US Official LGBT Armory Thread

[Yapah]

I don't think resorting to these ad hominem attacks really do either side any justice. Perhaps everyone should take a step back from their computers and put themselves in each other's shoes. If you disagree with someone's opinion, maybe you should take that time to enlighten their views. Teach them. Help them understand where they went wrong. Give them an example of a view from the other side. Simply restricting someone's opinion and then just labeling them as "ignorant" doesn't really solve any problems. In fact, I would argue it makes it worse. I can respect Delayed's view, as I assume he is a youngster from the ol' US of A, where being gay is completely fine in parts of the country, as it should be. I assume that's why he doesn't see the importance of "coming out" for those who have lived the majority of their lives keeping their sexuality a secret. I do think it was the wrong thread to express this kind of view, but I also don't think it was handled as well as it should have been. It's not as though he directly insulted people for being gay. Hopefully one day being gay won't be that big of a deal, as everyone has their own biology, their own preferences, etc. But until then, I can see why this thread can be relevant to some members of this community.
Just remember folks, POSITIVE discussion can be healthy. We're all on our own journeys through life, and everyone is going to face their own struggles. It's part of the experience. I, as well as many others, see a great deal of importance in the topic of equality. However, it really saddens me when I see other's take the easy road out, and don't help others to see the flaws in their limited scope of reality. Everyone is limited. No one can experience everything. Take the time to help others understand. Any-who, just my 2c.
Congratulations to all of those who have come out. I'm sure it feels liberating, and I'm glad this community was able to assist you in your journey through life. It's helped me before, and I'm glad to see it continuing to help others.

This 100%. Silencing people for simply stating their view only reinforces their own ideas.

Also, this thread may not have been the best thread for me to come out, but I did it in the moment so w/e

 

[Conq]

The staff's job is to ensure the quality of the forums, not to sway the opinions of others.

 

[Sketchbag]

Empathy ftw!

 

[Sponsor]

This is highly offensive. I can't believe mods are allowing everyone to trash the whole LGBT movement.

 

[Conq]

This is highly offensive. I can't believe mods are allowing everyone to trash the whole LGBT movement.

Um Hello? I've deleted every offensive comments and given out a handful of temporary bans.

 

[Sponsor]

Um Hello? I've deleted every offensive comments and given out a handful of temporary bans.

And that's some solid work. But I feel that it's presence might be more deteriorating towards actual gay members in our community than the comments are.

 

[Revoman]

The staff's job is to ensure the quality of the forums, not to sway the opinions of others.

Here I'll help you out bud. Straight from Wikipedia, definition of an internet forum:
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporarily archived.

 

[Manny]

I think my dog might be gay...

 

[Revoman]

not to sway the opinions of others.

As staff, maybe not. But as a human being (who even stated the importance of equality in his perspective), I believe so.

 

[Conq]

As staff, maybe not. But as a human being (who even stated the importance of equality in his perspective), I believe so.

Fair enough, as a human being I do have very little faith in the ability of people to sway the opinions of bigots. I believe time and the proper use of authority will be what makes our society an enlightened one. Perhaps I am wrong about the first part, but I certainly do not have the patience to explain to the ignorant why they are such and to convince them to be different, maybe that puts me in the wrong, maybe not, I do what I can.

 

[Balditron]

As staff, maybe not. But as a human being (who even stated the importance of equality in his perspective), I believe so.

Personally I think Conq is doing a good job. He is under no obligation to educate people who come on here and post complete nonsense due to their own ignorance or close-mindedness. Its fine to call out that ignorance and let them educate themselves, we would have no time left for ourselves if everyone took it upon them to try and educate the internet.

If I was in his shoes I would be doing the same thing - getting rid of the hate and ill-formed "arguments".
The thing is, there can be no argument with the topic of this thread - advocating free speech is one thing, but advocating hate speech is another.

 

[Revoman]

You are taking what I am saying and spinning it. I'm not saying you have to educate anyone. Discussion educates people. Stifling discussion does the exact opposite. And in no world am I saying to allow hate speech, but if someone comes in here and asks a genuine question, such as delayed has done, deleting his comment and calling him ignorant isn't how it should be handled. also, news flash: writing a paragraph takes less than a minute!

 

[Revoman]

I do agree however that this isn't the place for that. But this website is lacking, maybe it needs it.

 

[Balditron]

You are taking what I am saying and spinning it. I'm not saying you have to educate anyone. Discussion educates people. Stifling discussion does the exact opposite. And in no world am I saying to allow hate speech, but if someone comes in here and asks a genuine question, such as delayed has done, deleting his comment and calling him ignorant isn't how it should be handled. also, news flash: writing a paragraph takes less than a minute!

Being honest I haven't been keeping up to date with this thread to catch comments which have been moderated or removed. I'm basing what I'm saying on the toxic waste of a thread that Solipsist created earlier. If Delayed was genuinely asking a naive question then fair enough, but if it was pointed in some malicious manner then I don't see the issue in removing it.

 

[Conq]

But this website is lacking.

To be honest I think it's the 19s community that is lacking.

 

[Dramatized]

Actually, the subject of this thread is not whether being gay is OK or not; therefore Deleyed's posts were off-topic. Other than that I agree with you Revo.

 

[Revoman]

I agree dramatized, see my previous post.

 

[Jamesb]

Who really Gives a shit m8 we need a MYOB thread.

 

[Delayed]

I do agree however that this isn't the place for that. But this website is lacking, maybe it needs it.

fair enough

 

[Delayed]

I disagree on the fact of the deletion of my posts, but I do agree that I could have stated a few things in a nicer manner. I however (if im correct) did not post anything that was degrading or offensive towards the LGBT community. That is unless you think asking at the same time stating what does your sexuality matter is an offensive thing to say.

From what I see and from what I hear from talking to people, a lot of them are misconceived on my statements and given that has been said, I am NOT homophobic.

This is all I have to say here.