Turkey bans Istanbul gay pride due to 'security fears'

[May90]

@May90

I can go on, but I won't. I just think discussing what constitutes a sexual act or not is waste of time.

There is little to discuss. Sexual acts are generally not permitted in public, for apparent reasons; kissing is permitted, again, for apparent reasons. It is not a sexual act; it is an intimate act, but not sexual in itself. It can be sexual in a certain context, I suppose, but it is hardly sexual when done in public.

Also, for example, women often kiss in public in a friendly manner, and it doesn't bother anyone. The fact that men doing it bothers people is quite telling.

[dragonvalor]

WTF are we still discussing the definition of homophobia or whether members are or are not? It's beyond derailing

[Cyberowl]

As a gay man:

Rofl at our posters trying to put labels like homophobes on people that just dislike the look of 2 gay men kissing. Fuck off and look out for real problems.

I don't particularly enjoy the sight of 2 lesbians kissing, go put some label on me. I don't fear or hate them and fully approve of what they are doing; I mean how could I not? I just look the other way, it makes me uneasy.

[StaeleAilar]

Funny that Turkey is seriously considered for EU membership in the future, with such trends happening there.

Not really when Saudi Arabia is the chair..

[dragonvalor]

I agree. (Though two Lesbians making out does not really do anything for me, one way or another.)

Having a purity test like this is dumb, we distance people that support the gay community by labeling them homophobic, when they are not. It is counterproductive.

Personally my only issue with people saying they don't like seeing gays kissing is the language they use e.g. disgusting or vile

[Shinzai]

Yeah, the language can be interesting, but I think the real issue is if they actually support equal rights for LGBT people, etc... sometimes not taking things so personally will save you a lot of emotional pain down the road.

A lot of comedians make fun of everyone, and these same comedians also support the people they make fun of. Bill Maher, Chelsea Handler, Margaret Cho, etc, all make gay jokes, but are also very supportive.

This is a pretty good summation of it:

[Kuntantee]

As a gay man:

Rofl at our posters trying to put labels like homophobes on people that just dislike the look of 2 gay men kissing. Fuck off and look out for real problems.

I don't particularly enjoy the sight of 2 lesbians kissing, go put some label on me. I don't fear or hate them and fully approve of what they are doing; I mean how could I not? I just look the other way, it makes me uneasy.

This should be the indication of how absurd those labelings were .

[Cyberowl]

This should be the indication of how absurd those labelings were .

Some people love to play the victim olympics...for others.

[Justpassing]

Did you guys really expect otherwise?

[May90]

As a gay man:

Rofl at our posters trying to put labels like homophobes on people that just dislike the look of 2 gay men kissing. Fuck off and look out for real problems.

I don't particularly enjoy the sight of 2 lesbians kissing, go put some label on me. I don't fear or hate them and fully approve of what they are doing; I mean how could I not? I just look the other way, it makes me uneasy.

I think you are missing the context here. First of all, no one said it was a problem; people are free to like or dislike whatever they want. Second, indeed, just disliking the look of 2 gay men kissing is not an indication of homophobia. Reasons behind that dislike may be homophobic though; that is not an insult, or accusation, it is just following the definition of the word.

Endus made a good point above: suppose someone says that they dislike the look of white guy kissing a black girl, and has to turn the head away every time they see that. There is a very strong suspicion that that someone is, at least, a bit racist. Not necessarily so, but seems a reasonable assumption in general, don't you agree?

[Deleted]

This is the exact reason why gay pride exists. Because there are people out there that hate gay people(stupid muslims), the same cannot be said for straight people obviously. It probably took 2 seconds for most people to realize this though.

OMG there are people that hate people. Lets make a parade here at mmoc becouse I think people hate other people here on this forum!

If we make this parade loud enough, other people will care, for sure...

[Dreknar20]

Not necessarily so, but seems a reasonable assumption in general, don't you agree?

Well since people stretch excessive/irrational to define anything and everything, I guess the definition of 'reasonable' can mean anything and everything.

As people have stated. Its about seeing an act that is not only sexually unappealing, but appalling. It has nothing to do with hatred or fear.
Seeing two old fat people going at it would probably trigger a gag reflex for me.
Does that mean I have an extreme hatrd and want to go lynch those fuckers? No its cause I find the sight of such a thing very off-putting.

I find it very hard to see how looking away from something you dislike would be seen as anything but 'reasonable'

[Deleted]

They fear for the security of their children, obviously.

Don't you know homosexuality is infectious?

[May90]

Well since people stretch excessive/irrational to define anything and everything, I guess the definition of 'reasonable' can mean anything and everything.

As people have stated. Its about seeing an act that is not only sexually unappealing, but appalling. It has nothing to do with hatred or fear.
Seeing two old fat people going at it would probably trigger a gag reflex for me.
Does that mean I have an extreme hatrd and want to go lynch those fuckers? No its cause I find the sight of such a thing very off-putting.

I find it very hard to see how looking away from something you dislike would be seen as anything but 'reasonable'

There is a difference though between finding something appalling for natural, biological reasons (for example, we all find the look of garbage laying on the streets appalling), and for artificial, "trained" reasons. Suppose we all were born in a society in which gay couples were very-very widespread and kissing men could be seen everywhere - do you think many of us, having grown in such environment, would find the look of two men kissing appalling? Instead, we were born in societies in which, even if gays aren't being openly discriminated against, they definitely aren't very welcome. It is natural that many of us will be subconsciously affected by it, even if consciously we believe that gays are just as good people as anyone else. And phobias - they work mostly exactly on subconscious level.

[RickJamesLich]

Interesting considering the terrorist attack that literally just happened, maybe Turkey actually made a good choice here?

[Bakis]

Interesting considering the terrorist attack that literally just happened, maybe Turkey actually made a good choice here?

Airport terrorist bombings usually got much to do with a HBT parade?

[RickJamesLich]

Airport terrorist bombings usually got much to do with a HBT parade?

What I'm suggesting is that maybe the terrorists changed their target because of this. I guess we'll find out sooner or later, but in the mean time, it may not be a good idea to criticize the Turkish government too much.