In other bizarro news, a gay man has been charged with "breach of peace" after calling a straight cop a "poof."

Marc Sneddon had been walking his dogs when he came across former detective Stephen Whelehan. The men got into an argument, Sneddon allegedly kicked Whelehan's dog and then offered some anti-gay epithets.

Following the scuffle, Sneddon and his boyfriend, Graham Spence called the police and Sneddon found himself in the clink.

Spence recalls the events:

His dog attacked ours. Marc asked him to put it on a lead and got a torrent of abuse. Whelehan started calling him a 'wee fucking poofter'.

Marc was provoked and asked whether he had a problem with his sexuality and did his wife know he was in the closet. Marc reported it to police but we were stunned when HE was charged. There were no witnesses but Whelehan's mother claimed she had been there. I was held for allegedly shouting abuse but the fiscal didn't take it further.

Whelehan recalls it differently: he claims Sneddon was the one who hurled the epithets and suggested Sneddon's rage came from unrequited love: "This started because those gay guys fancy me."