Gay men and politics view

Guest

ThanhBKK you are right all politicians are full of shit…

but until mr perfect man in politics comes around..we have to choose someone...

and as best as i can i choose the less evil of the bunch..LOL

i have to vote so i can bitch about things...otherwise....i don't vote i can't bitch..LMAO...

smsfl1967

I think if every minority stops focusing on their own individual rights, and gets the subject right, "Human" rights, things among gays and other groups would be more accepted. By constantly putting the gay community out there in this way divides it more and more. Why should you have special rights just because you suck dick ? That is a very simple way to look at it. Why should you have special rights just because you sleep with women ? We all need the same. But it is always campaigned for in a very negative way. I will support a candidate that will show he or she will focus on the health, well being, and security of my country as a whole, not just what they are going to do for me because I happen to be gay. Hillary Clinton here will do fine. It will be nice to see them back in the White House.

raphjd

The problem is that conservatives claim we want special rights, when in fact we want the same rights they have. I have yet to hear a GLBT person want "special rights" everyone I know wants equal rights.

The current situation in most countries is that heteros have the special rights; ie rights not granted to all.

Even in the UK with civil unions, we still don't have all the rights of hetero marriage, like work and personal pensions. Tony Blair called civil unions "separate but not equal" to marriage. Of course his backers said it was a slip of the tongue, but the result showed how really meant it.

pineapple

Well in the UK I tend to vote where I think my rights as a gay person are most protected.

It is on the record that over 50% of Conservatives did not want the Civil Partnership, and believe it should be repealed. There are a large number among the part who feel that homosexuality should be recriminalised. - Very unlikely to get my vote!

I personally feel that under the premiership of Tony Blair the labour party has brought about some of the most significant advances in the protection of gays and as such makes the UK one of the better places to be gay under the law. I will continue to vote for labour until I think that there is a change in the tide.

twinkerzzz

@thomas261989:

Are Derek and I the only who care about politics here?

No - but i think the truth about Politics is so complex , many people have difficulty formulating ideas about their feelings or their knowledge about it…..

I think politics is a necessary evil -
I think politics is corrupt - power is corrupting and you can never get away from that.
I think politics is a cultural contradicition - On the one hand it is the hand that wields so much horror and misery but on the other it is the vehicle by which humans gain their worldly hopes and freedoms and by which human history progressess through time.

I think it's healthy for an individual to work out a personal relationship to ethics, but i acknowledge that people are loyal to abstract and spiritual positions often via deep and irrational impulses rather than well thought through logical notions. This is why i love an ethically thoughtful man - i see it as the sign of a real 'man' - how he handles ethics. I also think the mysterious,deep and illogical exists in life - and not all things can be broken down to ethical and politically framed ideas.

I think all moral choices are best considered via one of politcal ethics. I think that approach shows an awareness and consideration of other people at it's best and also an awareness of the implication of human behaviour and events and that to me is the mark of wisdom.

vistax88

Well, I agree that politics is complicated, but it is not so evil. At least it is about governing, organizing, and administrative stuff. Not every man is so innocent and self discipline that we don't need any authority. We have criminals, bad guys, or at least we need some people to start building railways and roads!

@twinkerzzz:

@thomas261989:

Are Derek and I the only who care about politics here?

No - but i think the truth about Politics is so complex , many people have difficulty formulating ideas about their feelings or their knowledge about it…..

I think politics is a necessary evil -
I think politics is corrupt - power is corrupting and you can never get away from that.
I think politics is a cultural contradicition - On the one hand it is the hand that wields so much horror and misery but on the other it is the vehicle by which humans gain their worldly hopes and freedoms and by which human history progressess through time.

I think it's healthy for an individual to work out a personal relationship to ethics, but i acknowledge that people are loyal to abstract and spiritual positions often via deep and irrational impulses rather than well thought through logical notions. This is why i love an ethically thoughtful man - i see it as the sign of a real 'man' - how he handles ethics. I also think the mysterious,deep and illogical exists in life - and not all things can be broken down to ethical and politically framed ideas.

I think all moral choices are best considered via one of politcal ethics. I think that approach shows an awareness and consideration of other people at it's best and also an awareness of the implication of human behaviour and events and that to me is the mark of wisdom.

Spunksta

I consider myself to be blessed to live in the Netherlands where gay marriages are a common thing. Our political system is a bit f*cked up as we have way too many political parties to choose from. However most of those parties are quite liberal and protective of the gayrights. (with the exception of 2 smaller "Christian" parties)

However, last few years even in The Netherlands and especially Amsterdam, gays have been under attack a lot more than they used to be. I am sprry to say that it is mostly the second and third generation of immigrant muslims that do so. Gaybashing and discrimination of gay people has risen spectacularly over the last 4 years. Which I found odd, as the especially the gay community in NL is always welcoming and open minded towards new cultures brought to our melting pot of nationalities.

I try to vote at least for a social-liberal party every 4 years. One thats there for the sick and the needy, for the elderly and for the gay people as well. Does it make a change? …. We'll never know... What we do know is that not voting will only benefit the bigger leading parties... So vote! Is all I can say.

SPUNKSTA

DAB

Being Dutch, I think I'm off pretty well. Spunksta is right about that. But concerning politics, I really think we suck.

Right now, from what I can say, Norway is the best country in the world.

Basically I'm an Oligarchic Republican. I don't 'believe' in Democracy and I certainly don't believe in the Dutch version of the term. I do always vote, I tell my friends and others around me that people who vote have the right to bitch about politics. If you don't vote, you don't get to complain. Right now the Netherlands is without a government, not that we're noticing any difference; we'll soon get to vote for a new one. I'm hoping for a red(-ish) outcome, but we'll probably either get stuck with centrist capitalists or that Geert Wilders figure.

The Socialist Party, of which I've been a member for a while (not anymore), is currently under strain of losing the replacement head of the party. The founder was immensely popular, but ever since he left the party has been losing voters. I saw the new guy who is to chair the party - he is ugly… The other social-ish party is too centrist to do any good, but at least it is a veteran party with plenty of voters. They too will be getting a new chair, since the current (Wouter Bos) is being spit out by the majority of people here for screwing us as minister of finance.

Anyway, I'm in no position to break the system, so I abide and try to make the best of it through this unfortunate but 'functioning' system.

martini20

UK here. There is a General Election looming and the 3 main national political parties are generally 'gay friendly', so there is not an issue in that department. With the economy screwed, cuts in public services, inevitable tax rises, the news full of ludicriously lenient sentencing of criminals … there are many every day issues that concern me more. But that just makes me more thankful that I live where I do, and not somewhere that gays don't have rights or even worse.

raphjd

While none of the 3 main parties aren't screaming for our blood, they aren't exactly "gay friendly".

There is still a vast amount of injustice under the law and by the way the law is enforced.

Here are some examples;

1. Married hetero couples are guaranteed the right that both of them are placed in the same old folks home and get the same room. Civil unioned gay couples are not guaranteed any of this.

2. While both married and civil unioned couples get their partner's/spouse's state pension upon the death of the other, only married heteros have the guaranteed right to their spouse's work and private pension. Some banks and businesses are now including it in their contracts, but this is few ad far between.

3. Immigration rules are similar, not the same for hetero and gay couples.

The list could go on forever of the "separate and not equal" that Tony Blair talked about.

We had "U R A GAY BOY!!!" spray painted on our house 2 weeks before this past christmas and it took the police 11 days to show up to take a police report. They came that soon because we kept complaining that they were taking so long. Our Pakistani neighbors had "Paki scum" spray painted on their house over the summer and the police arrived within the hour of it being reported. The council removed the graffiti from both houses. Theirs was removed the same day, while ours took almost a month. The had theirs removed for free and we had to pay £836.

notquiteme

I wouldn't vote for him solely on the basis of his verbal show of support for gay rights. I will, however, vote for him if he is consistently displaying a mind of his own and not just what the rest of his party are saying. This means he will attempt to look at each question from different perspectives before making his stand.

Here in our country, we see gays everywhere (literally) but it's still kind of taboo in conservative families. And the reputation of gays is terrible.