Pride month

What rights do men have that women don't? I'm genuinely interested.

This is a bit of a silly argument, but sure, I'll bite:

When could straight women be sent to prison just for being women?

When was it illegal for straight women to be mentioned in schools?

When could straight women be reported to social services and have their children taken away simply for being women?

When were straight women banned from getting married?

We could have this argument all day, but my point is NOT that gay people have it harder than straight women, just that equal rights for women did not eradicate sexism, in the same way that equal rights for gay people did not eradicate homophobia.

I agree and feel the same. I'm a lesbian from a culture where I could very well be killed if I was "out" in my home country, and I am so grateful to live in the UK where I can live my life in relative peace.

It's important to remember that this relative peace (and it is relative-me and my partner do not hold hands in certain parts of the UK), is very new and built on shaky foundations.

I hate pride, I hate being associated with furries and degenerates, I hate the alphabet soup.

I wish all these corporations would fuck off with their nonsense.

But please remember that for the most part, lesbian and gay people want to live their lives in peace like everyone else, they have just had to fight harder to do so, and as a result of the pride crap, our lives have become that much harder again because there is an increasing backlash because we are now associated with what pride has become. And this thread demonstrates that.

Purposeful mischaracterisation and redirection away from the point I was making. It is sneering when people deny the ongoing existence of homophobia, and characterise people celebrating a part of themselves targeted for marginalisation and mistreatment as simply seeking attention. It is very easy to challenge the lack of a damn that so many organisation give about sex equality, and the unequal treatment of issues of discrimination, without erasing homophobia.

The corporate rainsbows aren’t just meaningless rainbow washing though. They are indicative of organisations that have signed up to Stonewall (or similar) schemes that unlawfully discriminate against women. It is the same schemes that demand rainbows that also demand women validate any man who wishes to use their changing room, like the nurses forced to strip in front of a man. Or harasses them out of work, like Alison Bailey or Jo Phoenix. It is the same scheme that tells schools they must tell 4 year olds they can choose to be a boy or a girl and they can take magic pills to make it happen whilst keeping it secret from parents….

The idea that homophobia will be challenged by a Pride month is ridiculous. People can think or feel what they like, it is only discrimination in the workplace etc. that makes a difference. Most dislike of homosexuality is likely to be driven by people's religious beliefs or conservative views and watching a current pride march complete with furries, and other kinks is likely to confirm those views.

Women still do not have equal rights even in law, or in law-making. It is not sneering to say so. Yet there is just one day dedicated to women and that is used by the LBGTQIA+ lobby to promote men. (International Men’s Day is 19th November).

Thanks for linking to Kathleen Stock’s article, @Username65

The month of rainbows is beyond tedious and I actively avoid shops etc that have a rainbow on display. I don’t know any LGB people who are discriminated against or disadvantaged as a result of their sexuality in 2024, and the other letters are meaningless, so the entire shebang feels like empty virtue signalling and a huge, cynical attempt by big corporations to seem “with it” and increase profits.🥱

👏 👏 👏

Indeed. I couldn’t agree more with people here pointing out the cynical commercialism behind companies who have never done a thing to help LGBT people turning their website rainbow coloured once a year.

But some of the comments have clearly attempted to deny the very real and ongoing marginalisation of same sex attracted people. I also hate what pride has become today. But I’m cognisant of the fact that it still often the first opportunity for a young person to exist openly and even proudly (how dare they!?) without shame and derision. The characterisation of every participant as an attention seeker or fetishist is vile.

The marginalisation of people for being LGB is the not same as that faced by women. Doesn’t make it irrelevant or something to be sneered at. Plenty of us deal with misogyny and marginalisation for being same sex attracted. It would be great if people could refrain from using the first fact to erase the second.

Women have had equal rights in the UK for far longer than gay people

When did gay men get the vote?
What is the pay differential between gay people and straight people?
Is there an under-representation of gay people in parliament still?
How recently were gay men admitted to the Garrick club?
Do straight children inherit titles before gay ones?

I think this is a very vulgar way of viewing sexual orientation. When you introduce people to your husband, would you expect them to say, "I have no interest in who you want to have sex with!"

@Fariha31 meant non-exclusively, not none exclusively.

To everyone saying, "Being gay or lesbian is totally accepted now!", try telling that to the gay children who were so uncomfortable being gay that they'd rather try to become the opposite sex, or the lesbians who are called bigots for not wanting to have sex with men who call themselves lesbians, or any gay person who has experienced homophobia (hint: it's pretty much all of us).

I am a lesbian who also dislikes Pride, thinks Pride month is ridiculous and hates what the TQ+ has done to it, but I also hate it when straight people act like homophobia has been magically eradicated. Women have had equal rights in the UK for far longer than gay people, and we haven't eradicated sexism, have we?

Interesting piece from Kathleen Stock today

Pride is an increasingly empty religion, and I’m flying the flag for the heretics

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/907a8404-d43b-4b38-ba3d-461fc2db71f1?shareToken=f652e36a4065868ce9812e4aa95b7ad7

I don’t, and if you read my post you’d see I clearly wrote LGBT not LGB.

I don’t think people can actually change their sex and nor do I think attempts to do so should be promoted as a way to manage distress or mental ill health.

I do think that adults can and will make decisions that I personally believe to be unwise, that transgender people experience marginalisation and mistreatment, and that they deserve to be treated with respect and granted the same rights as everyone else (though not granted rights over and above that of others).

Again, none of these positions are mutually exclusive.

I’m an older lesbian, very gender critical

Ok, I don't get how you can be LGBT yourself but be naive enough to think it' will automatically stop at the letter you're offended by. In your case, the T.

the only problem, as you put it, I have is with activists who insist that you can change sex by the magic of words. The corollary of that means that blokes who call themselves women get to, lets say, compete in women's sports, run rape crisis centres, get put into women's prisons. You ok with all that?

It would be really nice if people could separate their distaste for the alphabet mafia squad and the ridiculous event pride has become from denying the reality that LGBT people still face marginalisation because ‘I don’t care or want to know who you sleep with’.

I’m an older lesbian, very gender critical and extremely concerned about the grooming and transing of children in ‘queer’ spaces. I am disgusted by the moves to grant access to female single sex spaces to males. But I am also exhausted to see the notion that people are flaunting their sexuality simply by being gay and not quiet about it floated in a feminist space in 2024.

None of these positions are mutually exclusive or logically inconsistent. Many of the comments here are extremely disappointing.

Oh, should have known you just had a problem with the T part.
Bash Pride with "where's my straight day?! I want a straight day!" then hide behind " I only meant trans people" as presumably you thought it would fly on this board
Ok, do you.
Go set up your straight day if that's what you want

the comparator was meant to be with the trans day of remembrance , which if it followed pro rata with the actual number of trans murder victims in this country would actually equate to a trans tea break of remembrance.

Nothing to do with "wearing straight lanyards" and "straight laces" 🙄
They'll be meaning like if you're straight like me I can go through town holding my husband's hand or giving him a kiss and not worrying about verbal abuse or worse.

I'm straight and think you're being bloody ridiculous.
To conflate women being killed with Pride Month that celebrates LGBT.
Whataboutery at its finest.
On a par with men crying "what about National Mens Day?!" on National Women's Day.

this is what happens when corporations exploit these occasions to make profits. then they become totally meaningless

I am still seeing a lot of it. I work in a very woke industry though, and in Canada.

That being said, I have heard locally about companies looking to quietly step back from observing awareness days in general. Banking sector for example. What I've been told is that it's become really a huge deal to try and do something for every one, and if any are missed it creates complaints, plus some are of course more divisive and that leads to other issues.

And there seems to be a feeling that many people are resenting them in general, not just Pride but all the things they are supposed to be observing to be Good people. At the banks behest.

So really a potential liability for the company plus time and money. There seems to be a sense that they should focus mainly on their products and services.