to be fed up with homophobia on MN

[smittenkitten]

today there was the thread about being 'uncomfortable' with a secondary school telling kids it's OK to be gay. a short while ago there was a post about someone being freaked out by two women kissing on a bus.

calling it being 'uncomfortable' is still homophobia. we wouldn't tolerate racism on here - imagine "i'm concerned that my DC's school wants to say it's OK to be black". the OP would be rightly slammed, but instead the queers on MN have to put up with people defending bigotry saying that people are entitled to have a POV etc.

Freedom of speech does not include the right to victimise and marginalise others for their race, religion, sexuality, age or other irrelevant attributes. I don't think its unreasonable to want MN to be a safe space where we don't have to deal with homophobia.

pagwatch, your post of 16.19 - brilliantly put

Shocking OP. Homophobic is the last thing I would call Mumsnet.

You were obviously not around when A poster declared her love for another female poster, neither were you around when ONE OP asked all bisexual mumsnetters come forward and declare themselves, now I tell you, these were lenghty "feel-good threads".

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why thank you HG! .
You have made a grizzled old prude very happy

Hmm. Haven't read the whole thread but have to say I don't think MN is homophobic on the whole at all. It positively reflects the different attitudes we all have towards different things.

I personally have felt incredibly supported in my very long time here as a MNer - as has dp! When potentially homophobic views are expressed they're usually very quickly countered - and not always by me!

Just wanted to say I very much appreciate the support and acceptance I've had and have from MN - feeling the love..!

Actually Dotty, I remember there was a technical problem one evening, and I posted a thread with the title "I want to lie down in a dark room with Dottydot". Seemed we both had the same problem, we could not post on old threads, only new..

sorry hijack, funny memory, I did not then know you were gay so hope no offence...!

MF

"I am not bigoted against catholics and muslims, at all. I am against people who have the views that being gay is wrong."

I don't know about muslims, but I do know that Catholic teaching is not that being gay is wrong but that acting on those desires is. In the same way that any sex outside of marriage is. So it is the sexual activity that is considered wrong, not the homosexuality.

Would you be bigoted against people who hold those views? And if so is that really homophobia? IMHO it is not.

FFS Upwind, she's already explained that she is not!! - I think you should look up the definition of bigotry to be honest instead of twisting another poster's words.

decent catholics don't expend energy on such trivia. choosing instead to focus on social injustice, war, poverty and other matters more directly relevant to jesus' teachings. ditto muslims re mohammad's teachings.

sophable - I agree

but I was very curious at what others thought

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Sorry, did not mean to cause offence - I was genuinely curious about religion/homophobia.

A bigot is someone who is intolerant of opinions or lifestyles that differ from their own. If you are intolerant of those who disaprove of public displays of affection olr teaching 12 year olds it is okay to be gay, like it or not, you are a bigot.

Quintessentially - I remember that thread - no offence at all - it's not often people want to lie down in a dark room with me!

I'm (clearly) naive: but I wasn't aware there was homophobia in the UK. I guess I'm sheltered. I have never heard a homophobic remark in the 10 years I've lived here. (Well, only once, by a columnist for I think the Telegraph, who is just so personally f*cked up and probably gay himself but in denial, so I excused it). There's racism herethat's rampantbut I'm surprised there's sill homophobia. That's just so sort of pre-1990s in my mind. Obviously there's still some of it in the US--but let's face it, the US has some catching up to do in social maters! But is there really a lot of it here? Even my ultra conservative FIL doesn't have a homophobic bone in his body. I haven't read the whole thread, but just am so surprised by the first several posts that are suggesting an element of homophobia even on normally open-minded mumsnet.

expatkat - like everything else, I think it depends on your definition of "homophobia"

I think these words are thrown around too easily & it distracts from tackling it where it does exist. Dottydot's posts show the problem on MN can't be that bad

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There's nothing wrong with upwind's post. It makes sense, taken in context.

I hate, I fucking hate seeing people kiss in public. It quite literally makes me want to puke.

I give a damned find blow job, however. Square that one, eh?

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Yes, it does.

In public, yes it does. A kiss is one thing, but tongues and fondling.

Nope.

MF - I've hit a nerve

Do you really mean that if homophobia was a generally accepted prejudice there would be nothing wrong with it? Because it has been in times past.

Maybe you should also update wikipedia to fit your version?

"By MotherFunk on Mon 24-Mar-08 14:03:37
Public displays of affection make people uncomfortable - if they are prudes.

Those people must have wild sex lives.. hmm

By MotherFunk on Mon 24-Mar-08 14:46:14
Er, I would have to say that people who have an adverse reaction to seeing people snogging must be slightly less extroverted sexually.

Doesn't mean your sex life is crap, probably not as exciting as some peoples, and probably more 'plain'. Each to their own though."

that's why i thought you were young, MF, because i think that on this thread you jump to the actually rather insulting conclusion (and hold to it, when pressed) that people who don't like seeing other people with their tongues down each other's throats must have a crap sex life. it's just an really immature stance, imo.

yes, you could have been fifty-five and hold the same kiddie viewpoint, but that and other views you've expressed (your steadfast refusal to believe that people in Britain are ignorant of HIV transmission methods just because you and your pals aren't, despite a MORI poll and other evidence to the contrary) suggested to me that you were not. i thought mid-twenties, and so you are. it's just a bit 'we invented sex', that's all, a bit cringey.

by the way, i've been out at the transport museum enjoying the sight of Spencer from Balamory's trike, that's why i didn't respond before.

At least you have a good excuse Aitch, the gap in my responses is because I was out searching for cut-price posh easter eggs

I don't see how being uncomfortable with someones behavior is homophobia tbh.

I am all for live and let live but I don't have to like how another person lives, my personal view is not victimizing.

Not that I have a problem with being gay it is every individuals right to be what they want, however that does not mean everyone has to be delighted with it.

My mother does not like to watch "gay" kisses on t.v or such and it is her right not to like it as much as it is the right of the person to do it.

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