What do you think about the rainbow flag?

[DJLippy]

Does anyone else get a shudder when they see a rainbow flag outside a venue? Harry the Owl compared it to a Nazi flag and I'm inclined to agree.

I'm Bisexual so I should be thrilled to find all these inclusive spaces but I just feel a stab of anxiety and make a mental note to steer well clear. It's a real physiological reaction not something I can control.

A few years ago I used to love seeing the pride flag outside bars. I guess back then it actually meant something. Now I feel like it's actually a sign of exclusion - that anyone who doesn't believe that twaw is not safe there.

Also it does kind of imply that all the other venues are a threat to the LGBTQI++ people. I actually get a lot less grief being with a woman in a normie bar than I would in a gay bar. What's more its often just random cafes and shops which as far as I am aware have no gay history. Just feels like a cheap virtue signal by straight woke folk.

I'd be interested in hearing from people who are same sex attracted. Do you feel that the flag which used to represent your community been appropriated by male supremacists? Do you self exclude from spaces which fly the rainbow flag?

Oh dear ReinstateLangCleg I think you should Google political lesbianism. You clearly don't know what it is.

I did just now to double-check!

Where have I have misunderstood?

Political lesbianism is associated with radical/second wave feminism, and says that lesbianism is essentially a choice, and one that feminists ought to make. This is why political lesbians are sometimes not seen as "real" lesbians, and it forms part of the "nature versus nurture" debates about sexual orientation. At this point, I'm not sure I'd entirely agree with the idea of same-sex attraction/sexual orientation being socially constructed or something one can choose, though I'm increasingly sympathetic to radical feminist analyses when it comes to women's rights.

Some of the prominent feminists in the debates about gender identity and sex include Sheila Jeffreys and Julie Bindel, who I think are both on the record as political lesbians. I just feel like it gets brought into these discussions almost as a distraction and used as a "gotcha."

DIGGERS

Are we just shouting out random vehicles now?
Cool.
TRACTORS

I was talking about political lesbians to my 16 and 18 year olds...and ive no idea why now

Seems a fairly random conversation for me to start

Are we just shouting out random vehicles now

Do you not read others peoples posts?

I dont sometimes...there were a few Posters on the brexit board and they are probably fantastic conversationists in real life but fuck me their posts were boring. I used to lose the will to live

RufustheLanglovingreindeer a rainbow flag on a digger you say? How novel.

I imagine the construction industry is full of toxic masculinity. How progressive that the owner of that digger is showing tolerance of LGBT+ folk.

Surely a rainbow clad digger is a vast improvement on the usual wolf whistling?

I read one Brexit thread. One was enough! Even the people whose basic position I agreed with were annoying me.

Are you saying the builders, engineers, architects, contractors can’t be gay? Because sites are frequented by these...

Yes, I've read the other posts.

I'd much prefer to see a rainbow flag on a digger (not seen that one before) as you say Sapphos that'd definitely be an improvement to wolf whistle type behaviour

sapphos

I thought it was pretty...ive no problem with rainbows over everything

I was posting in reply to your ‘gay bars’ comment

Its all over the place and I’m stuggling to see how tolerance is ‘progressive’ and ‘novel’

Be a much better place if people were tolerant all the time

Im reading your post as having some sort of pop at me, apologies if thats not the case

You don't think there's often a whiff of the "only political lesbians would object to what's happening, as they are nasty trans-exclusionary radical feminists"

This post comes arias as though you think the 'Get the L Out' women are political lesbians. They are very clear their agenda is about same sex attraction so the exact opposite of political lesbians. Glad we've cleared that up.

I think political lesbians are great btw, I wish there were more of them.

kittens

I tried keeping away

But i spent most of my time trying to get people to be nice and it really wasn’t working...even the already nice posters were getting pissed off with me

Oh RufustheLanglovingreindeer I agree and I wasn't having a pop at you.

I wish we were in a place where tolerance and acceptance of LGBT people was the default but unfortunately we're not there yet.

Oh thats alright sapphos

Couldn’t figure out if id said something wrong

The rainbow was actually on the digger...so it looked like it had been made that way

Probably done for Instagram Rufus 🏳️‍🌈

I imagine a novelty rainbow digger would get a few likes. It's all harmless fun isn't it.

I'd much prefer to see a rainbow flag on a digger (not seen that one before) as you say Sapphos that'd definitely be an improvement to wolf whistle type behaviour

The two are not mutually exclusive.

I think political lesbians are great btw, I wish there were more of them.

Same, though I have seen them get critiqued in discussions on sex and gender identity as "illegitimate".

sapphos

Its working on our local building site...proper muddy

I don't see rainbow flags at gay bars that much these days. Walked past the most local one to me weekend, not a rainbow in sight just anchors and a lot of frosted glass.

I have seen plenty around though, hung outside a local church, in the office of the three schools I was in the last few days, on the lanyard of a music therapist friend, and in the crosswalk by the library.

Never see any rainbow flags round here, sounds kind of cool just randomly seeing them on zebra crossings etc

Willis clearly doesn’t live in Brighton, Manchester, Liverpool or Oxford.

London, Manchester, Glasgow...

Someone actually wrote Woman:Adult Human Female In white chalk on a black hoarding opposite our MPs constituency office.

I wish I knew who it was!

Was there a helpline set up soon after for this affected by the graffiti?