LGBTQA and Ally Safe Space

[azsf]

Hey zeuel, welcome to the party

@maggerson - pretty sure every thread ends up talking about hair!

[Zeuel]

I need to let my hair grow back out. I got it cut to a few inches above shoulder length(to clean it up a bit) and I miss being able to tie it back in a pony tail.

[JohnnyRandom]

Sweet, I did know we have an alliance on the forum. Count me in!

[AngelaTheGeek]

Sweet, I did know we have an alliance on the forum. Count me in!

Welcome! It's hit or miss on here. People tend to find their way back to conversations when it's bumped up on the "What's New" section.

[JohnnyRandom]

Haha, no worries. It's just always nice to know when you are amongst friends and "family."

[notcreative]

Just popping in to say hi as an ally and to subscribe to the thread!

[azsf]

So im currently away in adelaide for the australian uni games, its one of the biggest sporting events in the southern hemisphere with over 6000 participants. And i suspect not a single non-heteronormative person amongst them :/ especially amongst the guys, the level of homophobia, digs about other players being gay, and just general gay-bashing is infuriating.

Just wanted to vent that, now i can go back to raging quietly.

[JohnnyRandom]

So im currently away in adelaide for the australian uni games, its one of the biggest sporting events in the southern hemisphere with over 6000 participants. And i suspect not a single non-heteronormative person amongst them :/ especially amongst the guys, the level of homophobia, digs about other players being gay, and just general gay-bashing is infuriating. Just wanted to vent that, now i can go back to raging quietly.

Ahh that sucks! I wish I had some great wisdom to impart to make light of the whole situation but alas I don't. I grew up hearing stuff like that from classmates my whole life. Which, whenever I beat them at something I secretly reveled in but anymore I just like to keep an arsenal of names of great gays in history to prove that it is not some kind of handicap or does not mean that we are not capable of what others may consider to be polarized "manly" things. Like Alexander the Great... which I guess we could debate his sexuality since ancient Greece had more open views to sexuality and how we choose to define homosexuality (segue!) or Alan Turing who helped crack the Enigma code.... If you decide to engage a conversation (I will make a joke here since that is how I deal with difficult times in life) just remember to never argue with an idiot. They will only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

I would like to say that I hope as time goes on and more athletes like Gareth Thomas open up about themselves that this will pass, but the reality of the situation is that the former should not have to happen for the latter and there are my two cents.

[kasers]

So im currently away in adelaide for the australian uni games, its one of the biggest sporting events in the southern hemisphere with over 6000 participants. And i suspect not a single non-heteronormative person amongst them :/ especially amongst the guys, the level of homophobia, digs about other players being gay, and just general gay-bashing is infuriating.

Just wanted to vent that, now i can go back to raging quietly.

In the UK atm they are trying to combat racism and homophobia in UK football. Their is not one "out" football player in any of the professional UK clubs and it is quite homophobic. Whereas rugby (which personally I see as a more manly sport) has a few "out" players and very little homophobia or racism. This is why I don't like football just because a small majority of the fans ruin it.

What sports are they playing at the Australian uni games?

[spencer_]

To repopulate the planet we'd either have to leave it to the bisexuals or we'd have to invest in alot of turkey basters!

This kind of needs to be the thread motto.

[littleblue]

Just popping in to say hi as an ally and to subscribe to the thread!

Same here

[acrimony]

Ally here. Well, more than an ally, I guess. On the Kinsey Scale I identify as a 2-3. So I'm not entirely straight but I don't see myself in a lasting intimate relationship with women. That's not to say I don't/can't play.

I had the benefit of growing up in a very sex positive family. Mom worked at Planned Parenthood, got my first sex ed lesson at 7 and I was bored during sex ed in school. I'm a sex educator now and enjoy these open conversations.

Since we're chatting about hair:

I shaved mine off 2.5 years ago in solidarity with a friend going through chemo and breast cancer. It's still not at the full length it was before I shaved it. Somewhere I have a chronicle of the Great Head Shave day on video.

When my hair started to grow back in I was surprised by how often I was misstaken for a male (well, until they noticed my boobs). I asked my cosmo to bleach the hair and put in some purple tips. We tried twice to get the purple to stay in, even left it on for 6 hours the second time. Wouldn't stick. I'm doomed to not have purple hair ever. So sad.

I'll just stick to the purple tattoos.

[AngelaTheGeek]

I'll just stick to the purple tattoos.

I'm intrigued. Have you shared on the ink thread?

[nightlight]

I'm intrigued. Have you shared on the ink thread?

ditto

[acrimony]

I'm intrigued. Have you shared on the ink thread?

Not yet because they aren't on...yet. In the plans though. Does the ink thread take "my future tatts"? (Oh, I do have some tatts I can share, though.

[JohnnyRandom]

I shaved mine off 2.5 years ago in solidarity with a friend going through chemo and breast cancer.

What a wonderful person you are. Your CHA just increased exponentially in my book. ((HUG))

[kasers]

Was just wondering if anyone has seen this news story and what people think?

A Hong Kong tycoon has offered a $65 million "marriage bounty" to any man who can win the heart of his lesbian daughter, a report said Wednesday.

Cecil Chao announced the financial reward of HK$500 million after his daughter, Gigi, married her same-sex partner of seven years in France earlier this year, the South China Morning Post reported.

"I don't mind whether he is rich or poor. The important thing is that he is generous and kind hearted," 76-year-old Chao was quoted as saying.

"Gigi is a very good woman with both talents and looks. She is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work," he added.

He also rejected "false reports" that Gigi, 33, had married abroad, saying she was still single.

Chao, who owns publicly-listed property developer Cheuk Nang, could not be reached for comment.

Same-sex marriages are not recognised in Hong Kong, a socially conservative Chinese city where homosexuality was decriminalised in 1991.

Chao is well known in Hong Kong's social circles and regularly appears at public events with his latest young girlfriend.

He reportedly once claimed to have had intimate relations with 10,000 women.

[AngelaTheGeek]

He reportedly once claimed to have had intimate relations with 10,000 women.

Yet, his daughter can't be happy with just one? What a dick. Really... that is literally the only thought going through my head after reading that.

[kasers]

I know. I bet he went to bed with more than one woman at a time aswell. Bit of a hypocrite really isn't he.

[JohnnyRandom]

Daddy sounds like a bit of a DB, doesn't he? I think that out of spite the daughter should find a nice man (SGBQT), get married, they should have a strictly platonic marriage and then use that bounty to fight for the equality of all sexualities in Hong Kong Unless of course that would have some effect on her marriage recognition in France

[Avistew]

She can't be married in France. While same-sex marriage is under discussion right now and is thought to be passed in early 2013, it's not legal at the present time. Civil unions have been legal for over ten years, though, so maybe that's what they meant. The rights involved are pretty different though.

Either way, this is stupid. He's only ensuring that his daughter is going to be harassed by many men, possibly pretty forcefully. Money is a big motivator for some people.

Sadly, it's not even the worst I've heard of parents doing to "turn" their daughter straight. Actually getting a guy to have sex with the daughter comes to mind ("once she's had a man, she'll realise she was meant for it"). Which is quite horrible. At least the father did say he wanted someone nice and considerate, although I doubt they are the most likely to respond to "date this person you don't know and isn't interested in you for money, who cares about her consent, you'll probably get it eventually" calls.

[JohnnyRandom]

How Turing was treated because of his sexuality, by the very government he worked so hard for, was appalling. I remember hearing about the official posthumous apology a few years ago - it was marvellous.

Yes, even more so that it happened AFTER all of his contributions.

[kasers]

How Turing was treated because of his sexuality, by the very government he worked so hard for, was appalling. I remember hearing about the official posthumous apology a few years ago - it was marvellous.

Their is a statue of him in the gay part of Manchester, I have seen the statue loads of times but I've never paid attention to who it was until now. Feel quite bad for not paying attention now.

[nightlight]

my old flatmate sent me this article 5 min ago. i felt really sad, honestly. she's already happy, and her dad just won't accept that.

[acrimony]

My stepson recently came out to his dad (we're pretty sure his mother still doesn't know). DH hadn't seen or spoken to him in almost 3 years even after numerous attempts to contact stepson.

I've had my suspicions since the boy was 14, he's 20+ now.

The way he went about it was so cute. He sent a text to his dad that he wanted dad to meet his boyfriend. DH didn't even flinch. However, there were a couple of comments from the in-laws alluding to turning stepson straight. Comments like he just needed a good woman. I looked that person straight in the eye and said very sternly "that IS NOT how it works." I would have screamed and cussed but I've learned that just makes me look like a lunatic and I'm never taken seriously.