Us gay folk...

[Pink womble]

Hi Michael,

Part of the reason I started this thread is I felt there must have been other people going through the kind of crap you've had to put up with. There's a certain irony in SES demanding we lie in order to stay involved!

I'm really sorry they've put you through the usual blackmail of saying either be straight or leave SES. Do you really want to rejoin anyway after being treated like that? I feel so much better about myself by having finally being honest about who and what I am.

I do genuinely think SES has something to offer, but there's no way they'll listen to the likes of you or I. I'm still interested in spirituality, but again, haven't found an organisation where I feel comfortable.

Take care.

[mike_w]

SES does seem to be homophobic, even to this day...

found this link while looking at other sites on search engines that also find my blog...

http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/suppress.htm

[Free Thinker]

Mike - that is not surprising at all. I think that if you had to give them acknowledgement for their permission, it would appear as if they were condoning your book, which they certainly wouldn't do since they are homophobic.

[Sam Hyde]

I think this topic could do with an expose concerning the current school's oppinions about it all.....so here it comes............. BUMP!!!!!

Sam xox

[Free Thinker]

Where is the expose?

[mgormez]

What Sam did is bump the thread up again to the first screen by posting a reply, thereby hoping someone notice it and posts an expos

[Free Thinker]

I see. Well, my feeling is that the "expose" is that the school is just as homophobic as it ever was. And by this, I mean being very open and comfortable with having gay members, but making it clear that homosexuality is a choice and an unnatural one. And therefore wrong.

[bella]

But it was already on the first screen, wasn't it? Unless I have my preferences set to an inordinately large number of posts per screen. Don't think so, though, since FT posted 2 days before Sam.

[mgormez]

I don't know Bella. I would hope it was on screen 2 or lower. That's what bumps are for.

[Free Thinker]

As far as I know, it was still on the first page.

Many people new to BBs do not understand what a bump is for and that you don't need to do it if the post is still on the front page.

[daska]

I feel this is a subject close to Sam's heart, maybe we should be lenient here...

Sam - can I call you sweetie? The O doesn't appreciate my friendly nature.

[Sam Hyde]

yes lol you can even call me RITA! just don't glaze my nipples!

Sam xox

[Frodo]

I suppose in many ways SES mirrors the society in which it lives. Well, it's bound to cause the people who go to it are also members of society and although they spend time in SES they spend far more time at work, with family, with friends, reading the paper, watching TV etc! And it's inevitable that you'll get all sorts of views expressed on various subjects. Hmm, SES people tend to be a bit conservative, I think that's true enough. But then many of the people who join are from middle-class 'professional' backgrounds, so you're gonna get a middle-class 'professional' sort of opinion out of them. At the moment, sadly, there is still a lot of misunderstanding and yes prejudice about Gays in society at large. Look at America and the pernicious reactionism of the neo-cons over there. Hence Brokeback Mountain being such a cause celebre because it deals with a major point of contention head on. So if you ask SES people their views of Gays you'll get some who react against it as unnatural etc, some who really don't know much about it and some who feel it's a shame that there is so much intolerance in society to anyone who doesn't fit the 'norm'. But I don't think you'd find a centalised statement on the subject that all SES member are required to subscribe to. McLaren didn't have much tolerance of gays but others around him differed in their opinion. Viv la difference, as they say.

[George]

Well, Mr McLaren's words, during a week or weekend, I think in Nanpanton, in the context of discussing problems in the New York school, were that gay men "turn to a life of crime, and fall prey to the Mafia". It wasn't clear to me whether this related only to those in the New York school, or was a general truth, and for some reason I didn't feel like asking for clarification.

[Free Thinker]

Wow - was that man warped or what?