There's No England Now...

[Starlight]

I have friends in the US who can't show public acts of affection.

Pretty much all NZ gay couples I've talked to say they would never walk down the street holding hands for fear of being verbally or physically abused for it.

Today every TV show seems to have included a gay character and stories even get re-written so that at least one character is gay.

And they're not the villain? *gasp*

In Malaysia the official policy of the film censorship board is that gay characters are allowed in films only if they "repent" or die. That amuses me somewhat, in a it's-so-sad-you-just-have-to-laugh kinda way.

[Mountain Man]

There are plenty of degrees of bisexuality. Plenty of men who consider themselves completely heterosexual might have had a gay experience or two, or have gone to an all-boys high-school and had homosexual experiences during that time. C.S. Lewis in one of his books comments that it happened at his high school, and that to the best of his knowledge the kids grew up to be 'perfectly normal' heterosexual men.

Oh, right, it's the "Everybody is really gay, but not everybody is brave enough to admit it" canard.

[Starlight]

And they're always depicted as the ones who have their lives together and are overflowing with wisdom while heterosexual couples are frequently depicted as dysfunctional.

True to reality then. Gay men have a much lower divorce rate.

What are you watching? I watch a lot of US TV and frankly I can only think off the top of my head of one show that even had a gay couple in it and it was a minor character. While I am all for gay people being fairly and accurately represented on TV in proportion to reality, that doesn't seem to have happened yet, at least in what I've watched. Somehow it doesn't surprise me in the least that you've got a not-so-secret love for watching TV shows full of gay characters.

[One Bad Pig]

The good old days, eh?



It has never been cool to be gay, except amongst other gay people. It's certainly a lot less violent, but I have friends in the US who can't show public acts of affection. In Denmark it's better, but I know more than one gay friend who's been the victim of anti-gay violence.

A relative who attended a prestigious private school in upstate New York (about a decade ago now) had a gay classmate. The teacher openly doted on him.

[Leonhard]

Oh, right, it's the "Everybody is really gay, but not everybody is brave enough to admit it" canard.

I'm not sure what choice those who hold it's a treatable ailment has if there's every going to be any justification for gay conversion camps. If it's innate, there is no way to cure it. If it's merely a desire acted upon that exists in a lot of people, then adds plausibility to the idea that homosexual attraction is a habit, which can be broken by whatever crazy cocktail of spirituality, abuse and macho stuff that goes on in 'cure the gay' camps now a days.

[Leonhard]

A relative who attended a prestigious private school in upstate New York (about a decade ago now) had a gay classmate. The teacher openly doted on him.

You know a guy, who knows a guy. I stand corrected One Bad Pig, that one example just blew my entire life experience out of the water.

[Meh Gerbil]

True to reality then. Gay men have a much lower divorce rate.

What are you watching? I watch a lot of US TV and frankly I can only think off the top of my head of one show that even had a gay couple in it and it was a minor character. While I am all for gay people being fairly and accurately represented on TV in proportion to reality, that doesn't seem to have happened yet, at least in what I've watched. Somehow it doesn't surprise me in the least that you've got a not-so-secret love for watching TV shows full of gay characters.

Gays are everywhere these days.
Most of the moderation team at TWEB is gay.

[seer]

I don't get the "but", in your statement. Bullying gays in school is not acceptable. Beating up a gay person in a bar is not okay. Whether we condemn homosexual behavior or not. There is no "but" here. Doing those things is wrong, approving of them is wrong, accepting them is wrong, period, excalation mark, "Jimmy you're expelled for a week for hitting Bob over this."

The 'but' had nothing to do with violence of any kind. It had to do with exactly what I said - we should not accept this behavior as good or moral, just as we should not accept things like fornication, prostitution or adultery.

[Meh Gerbil]

The 'but' had nothing to do with violence of any kind. It had to do with exactly what I said - we should not accept this behavior as good or moral, just as we should not accept things like fornication, prostitution or adultery.

How about gluttony, materialism, and judgmentalism?
At every church I've been to those things aren't condemned, they're celebrated.

[Leonhard]

The 'but' had nothing to do with violence of any kind. It had to do with exactly what I said - we should not accept this behavior as good or moral, just as we should not accept things like fornication, prostitution or adultery.

[Mountain Man]

True to reality then. Gay men have a much lower divorce rate.

What are you watching? I watch a lot of US TV and frankly I can only think off the top of my head of one show that even had a gay couple in it and it was a minor character. While I am all for gay people being fairly and accurately represented on TV in proportion to reality, that doesn't seem to have happened yet, at least in what I've watched. Somehow it doesn't surprise me in the least that you've got a not-so-secret love for watching TV shows full of gay characters.

There are a significant number of dramas and sitcoms that have at least one gay character. It's not like you have to go out of your way to find them in popular media. Even a casual watcher like me can't avoid it, which is part of the reason I don't watch much television at all.

[Meh Gerbil]

There are a significant number of dramas and sitcoms that have at least one gay character. It's not like you have to go out of your way to find them in popular media. Even a casual watcher like me can't avoid it, which is part of the reason I don't watch much television at all.

So fornicating couples, violence, and blasphemy didn't do it?

[One Bad Pig]

You know a guy, who knows a guy. I stand corrected One Bad Pig, that one example just blew my entire life experience out of the water.

Hey, when you say "never", how many examples does it take to prove you wrong? Should I have not taken you literally?

(as it happens, I know a gal, who knows a guy)

[seer]

How about gluttony, materialism, and judgmentalism?
At every church I've been to those things aren't condemned, they're celebrated.

Nonsense, they were not celebrated in any church I ever attended!

[One Bad Pig]

Nonsense, they were not celebrated in any church I ever attended!

Given that he's ostensibly recounting his own experience, it's possible. Materialism is certainly celebrated in some churches. While I've never seen gluttony celebrated, I never once in my Protestant days heard a sermon against it.