Poll: Non-Heterosexuality: A Possibly Unpopular Opinion

[theklng]

yadda

it takes a certain degree of openness to come 'out of the closet', agreed. but what takes even more is to recognize that there is no difference in sexuality. people tend to want to fit into social brackets or become role models, which is why you have groups in general. it's the pack mentality taking over.

people are forgetting that everyone is made differently, and everyone will have different tastes in any matter. being -sexual is not an absolute, it's a relativistic percentage. not every homosexual is 100% homosexual, not every heterosexual is 100% heterosexual (i actually postulate none are either).

personally i think sexuality is very superficial, and more a label than anything else. true sexuality, as it is, is to look beyond gender into your personal desires; not those of society or any social groups you may encounter or belong to.

 

[Agayek]

Context people, CONTEXT!
Backlash for being gay on the internet?
You will also receive backlash for preferring one console to another, or mixing up there/their/they're... I once had two pages devoted to calling me stupid for not liking the Big Labowski...
The internet is full of angry little children, and if you can't handle the taunts of a 14 year old on the other side of the world who goes apeshit over some *stupid* reason, then might I recommend a more suitable activity for your overly sensitive nature like clutching blankets, or talking to a bush, and leave the internet to people who know where the Big Red X, and the /ignore command is.

You are a terrible person.

How can you not like the Dude?!

PS - <3

And so I don't feel so incredibly bad by contributing absolutely nothing further to the thread, I give you:

Spoiler: A somewhat (not really) relevant picture

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

What. Hahhahaha noooo

Stop flaunting your heterosexuality in my face. You're fucking offending me, dick.

The fact is that people shouldn't have to hide their sexuality. It's not naivety and no-one's 'flaunting' it, it's just a fact that that person is a homosexual and they're not going to lie about it to make people feel more comfortable.

Homophobes should be confronted and if that happens on the internet, so be it. I'd rather they made their opinions known and got bashed for it than keeping them inside and never realising how fucking stupid they are.

Yeah, but what if your opponents happen to be 13 year old kids/rednecks? Seriously ... never going to change. Not while they have the white hood of the internet protecting their identity.

I play games to AVOID politics and drama. It's an 1 hour/day ritual that I love dearly. But seriously ... what good does it serve where flaunting one's sexuality is ALWAYS going to be met with idiocy?

Yes, I know I can turn voicechat off, but seriously .. some people use it to actually BETTER gameplay. People online are homophobic enough online prior to the stimulus of someone actually jumping up and down and criticising them on it.

Yes, the world would be a better place if nobody had any opinions of sexuality (because when it comes down to it ... nobody has anything they could possibly say to justify a sexual preference is better than another).

The only exception to this is possibly if there were only 1000 humans left on this planet and we needed every possible genetic deviation in the genepool to help repopulate the planet with the least imbred progeny we could hope for. Maybe them someone might have the right to turn around and say 'refusal to mate or removal of oneself from the genepool is banned'.

At the same time, games should be free of the external politics and drama of it's gamers.

 

[bobknowsall]

I'm sorry, I didn't realize what I was saying could be interpreted as "GRR, TRANSGENDERS SHOULD DIE GRARH!"

My mistake.

Did I actually say that was my interpretation? No.

If you're going to trans-bash, do it elsewhere. It's irrelevant to the thread, and I don't particularly want this thread to turn into a discussion about, "Man, transgender people are so fucking delusional".

Implying that transgender (something with no physical evidence supporting it's existence, that more resembles "otherkins" than anything else) is not a real condition is not the same as bashing.

Also, It is relevant to the thread, as anyone calming they're transgendered should receive psychiatric help, as they most likely have genuine trauma in their past. Your sexuality has no bearing on anything until it's revealed something may be genuinely wrong with you.

If anything, I'm bashing the people who support it as a real condition out of pure self-interest. Plastic surgeons, pharmaceutical companies, gay rights activists, all of the groups using these people to further their goals. Whether their goals are righteous or not is irrelevant, its wrong to reinforce a delusion for proverbial or literal profit.

Look, I'm not even going to have this discussion with you, because you're clearly not going to listen to me.

What you are saying is irrelevant, and I'd appreciate it if you went back the OT. I dislike thread-hijacks, especially when they're used to preach.

 

[JemJar]

Should black people have to keep their skin colour secret online? Of course not.

Should Christians / Muslims / Buddhists etc have to keep their faiths secret? Of course not.

End of.

 

[Skratt]

I don't really see how someone ELSE'S sexual orientation can bother anyone. Seems to waste a whole lot of energy to get worked up about something that does not hurt anyone and does not affect you in any way shape or form.

 

[The Wooster]

if you're English ****** just means a cigarette.

Hah. Um I think you'll find you're slightly misinformed there mate. A 'fag' refers to a cigarette. If you go around asking people if you can borrow a ****** you're either going to get a delicious meat based snack [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_%28food%29] or some very strange looks.

I would like to point out that being a homosexual is not just about where you choose to place your genitals in reference to someone elses.
How many people here like stand up comedy? How often do those stand up comedians use relationships and all the fluff that goes with it as material?
Why? Because we're all obsessed with our heterosexuality? No. It's because our sexuality and the decisions we make in light of it are a massive part of our life and they define us, probably more so than anything else we do. Denying homosexuals the right to discuss their lives like that simply because some morons can't identify with it is ridiculous.

 

[bobknowsall]

I vote yes.

Now, don't get me wrong, standard non-homophobic disclaimer applies, but it really comes down to whether you think you are thick-skinned enough to handle the flaming.

That's pretty much what I was trying to say. If you think you can handle the response, by all means say you're gay/lesbian/bi/trans/whatever. If you think it might be too much for you, just don't mention it.

 

[Agayek]

What. Hahhahaha noooo

Stop flaunting your heterosexuality in my face. You're fucking offending me, dick.

The fact is that people shouldn't have to hide their sexuality. It's not naivety and no-one's 'flaunting' it, it's just a fact that that person is a homosexual and they're not going to lie about it to make people feel more comfortable.

Homophobes should be confronted and if that happens on the internet, so be it. I'd rather they made their opinions known and got bashed for it than keeping them inside and never realising how fucking stupid they are.

Homophobes should be confronted? Yes.

People shouldn't have to hide their sexuality? Yes.

People should announce their sexuality at every available opportunity? No.

It's useless and silly and doesn't do anything but annoy people. Never be ashamed of who you are, regardless of what anyone says, but don't run around screaming about how you're different.

Including your sexuality in your screenname (or making it part of your introduction or anything of the like) falls into this latter category. It says you are not "normal" and comes with an implied request to be treated differently. Anyone that wants to be treated differently for their sexuality is crazy and/or stupid. Bring it up when it's relevant, and never be ashamed of it, but don't go running around screaming about it.

 

[bobknowsall]

and? the internet being imperfect has no bearing on my argument.

******'s more offensive, but only because gays are still widely seen as subhuman and/or defective to a degree (you know just like blacks were when ****** was a common word) then again if you're English ****** just means a cigarette. It's the same kind of discrimination, you just seem to be arguing that abuse against gays is warrented (on the net) because they brough it on themselves, which I find particularly odd since you're gay.

you're arguing for a sort of self imposed restriction. "just don't bring it up," it's not a strictly enforced restriction, but it's a restriction none the less.

Well, where I come from, ****** is a slur (and I don't live in the States).

I'm not condoning the discrimination, I'm just saying it's more widespread and accepted. And I'm not gay, but I see where you're coming from. I'm not saying that it's okay to discriminate, but that sexuality-based discrimination is something you can get away with.

If it's a self-imposed restriction, it's your own choice to apply it to yourself. I'm not necessarily advocating it, I'm just airing it for discussion.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

I mean, jeez, should I be banned from the Escapist because I happened to reveal that I'm trans in this post, even though its related to the topic?

You seem to be missing the point. I'm not advocating a new policy that bans or censors people for revealing that they're non-heterosexual. I'm trying to discuss the personal choice to keep things on the down-low.

Well, obviously, that's a personal choice, so I fail to see where the need for a poll comes in. If people feel comfortable about coming out, they probably will, if not, they probably won't, and if they don't know about themselves yet, they're probably going to want some help from people who have gone through what they have. There's really no reason for us to impede on this decision. I'm sorry, I guess I did misinterpret the whole "ban" thing, but from what I read in your post, if anyone were to reveal something relating to his or her sexuality or gender identity anywhere outside of his or her profile, you would not approve, which makes me a sad panda.

Also, the term non-heterosexual is somewhat offensive. It makes LGBT people seem like they're mutants or something, and unless you're Willy, that just isn't true.

Spoiler

Well, he's actually a cyborg, but whatever.

 

[Dexiro]

I don't think backlash has anything to do with it. But they can't be suprised if people respond negatively.

My main opinion is that they shouldn't bring it up unless it's completly necessary.
I see people too readily yelling out I'M GAY when it wasn't called for. It's mostly just seeking attention or trying to trigger some flames.

If it's relevant to the conversation though and they can handle any backlash appropriatly then there's no problem with it at all.

 

[bobknowsall]

Should black people have to keep their skin colour secret online? Of course not.

Should Christians / Muslims / Buddhists etc have to keep their faiths secret? Of course not.

End of.

You make it sound as though I want to censor them. That is exactly the opposite of what I intended to say. I was talking about making a personal choice, and what you guys thought of it. I don't want to make anyone else's decisions for them.

 

[bobknowsall]

I mean, jeez, should I be banned from the Escapist because I happened to reveal that I'm trans in this post, even though its related to the topic?

You seem to be missing the point. I'm not advocating a new policy that bans or censors people for revealing that they're non-heterosexual. I'm trying to discuss the personal choice to keep things on the down-low.

Well, obviously, that's a personal choice, so I fail to see where the need for a poll comes in. If people feel comfortable about coming out, they will, if not, they won't, and if they don't know about themselves yet, they're probably going to want some help from people who have gone through what they have. There's really no reason for us to impede on this decision. I'm sorry, I guess I did misinterpret the whole "ban" thing, but from what I read in your post, if anyone were to reveal something relating to his or her sexuality or gender identity anywhere outside of his or her profile, you would not approve, which makes me a sad panda.

Also, the term non-heterosexual is somewhat offensive. It makes LGBT people seem like they're mutants or something, and unless your Willy, that just isn't true.

Spoiler

Well, he's actually a cyborg, but whatever.

The poll might have been a tad unnecessary, yeah. I don't have a problem with people expressing their sexuality online, I just want them to understand that people might respond negatively. I have no desire to actively censor people. I just want them to avoid the hate speech.

I'm just using non-heterosexual as a catch-all term, because it's easier to write then listing every possible alternate sexuality. But hey, maybe that's just heteronormativity talking.

 

[Treblaine]

Other.

I hate your poll. Why? because you load the simple question "should X do Y" with a pointless, confusing and contradictory "unless" clause. that's just... GRRRR, you can't give your opinion for one thing without giving your opinion for another. you might as well ask the old diddy "are you still beating your wife?"

Why is polling so hard for people to get RIGHT!

But if the question was JUST "Should LGBT people keep their sexuality secret online" then I'd say NO and that extends to enforcing communities not to be abusive towards gays. People need to get real and stop living in the 20th century, it may be very convenient to sweep it under the rug but gays need to be able to interact with the rest of the world on equal footing not just for their benefit but for all of us.

When we get into the game of saying certain groups must take an oath of silence "for their own good" we all miss out as we end up with an extremely distorted view of the demographics of the society we live in.

Bottom line, we don't need a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for the good running of a bloody gamers network! This isn't the marine corps no matter how much we may play various space marines.

 

[JemJar]

Should black people have to keep their skin colour secret online? Of course not.

Should Christians / Muslims / Buddhists etc have to keep their faiths secret? Of course not.

End of.

You make it sound as though I want to censor them. That is exactly the opposite of what I intended to say. I was talking about making a personal choice, and what you guys thought of it. I don't want to make anyone else's decisions for them.

Sorry, I didn't mean to leave the ambiguity, I was aware you weren't directly intending to censor them or anything.

My point is that I don't think we would be having this thread if you replaced "homosexuality" with "ethnic origin" and "gay" with "black". And yet we are and I'm not sure why we are.

 

[bobknowsall]

Should black people have to keep their skin colour secret online? Of course not.

Should Christians / Muslims / Buddhists etc have to keep their faiths secret? Of course not.

End of.

You make it sound as though I want to censor them. That is exactly the opposite of what I intended to say. I was talking about making a personal choice, and what you guys thought of it. I don't want to make anyone else's decisions for them.

Sorry, I didn't mean to leave the ambiguity, I was aware you weren't directly intending to censor them or anything.

My point is that I don't think we would be having this thread if you replaced "homosexuality" with "ethnic origin" and "gay" with "black". And yet we are and I'm not sure why we are.

That's because calling someone a "n****er" is going to turn people against you a whole lot faster than calling someone a "f****t". Gays and blacks are both considered minorities, but they are very, very different in terms of how they're treated.

 

[bobknowsall]

Other.

I hate your poll. Why? because you load the simple question "should X do Y" with a pointless, confusing and contradictory "unless" clause. that's just... GRRRR, you can't give your opinion for one thing without giving your opinion for another. you might as well ask the old diddy "are you still beating your wife?"

Why is polling so hard for people to get RIGHT!

But if the question was JUST "Should LGBT people keep their sexuality secret online" then I'd say NO and that extends to enforcing communities not to be abusive towards gays. People need to get real and stop living in the 20th century, it may be very convenient to sweep it under the rug but gays need to be able to interact with the rest of the world on equal footing not just for their benefit but for all of us.

When we get into the game of saying certain groups must take an oath of silence "for their own good" we all miss out as we end up with an extremely distorted view of the demographics of the society we live in.

Bottom line, we don't need a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for the good running of a bloody gamers network! This isn't the marine corps no matter how much we may play various space marines.

Wow, sorry if my hastily-constructed poll offended you so.

I'd love it if discrimination were to stop, but it's not going to. I'm not talking about changing the entire internet, I'm talking about avoiding hate speech.