled Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, who continues to remain in the news. I like the fact that despite his capitulation after death threats by animal rights activists, he continues to grumble.

U.S. figure skater Johnny Weir says he received threats from anti-fur activists that made him fear for his safety, causing him to scrub any plans to stay at a hotel while in Vancouver for the Olympics.

"I felt very threatened," he said Saturday. "I'm not allowed to say how everything got through, but my agent got letters and faxes and e-mails. I got letters at the ice rink, somebody found my phone number.

"All these crazy fur people. Security-wise, to stay in a hotel would be very difficult. There have been threats against me. I didn't want to get hurt."

Weir is sharing a suite with U.S. ice dancer Tanith Belbin in the Olympic village. The longtime friends have their own bedrooms and bathrooms.

Belbin won Olympic silver in 2006 with partner Ben Agosto. A three-time national champion, Weir, who finished fifth in Torino, was third at this year's nationals to gain the final spot on the U.S. team.

The men's short program is Tuesday with the free skate set for Thursday.

"I'm just an easy person to pick on because I like fur," he said. "It's easy to put your case against an athlete who is going to the Olympics. It's a very good, easy thing for these activists.

"It's a very scary thing. I'm a figure skater, I'm not some huge politician who gets these things all the time."

So yeah, he is easy to pick on, and if these damned animal rights activists weren't so well connected on the left, what happened to him might very well be called homophobia.

Why don't they go pick on bikers for wearing leather at, say, the annual Sturgis Motorcycle rally? I'm sure the guys who show up to lobby their state legislators against helmet laws would be very receptive to animal rights activists issuing death threats against them for wearing leather.

The reason the AR people don't do that is certainly not philosophical, for they consider leather to be no different than fur or wool. It's all "fatal fashion," and "A Look That Kills":

Every year, millions of animals are killed for the clothing industry. Whether they come from Chinese fur farms, Indian slaughterhouses, or the Australian outback, an immeasurable amount of suffering goes into every fur-trimmed jacket, leather belt, and wool sweater.

Or between them and ordinary business and professional men wearing wool suits and leather shoes.

The real target is not fur. Most fur is farmed from animals raised for that specific purpose, and slaughtered as humanely as any other farm animal. To oppose fur and not oppose leather is inconsistent, even hypocritical.

So why pick on Johnny Weir? The answer is that he's an obvious, vulnerable target.

How brave of them.

MORE: Thanks for the comments, and I especially loved the one from "Vince":

Your disdain for Barbra, the greatest voice of the century, proves that you are an unhappy vindictive individual. You don't have the capacity to enjoy the fact that you are living at the same time as this Living Legend. Barbra reigns,shame on you.