Personally, I'd love it if you came out with those euphemisms - it would demonstrate some light-heartedness that too many advocates of political correctness seem to lack. If you can't detect any humour in 'jobby wheecher', 'keg-pipe cosmonaut' or 'riding the northern line' (neither of which I'd heard of until my gay work colleague helped me compile the post), then you must be living a really grim-faced life.
It's not that I don't have a sense of humor about that kind of thing (How do you fit four gay men on a barstool? Turn it over.) but I think Ardsgaine said it best:
They're insulting in the context of a political debate about gay rights between strangers.
I wouldn't just come out and call you a breeder because I don't know if you
would find that funny or not. For me, it's about respect. Once we know each other, playful banter like that might be considered ok.
[by b] "There are so many situations where the issue of sexuality does come up that the only way for me to hide who I am is to lie."
Again, I have to thank Ardsgaine for his insight here:
Your marital status, who you're dating, what you did over the weekend, what clubs you like to go to, etc, these are all questions related to sexuality that can come up in daily conversations. It can also come up in political discussions, or if some guy mentions that he saw a stupid bumper sticker and starts ranting about gay people trying to push their sexuality in his face.
The rest were quite obviously a laugh, as I mentioned at the start of this post, so chill out. You'll be a lot closer to general acceptance when you learn to have a giggle at your own expense, and no-one likes a sourpuss.
Once I know you, and know that your words are meant in jest and are not meant to be mean, we're cool. Some people, in defense of gay rights, have used homophobic and anti homosexual to label other members of this board. Since something has been said about that not being right, I feel both sides should refrain from name calling, even it is in jest. Not everybody can laugh that kinda thing off.
At no point do you need gay-specific laws to protect yourself. Maybe that's the real reason I roll my eyes at gay rights activism; the number of lawyers it causes.....
All of my posts have been for equal treatment, not special treatment. As Ardsgaine said (damn, he's beaten me to every point) just get rid of the laws the prevent exercise of full rights.
MDL Marriage is a religious sacrament, so I think bible-bashers and God-botherers (see, I have euphemisms for everyone) should be the ones to decide yay or nay, and the Christian God says it just ain't right. I don't think that you should be able to over-ride their religious rights just to give you gay rights, so if you want a white wedding in a lovely chapel, I say tough luck. Go to a Registry Office.
ArdsgaineHe can't. That's just the point. I don't believe that Christian priests should be forced to perform wedding ceremonies either. I don't think that's what is asking for either. He should be allowed to enter into a marriage contract, though, and have the contract respected by the law.
MDL I also think that as long as kids get the crap beaten out of them in the playground because two guys turned up to the PTA meeting the night before, there should be a big question mark over gay adoptions. This is a situation where your lifestyle choice can have a dramatic effect on a third party, and it'd be disingenuous of you to deny that.
Ardsgaine It's disingenous of you to pretend that the problem with that scenario is the gay parents. The problem is with the heterosexual parents.
Ditto to everything Ardsgaine said. You can read my thoughts on gay adoption in
this thread on JJR512. I'm towards the bottom of the page.
As for the gay Olympics, I don't see what difference it makes if they exist or not. If I were good at some sport, I would want to compete in the regular Olympics so that I could say, "I'm the best damn runner in the world and I'm gay." Not, "I'm the best gay runner in the world." I think that participants in the gay Olympics may be selling themselves short by competing in a restricted competition like that. On the other hand, if Cleveland had seen a gay man running at the 2002 Olympics wearing a pink tank top and rainbow running shorts, who's to say he wouldn't of started up a thread here saying that the runner was shoving his sexuality in peoples faces. The gay Olympics are there so that gay people who are afraid of the way they might be treated at an event that is dominated by straight people can be free to be themselves and compete as openly gay athletes.