Why Europe Is Lesbian and Gay Friendly & Why America Never Will Be

[USEDCAR]

I go to Philly and you see so many rainbow flags and gay people around. I went to the King of Prussia mall and saw tons of gay couples holding hands and stuff.

My friend lives in Knoxville and she always tell me how Gay Friendly it is.

Tons of gay friendly cities in the Usa.

 

[belamyi]

^ I think it would be very appropriate to relate that to the last posts in the "Political Cartoons, Memes & Amusing Videos" thread: since the USA is a "full democracy", you can have zillions of citizens taking their country for a "gay-friendly" one, while the rest of zillions (I am counting those who care about all that, that is, the vast minority ) consider the USA as fundamentally "Christian", in various shades and degrees of traditionalism, the gay-friendlier part taking that as secondary to Jesus and all that. That is, you have opposing communities, with the turning point sharing from both sides in the middle, who consider themselves the "true America" and the other "party" as a bunch of people you distrust or hate (again, always following different degrees of diversity among people and their psyches) until the day something drives you to openly wage war against them.

The author of that... work in the OP seems to take a polemical position to attack both sides (therefore maximizing "attention"), by insisting on the criminal righteousness of one but, at the same time, implying and denouncing the naive (righteous) complacent confidence of the other.

 

[nycguydowntown]

so fucked up for so many gays in so many countries ---but it seems many have adapted in some weird way---so many Russian and Eastern European gays on some cam sites --I want to go to Nepal I hear its gay friendly for that part of the world.

 

[Latimer]

How openly/obviously gay are you?

Were you obviously just passing through as potential customers/tourists? You know-- 'Spend your cash, but then, move along.'

Can you be sure that you didn't pay them to be welcoming?

I think we're obviously gay when at hotels we request a king-size bed, which we always have. We also refer to each other as "my partner" rather than "my friend". We've been doing this since our mid-twenties and we're now hitting our mid-forties. At some point along the way people have gotten the message. I think people have been genuinely friendly, and I think I'm savvy enough to understand the difference between true and false affability, or--frankly--indifference.

I think we're thankfully at the point where most people in the west don't particularly care about another person's sexual orientation or preference.

 

[Schistt]

Re: Why Europe Is Lesbian and Gay Friendly & Why America Never Will Be

America is still pretty conservative.

- - - Updated - - -

It will probably remain so for years to come

 

[Araucaria]

In her 1995 book Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation, Urvashi Vaid made the point that there are two Americas. One is where the LGBTQ+ community is accepted, even welcomed, and sexuality is generally not an issue. This America exists largely on the coasts and in large urban areas. The other America is openly hostile to LGBTQ+ people, and is centered in the suburbs, small towns, and rural areas. From what I've seen, this split is just as true in 2021 as it ever was. In addition, it's becoming clear that this goes down the line on issue after issue. Right now America is stuck between the people who say let's move on into the 21st Century already! And those who want to take the country back to a time when you couldn't be openly gay, a time before Civil Rights, a time when we weren't aware of climate change, and they could deny that Covid exists and is dangerous-- well, you get the idea.

So, when you talk about whether America will be lesbian and gay friendly, you have to ask, which America? Unfortunately, how this will end up will depend on which America ends up winning what now looks to be an inevitable fight. Neither side is going to give on this, and the stage appears to be set for a sort of civil war-- or whatever the equivalent of a civil war will look like in the 21st Century.

On a personal note, I realize that I came from one America, and escaped to the other America. My parents came from white evangelical families from rural Florida and Alabama. I grew up in a homophobic Florida suburb in the 60s and 70s. But I came out as gay, and was with my lover for 14 years. Right now I live in a comparatively accepting metropolitan area of Florida, ironically in the same place I grew up. A lot of people have moved here, and changed the character of the place. But I don't have to go far to run into that other America in the state of Florida.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

In her 1995 book Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation, Urvashi Vaid made the point that there are two Americas. One is where the LGBTQ+ community is accepted, even welcomed, and sexuality is generally not an issue. This America exists largely on the coasts and in large urban areas. The other America is openly hostile to LGBTQ+ people, and is centered in the suburbs, small towns, and rural areas. From what I've seen, this split is just as true in 2021 as it ever was. In addition, it's becoming clear that this goes down the line on issue after issue. Right now America is stuck between the people who say let's move on into the 21st Century already! And those who want to take the country back to a time when you couldn't be openly gay, a time before Civil Rights, a time when we weren't aware of climate change, and they could deny that Covid exists and is dangerous-- well, you get the idea.

So, when you talk about whether America will be lesbian and gay friendly, you have to ask, which America? Unfortunately, how this will end up will depend on which America ends up winning what now looks to be an inevitable fight. Neither side is going to give on this, and the stage appears to be set for a sort of civil war-- or whatever the equivalent of a civil war will look like in the 21st Century.

On a personal note, I realize that I came from one America, and escaped to the other America. My parents came from white evangelical families from rural Florida and Alabama. I grew up in a homophobic Florida suburb in the 60s and 70s. But I came out as gay, and was with my lover for 14 years. Right now I live in a comparatively accepting metropolitan area of Florida, ironically in the same place I grew up. A lot of people have moved here, and changed the character of the place. But I don't have to go far to run into that other America in the state of Florida.

This is a wonderful post

 

[belamyi]

In her 1995 book Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation, Urvashi Vaid made the point that there are two Americas. One is where the LGBTQ+ community is accepted, even welcomed, and sexuality is generally not an issue. This America exists largely on the coasts and in large urban areas. The other America is openly hostile to LGBTQ+ people, and is centered in the suburbs, small towns, and rural areas. From what I've seen, this split is just as true in 2021 as it ever was. In addition, it's becoming clear that this goes down the line on issue after issue. Right now America is stuck between the people who say let's move on into the 21st Century already! And those who want to take the country back to a time when you couldn't be openly gay, a time before Civil Rights, a time when we weren't aware of climate change, and they could deny that Covid exists and is dangerous-- well, you get the idea.

So, when you talk about whether America will be lesbian and gay friendly, you have to ask, which America? Unfortunately, how this will end up will depend on which America ends up winning what now looks to be an inevitable fight. Neither side is going to give on this, and the stage appears to be set for a sort of civil war-- or whatever the equivalent of a civil war will look like in the 21st Century.

On a personal note, I realize that I came from one America, and escaped to the other America. My parents came from white evangelical families from rural Florida and Alabama. I grew up in a homophobic Florida suburb in the 60s and 70s. But I came out as gay, and was with my lover for 14 years. Right now I live in a comparatively accepting metropolitan area of Florida, ironically in the same place I grew up. A lot of people have moved here, and changed the character of the place. But I don't have to go far to run into that other America in the state of Florida.

Finally someone else got the point of this thread... and of most of my posts about America.

 

[nycguydowntown]

there is going to be a civil war between the red and blue states and it is based on much more than gay rights---the orange devil has opened a pandoras box and the next few years we will see where it all goes---having said that, I hear parts red states are not as anti gay as they used to be. Its also hard to believe that in rural parts of Europe or Canada gays are accepted with open arms.

 

[belamyi]

Its also hard to believe that in rural parts of Europe or Canada gays are accepted with open arms.

It's even worse than that: most people do not care that much to even hate. They just go with the flow that they let others set: they merely do not want trouble, even in the cases in which they are directly concerned.

The indifferent or the lukewarm supporters are the vast majority: rural areas simply have more of them.

 

[Kahaih]

I have no doubt that access to the internet has changed the playing field drastically in these past ten to twenty years.

Rural areas are no longer as out of step with the world as they were in the past. At least for younger generations. TV and the local paper no long have exclusive control of information.

 

[belamyi]

^ Yes, we are a global blackout and meltdown away from returning to "traditional" life.