Controversy Over a Flag at a Tennessee College

[Regulus]

You see, I never said that it was true for/applied to everyone, I simply said that it was founded on that principal, so we should at least try to live up to it.

I know. But, you have to remember that our country, like many other countries, is founded on one very simple idea. It's the idea of saying one thing while doing the complete opposite, and hoping that no one notices.

[DGFone]

That's the odd thing about this country: The US government was founded upon the principles of the enlightenment and personal freedom.

..And yet realistically, the first "Americans" were the religious zealots who fled Europe after they were deemed to radical. After all, just look at the Puritans.

[SlayerOfLight]

I do have a little issue with the flag though. It's absolutely not that I hate gays or lesbians, but in my opinion the rainbow flag's only purpose is to annoy the hell out of people that aren't fond with same sex relationships, and is therefore luring criticism just so gay people can keep playing victems. We heterosexual people also don't hang our own flags everywhere and try to show the world how ''proud'' we are to be straight... Once again I dont hate gays or anything, but I wish that some of them would be less open to the world about their sexual orientation pride, because not everyone gives a fudge about it.

[Regulus]

I do have a little issue with the flag though. It's absolutely not that I hate straight people, but in my opinion the rainbow flag's only purpose is to annoy the hell out of people that aren't fond with opposite sex relationships, and is therefore luring criticism just so straight people can keep playing victems. We homosexual people also don't hang our own flags everywhere and try to show the world how ''proud'' we are to be gay... Once again I dont hate breeders or anything, but I wish that some of them would be less open to the world about their sexual orientation pride, because not everyone gives a fudge about it.

Fixed. As a straight man, I'm pretty sure this is what you actually meant to say.

If you actually think it's like that, then you're either blind or stupid. I don't mean to call anyone out here, but it's the truth. Open your eyes and open your mind. You'll see that not being straight is practically a death sentence in grade school, and the entire issue itself only brings out the worst of what humanity has to offer, later on in life.

I'd rather lose an arm and a leg, than have to deal with the unbelievable prejudice, stupidity, and unfairness that gay people deal with on a daily basis.

[Kiburi]

Yeah, I agree with all of you guys.
I would definitely rather lose an arm or a leg than have to deal with all of that crap every day.

[Carl]

I do have a little issue with the flag though. It's absolutely not that I hate gays or lesbians, but in my opinion the rainbow flag's only purpose is to annoy the hell out of people that aren't fond with same sex relationships, and is therefore luring criticism just so gay people can keep playing victems. We heterosexual people also don't hang our own flags everywhere and try to show the world how ''proud'' we are to be straight... Once again I dont hate gays or anything, but I wish that some of them would be less open to the world about their sexual orientation pride, because not everyone gives a fudge about it.

The thing is, we don't want to need to fly that flag. It's just that, if we aren't proud of who we are, if we don't stand up for ourselves and the rights we are denied and do not make ourselves known, then we will continue to be discriminated against and persecuted because of something we can't change. We have to be proud and we have to be vocal or the laws won't change, and we will still be victimized. Did you know that here in America, killing an LGBT person because they are LGBT doesn't count as a hate crime according to the law? Did you know that many people, myself included, have been called hurtful things and have been bullied because they simply looked like they might be LGBT? Did you know that in my state and others farther south than mine, people run a risk of being shot by strangers because they are or look to be LGBT? And did you know that many people in the country don't see that as being wrong?

This doesn't even refer to just marriage equality, and it doesn't only refer to same-sex partnerships. It refers also to those who are transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, pansexual or bisexual, and a broad spectrum of other things. It refers to people who are different in gender identity or sexual preference, and not all of these people end up in same-sex relationships. But all of these people are being discriminated against, or anyone who looks like they might fall into the broad LGBT category.

We aren't trying to lure criticism, we aren't "playing" victims, and we don't want to rub it in everyone's face. But we can't exactly fight back with violence if we want to get anywhere. So, if you think this flag is just annoying, how would you propose we go about getting fair treatment?

[SlayerOfLight]

What would you do when your 'kind' has been unaccepted, discriminated against and sometimes even murdered for 2000 years? And I'm saying this as a straight person.[/

I wouldn't really care about it because what happened, happenend. As long it wouldn't affect my daily life, there's no reason to complain about it.

If you actually think it's like that, then you're either blind or stupid. I don't mean to call anyone out here, but it's the truth. Open your eyes and open your mind. You'll see that not being straight is practically a death sentence in grade school, and the entire issue itself only brings out the worst of what humanity has to offer, later on in life.

I've heard about plenty of gays that live a normal life whitout having to deal with any crap. Maybe it's like that in the blessed United States of yours, but not where I'm living. And what do you mean with ''the worst what humanity has to offer on later in life''? What kind of drugs are you on, Regulus? I'm not saying gays are having it easy, but you are merely overreacting and making it sound like gays are victems of a new holocaust... Or are you implying that being bullied and the things you mentioned equal to being send to death camps? As far as I know, gays aren't being persecuted and killed Nationwide for their sexual orientation (except in the Middle East) So why are you still arguing?

Wikipedia: Sexual activity between consenting adults and adolescents of a close age of the same sex has been legal nationwide since 2003, pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. Age of consent in each state varies from age 16 to 18; some states maintain different ages of consent for males/females or same-sex/opposite-sex relations.

So what stuff have you been on? Or are you just repeating what everyone else arround you is saying? And yea, I'll repeat myself one last time before you'll go over to personal attacks again: I admit that gays might not always have it easy, but you are making it sound much worser then it actually is. Gays are still alive in the world and many of them live normal lives, so unless I'm blind as you assumed, gays DO have rights at all.

[Carl]

Wikipedia: Sexual activity between consenting adults and adolescents of a close age of the same sex has been legal nationwide since 2003, pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. Age of consent in each state varies from age 16 to 18; some states maintain different ages of consent for males/females or same-sex/opposite-sex relations.

Actually, this is not entirely true. In Texas and many other states it is technically illegal to have any kind of sexual relations other than male+female in the typical way. And recently in Texas, police officers have been posing as gays, seducing real gays, and then suggesting they have sex, when the gays agree, they are arrested, before even doing anything sexual.

Gays are still alive in the world and many of them live normal lives, so unless I'm blind as you assumed, gays DO have rights at all.

In some places, LGBTs do have rights. Here in America, it's only fourteen states (of fifty) and D.C., however. That means for the rest of us, not so much. Sure we have some rights, free speech (ha, ha ha... did I just say that?), voting, owning property, etc... but that is only because you can't always identify an LGBT person by looking at him or her. If we were more easily identifiable such as non-whites and women were before they were given rights, then we'd have none either.

In most of Europe, it's not a big deal and it's not a problem, so I can see why you find it annoying to see these things, but here in America, in all the states except for the 14 that have allowed it, we have very real and very large problems. Displaying flags like these are one of the few ways we can stand up and try to make a change.

[SlayerOfLight]

Wikipedia: Sexual activity between consenting adults and adolescents of a close age of the same sex has been legal nationwide since 2003, pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. Age of consent in each state varies from age 16 to 18; some states maintain different ages of consent for males/females or same-sex/opposite-sex relations.

Actually, this is not entirely true. In Texas and many other states it is technically illegal to have any kind of sexual relations other than male+female in the typical way. And recently in Texas, police officers have been posing as gays, seducing real gays, and then suggesting they have sex, when the gays agree, they are arrested, before even doing anything sexual.

Gays are still alive in the world and many of them live normal lives, so unless I'm blind as you assumed, gays DO have rights at all.

In some places, LGBTs do have rights. Here in America, it's only fourteen states (of fifty) and D.C., however. That means for the rest of us, not so much. Sure we have some rights, free speech (ha, ha ha... did I just say that?), voting, owning property, etc... but that is only because you can't always identify an LGBT person by looking at him or her. If we were more easily identifiable such as non-whites and women were before they were given rights, then we'd have none either.

In most of Europe, it's not a big deal and it's not a problem, so I can see why you find it annoying to see these things, but here in America, in all the states except for the 14 that have allowed it, we have very real and very large problems. Displaying flags like these are one of the few ways we can stand up and try to make a change.

Ah well, I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you because the world slowly becomes more open to LGBT's. If I would go to the U.S and interview people about homosexuality, I think 9 out of 10 would say that they're fine with it. And I guess It's only a matter of time before homosexuality and LGBT will be accepted throughout all of the U.S

[Regulus]

Regardless of the legal aspect, it still goes against cultural norms. You know how you said 9 out of 10 Americans are fine with homosexuality? This only proves how misconstrued your perception is.

Less than half of Americans, in my state of North Carolina, voted in favor of supporting same-sex marriage. An amendment to our constitution was proposed to define marriage as being male/female only, and it passed by a margin of over 20%.

It is not something Americans are okay with. Some parents have disowned their kids because they discovered their child was gay. That actually happens. I'm not kidding. Heck, if you even look gay, in any way, you're going to get beat up. At best, you'll only get some dirty looks.

This issue is the single most ridiculous issue we face today. It's not as severe as the Holocaust, but it is the civil rights movement of our time. It is no different from racism in America, in the 20th century.