The Simtropolis Closet Thread - deux!

[Alejandro24 575]

Hi there, I came here just for curiosity. To read something. John (A Nonny Moose) explained me what is this thread. So hope so to being welcomed by the closet comunity. I suppose this is a closet really too big. Just I have a question, this closet works as storage too?

[Duke87 1,070]

It's okay to store things in here so long as they're fabulous.

[astronelson 339]

Everyone seems to keep their skeletons in here too.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Everyone seems to keep their skeletons in here too.

Rattle, rattle.

[Alejandro24 575]

It's okay to store things in here so long as they're fabulous.

Ok, I'll put a clock here. It still works, but the hour can not be changed, so it is at -6GMT, Central Standard Time (Chicago, Mexico City).

So, I readed some, and this thread is about sexuality. I don't know too much about this, only the learned in the school. I'm homosexual. I don't define myself as gay, gay means cheerful, and I'm not cheerful. Also I don't feel identified with many things of the gay culture.

  Edited November 25, 2011 by Alejandro24  

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I am bisexual but not romantic and not easily turned on. I also do not care for intimacy or STDs. To be honest, the only people I am turned on by are way out of my league and never met (and also on the extreme end of the physical spectrum of fitness and attractiveness) though my threshhold with women is lower.

My mood goes up in down but I am not particularly happy often either. I am not flamboyant either though I am not masculine and have a couple of feminine gestures I find myself using under certain circumstances without thinking.

I treat all demographics roughly equal (I believe that intelligence, level of conversation, or at least entertainment value are more important than gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or anything else). I will try any edible food at least once, listen to any suggestion of music enough to fully form an opinion (there is also very few types of songs I dislike unless they are boring or overly depressing or violent). I find myself equally comfortable making conversation with boys as girls and try to never say anything offensive while laughing at most things I find offensive or inappropriate.

So yeah, I don't really identify with gay culture either but I only identify with American, computer nerd, videogame geek, sci-fi nerd, techno-savvy, science-buff (fan of science and scientific articles), Latino, weaboo/anime/manga/Japanese culture fan, and foodie cultures. I find gender and sexuality as mostly minor things in my life. I am friends with both boys and girls both heterosexual and homosexual but we talk about our mutual interests and hobbies and rarely bring up such topics pertaining to sexuality. Some of my friends neither know nor care what my sexuality is and vice versa because it would change nothing.

This is my 2nd or 3rd post here but I felt like sharing my full story. I hope I did not say anything offensive or inappropriate but I did not see anything wrong (though most things fly past my radar anyway). One of the reasons I posted today was because my friend posted a thread in his forum about which tender is superior and half of the options in the poll were of questionable appropriateness while he said in his post that he does not care either way and both of us voted neutral (the option was "neither is superior"). It just got me thinking.

OK, it is getting late. This post should show up from my phone at 1AM black Friday. Good Night!

[RipRap 4,400]

I'm not homosexual but I have a lot of friends at school who are, including my best friend. There was nothing wrong with them, but the other people (the "cool" people) bully and hurt my best friend (as well as other students at school who were homosexual). I encouraged my best friend to go to Teen Talk and there he received help...

I always treat everyone equal, although my parents always tell me to discriminate against homosexuals (as well as other cultures) and my brothers tell me that if I hang out with homosexual people, they'll say I'm gay too.

[Alejandro24 575]

I'm not homosexual but I have a lot of friends at school who are, including my best friend. There was nothing wrong with them, but the other people (the "cool" people) bully and hurt my best friend (as well as other students at school who were homosexual). I encouraged my best friend to go to Teen Talk and there he received help...

I always treat everyone equal, although my parents always tell me to discriminate against homosexuals (as well as other cultures) and my brothers tell me that if I hang out with homosexual people, they'll say I'm gay too.

Really? In Canada? I'm surprised.

Bulling happens everywhere. I don't know another homosexual near to me. But I don't feel alone. My friends understand it.

[Zelgadis 638]

Yup, in Canada too. We're quite progressive in a lot of ways, but certainly there's still a lot of work to do here.

ISF

[Alejandro24 575]

Yup, in Canada too. We're quite progressive in a lot of ways, but certainly there's still a lot of work to do here.

ISF

But, why? Here we think that the canadian society are more opened mind.

[Zelgadis 638]

Depends on where you are. Toronto is pretty darned good. I speak of my husband just as casually as another man might speak of his wife, and literally nobody has thought anything of it. And saying something anti-gay in public here is a really good way to get yourself shunned. Arrested if it's hostile enough.

Get out into the boonies and people are less open minded. Get into Alberta... well, let's just say there's a reason why Alberta is known as "The Texas of Canada."

ISF

[astronelson 339]

Fingers crossed for when this hits Parliament: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-03/labor-votes-for-conscience-vote-on-same-sex-marriage/3710828?WT.svl=news0

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Fingers crossed for when this hits Parliament: http://www.abc.net.a...28?WT.svl=news0

What's the general attitude in the Land of Oz? In Canada we have a mixed bag as you can see from the exchange between Ian and our friend in Winterpeg.

Here in rural Ontario it is a non-issue, and the nearest city, London, has one of Canada's largest and finest universities, several colleges, and a huge multi-national presence including probably one of the largest Muslim populations in the country. Big mosques in the city.

In Winnipeg I can see lots of ethnic and cultural clashes because of the makeup of the founding people. There is a large aboriginal and Métis group; many immigrant families with origins in central Europe, mostly Ukrainian; and many with Scots heritage. The rest is a large and varied mixture of peoples who have arrived since the 17th century. Unlike Toronto, I believe Winnipeg has still a problem of like clings to like in a rather exclusive way. It will take a while for a more inclusive culture to spring up there. Although it is a big place, Winnipeg tastes of pioneers.

[Alejandro24 575]

Depends on where you are. Toronto is pretty darned good. I speak of my husband just as casually as another man might speak of his wife, and literally nobody has thought anything of it. And saying something anti-gay in public here is a really good way to get yourself shunned. Arrested if it's hostile enough.

Get out into the boonies and people are less open minded. Get into Alberta... well, let's just say there's a reason why Alberta is known as "The Texas of Canada."

ISF

Ok, I catch the message. If Alberta is like Texas... I suppose the Western of Mexico is like Texas too

I suppose here the factors are the culture ingrained to the catholicism and traditional european culture. If you want open minds respect to the homosexuality just go to the center and south of the country (unless Yucatan), search in google the word Muxes. Between them, a culture more near to the native, homosexuality is tolerated.

[astronelson 339]

Fingers crossed for when this hits Parliament: http://www.abc.net.a...28?WT.svl=news0

What's the general attitude in the Land of Oz? In Canada we have a mixed bag as you can see from the exchange between Ian and our friend in Winterpeg.

As it is in Coldada so is it in Ausummera, in that it is also mixed. Same-sex civil unions passed Queensland's unicameral state parliament 47-40. I think we're one of the more conservative states, so this may bode well. Still, the House of Representatives is hung, and Liberal Party policy is that marriage is strictly between one man and one woman. Passing the Senate would be a lot easier, with the Greens holding the balance of power and being strongly in support of it.

As for the wider population, I don't really know. I think many are in support of it to some degree. Most of the vocal opposition comes from the strongly religious, who are a minority. A fair go for everyone is a strong Australian sentiment. I'd say a lot of support comes from that fact. Whether it's a majority I'm not sure. But there's definitely a significant amount.

Ah well, we'll know if it passes Parliament some time early next year.

[Zelgadis 638]

One thing Canada doesn't have... Well, at least doesn't have enough of to make much of a problem, is an extreme right-wing. No tea-partiers. Not enough hardline evangelicals to be a political force. On a side note, Toronto's new Mayor is surprisingly close to that. He's a slippery one, which is impressive given his size. A lot of people who voted for him feel tricked and now I don't know a single person who voted for him who feels otherwise. He won't win a second term. His approval is now lower than Bush II at the end of his presidency. He was very thoroughly lambasted last summer for being the first mayor in many, many years not to attend the Pride parade or any associated events. For the first few months, he was able to push through what he wanted, but the people are pushing back hard now, crushing a few of his pet projects. One year in, and he's going to have a very, very tough time with his next three.

But, I digress.

The Conservative Party of Canada is much closer to the Democratic Party in the US than the Republicans. I'm sure that some of them would love to be more right-wing, but they are very keenly aware that they'd be run out of Ottawa on a rail if they overstep and start acting like Republicans. Alberta is the exception, as far as I can tell. It's the only province the conservatives are practically locked in, but even that is changing. Our other major parties are:

Liberals, which are to the left of the Democratic party, but here are considered "centrists," and are historically the usual governing party. They're rebuilding now because of some scandals, but they'll be back.

NDP, which is so far left it would give Republicans heart attacks. This is our socialist party and they're riding high right now as the official opposition.

Also in the mix are the Green party (one seat) and Bloc Quebecois (four seats), which tend towards the left-wing.

Now, given this political makeup, it seems unsurprising now that Canada has gay marriage and has had it for awhile. At the time it was passed at the federal level, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that only Alberta hadn't passed its own provincial equal marriage law.

Interestingly enough though, in out last mayor election in which the conservative won, his primary opponent was a married gay man. He was a testy, jerkish person, which is the main reason why he lost, but anyway... Near the end of the campaign, somebody ran a radio ad targeting the significant Sri Lankan community deriding the opponent's gayness, basically. Wow, that did not go over well. The Sri Lankan community banded together right away and released several statements basically saying, "This is Canada! It's unacceptable to talk like that here!" That was the one and only time the gay issue came up. Our mayor has no love for the gay community, but he knew damn good and well that making an issue out of it would sink his campaign faster than the Lusitania. (18 minutes, in case anyone's wondering. )

That's the way we are, and I like it. Immigrants get the idea very quickly that "gay" is no big deal here and roll with it. I have a friend who came from Saudi Arabia. He and his other Saudi friends attended the Pride Parade and had a great time, taking lots of pictures.

ISF

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Ian, good luck getting rid of Rob Ford. Boy was he ever a mistake, in spades.

The gLiberal Party of Canada has to remake itself completely if they want to come back anytime soon. I used to be a dyed in the wool Liberal because my family was, but ever since Peter E. Waterhole (P. Trudeau), I've felt orphaned. While I am no fan of either the old PC party nor the current Conservative Party of Canada (a.k.a. The Reform Party), I feel that it was necessary for them to get this majority in order to show their stripes. We know that cat for what it is now, and have to endure for four more years. God help the aboriginal people because they won't. The whole Indian Affairs thing is a left over from the Colonial Office.

I voted for Jack Layton, not the NDP candidate, but that's the way it goes. Too bad he didn't survive. I won't start eating worms until the leadership race there warms up in a month or so. Right now there are too many fish in that barrel.

With Bob Rae as their interim leader, the Liberals have taken on his baggage from the fiasco when he was the NDP Premier of Ontario. I don't think you were around for the Rae Days. Blecch! The Liberals also have to get shut of the same old, same old guff they've been peddling since Lester Pearson. Trudeau pretty much destroyed the party, but it took a long time and some backbiters to make it lay down. There is no love lost between Chretien and Martin, and I expect that the next leader will either be a puppet of one of them, or they will find themselves in the wilderness.

I am waiting to see what happens to the Trendy P's. Their association with the labour unions seems to be getting much looser and they seem to be swinging more towards the center. I hope they can find a leader with some charisma. Jack is one very difficult act to follow. If they lose their Quebec support, they'll be third again.

The Bloc should be gone after the next election. There is a new "nationalist" party in Quebec with an avowed policy of not seeking a separation referendum for 10 years, and wanting to straighten out Quebec's large dose of graft and corruption, which has been there since the Sieur de Champlain was Governor General of Canada (then a French territory).

Elizabeth May isn't much of a standard bearer for the Greens. She is too centric, but they can't seem to get elected in other ridings, and she may very well loose her seat due to general disinterest in the next election.

[Zelgadis 638]

He was a mistake, no doubt. He was extremely careful not to show off his anti-gay sentiments, but it didn't take long for that to surface after the election.

I think he got elected due to a few factors. First, he had weak opposition. Second, he was able to capitalize on the few missteps of the previous mayor. Third... Well, frankly, I saw through his charade from the beginning, but Canadian voters, unused to American style bait-and-switch, were fooled this time. He ran on a platform of "Respect the taxpayer" and "End the gravy train." In short, his platform was to slash wasteful spending in the city, reduce the budget for the mayor's office and councilors, and so on. In essence, he said he could find efficiencies to balance the budget without cutting services. People bought it. But, if you guessed that there turned out to be very little "gravy" after all, you win a cookie. So, now he's doing what conservatives do. Cutting services that benefit the lower-income brackets and cutting taxes to benefit the higher-income brackets. He eliminated the vehicle registration tax. Dumb idea. It was only $60 a year (less than a tank of gas) and it put hundreds of millions into the city coffers. That tax was a good deal to me and I was very happy to pay it. As a driver, I'm harder on the infrastructure anyway, so I should pay it. He tried to cut library funding. Failed. Tried to cut funding for firefighters. Thank god that failed! Of all the dumb things to try to cut...

He can ignore the gay community as much as he wants, but he would dare not go so far as to antagonize it. If he did that, it wouldn't matter how much longer he had left in his term. He would be run out of town. In the end, yup, we do have our bigots in this city, sadly, but they are few and the vocal ones can expect to be rather lonely here. But why don't we have many? They tend to move to Alberta. In fact, it was Ford's refusal to attend any Pride events that was the beginning of his dramatic slide down to extreme unpopularity. He took a massive drubbing for that. Again, that was just for ignoring us. I can't even imagine what would happen if he went so far as to antagonize the community. It would probably be funny to watch though.

Toronto does seem to have a history of laughingstock mayors. We seem to tend to alternate. Boring mayor, laughingstock, boring, laughingstock, etc. Mel Lastman was our previous laughingstock and he was a doozy. He was coaxed into being a part of the Pride parade after years of refusals. Then, he rode in a car in the parade itself and discovered that he was very heartily welcomed and even celebrated there, and was amazed that he had a great time. Now, he no longer appears to have any anti-gay sentiments at all and was one of the first former mayors to come out publicly and urge our current mayor to go.

This is what Canada does, and this is what I feel is its greatest strength. Canadians in general are not the type to harbor grudges. Regardless of the past, if you're willing to allow us to make you feel welcome, then by god, we're going to welcome the bejeezus out of you.

ISF

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Ian, are you now working for the Toronto visitors bureau? I seem to remember a lonely guy from (West?) Virginia who wanted to be able to live his life openly and not worry about his neighbors and colleagues thought. Well, you have turned into a walking, talking Torontonian. I'm happy for you.

John.

  Edited December 3, 2011 by A Nonny Moose  

[Ocram's Razr 964]

By the way, "Centrist" is dependent on where the political center is. There are countries that are currently more conservative than the early British Empire. There are political parties that are 10 times as progressive than the Republican party. There is such a high variation that the political center only applies within individual countries, use standard deviations rather than mean/averages, and even then "progressives" in some countries will become considered conservative overall globally and "conservatives" in some countries will become considered progressive overall globally.

Is that 50 question political test designed for solely the USA political system or does it have more leeway, capability?

By the way, not going to a political parade should not get any negative attention as long as the politician did not go to any other political parades. It should even be considered part of a hard working (or at worst anti-social) attitude if the politician goes to absolutely no parades as long as he is not legally obligated to attend.

  Edited December 3, 2011 by OcramSeattle  

[Zelgadis 638]

Too right. And for the last 30 years, I've watched the political center march way to the right in the US. Look at what Obama has done and compare it to Bob Dole's platform from 1996. You'd be stunned how many things are the same.

However, Pride Week in Toronto is not political. It hasn't been for many years. For one thing, being gay isn't political anymore. It's merely a state of being. It's no more a political event than the Caribbean parade, which the mayor attended, in August (though Pride is a lot less violent... and more naked. ).

So, the mayor of Toronto may not be obligated to attend any Pride Week festivities, but as the chief representative of the city, he should. Unfortunately, he chose to spend his entire week on vacation in his cottage up north.

In other news, the Premier of Ontario is planning on passing legislation on combating bullying. This is, how shall I say, an "enough is enough" response to the recent suicide of a gay teenager in Ottawa.

ISF

P.S. Nonny, That was Kentucky.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Fingers crossed for when this hits Parliament: http://www.abc.net.a...28?WT.svl=news0

What's the general attitude in the Land of Oz? In Canada we have a mixed bag as you can see from the exchange between Ian and our friend in Winterpeg.

As it is in Coldada so is it in Ausummera, in that it is also mixed. Same-sex civil unions passed Queensland's unicameral state parliament 47-40. I think we're one of the more conservative states, so this may bode well. Still, the House of Representatives is hung, and Liberal Party policy is that marriage is strictly between one man and one woman. Passing the Senate would be a lot easier, with the Greens holding the balance of power and being strongly in support of it.

As for the wider population, I don't really know. I think many are in support of it to some degree. Most of the vocal opposition comes from the strongly religious, who are a minority. A fair go for everyone is a strong Australian sentiment. I'd say a lot of support comes from that fact. Whether it's a majority I'm not sure. But there's definitely a significant amount.

Ah well, we'll know if it passes Parliament some time early next year.

How I see it, is that the majority of people here are for it, yet the best (at least in Victoria) is civil-unions. There have been some well-known protests in Melbourne, and Sydney hosts the Mardi Gras every year. I presume in the big cities it's seen more as okay (especially with the culture) but the further you go rural, the more the attitude changes.

[astronelson 339]

Civil unions are the best the states can do - marriage is defined federally.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Civil unions are the best the states can do - marriage is defined federally.

Marriage is a funny term. No state should legislate the idea of marriage because it is a common term for matrimony which is a religious item.

@Ian. Yes, I realized that sometime after I made the post. I was off-line at the time.

  Edited December 4, 2011 by A Nonny Moose  

[astronelson 339]

Civil unions are the best the states can do - marriage is defined federally.

Marriage is a funny term. No state should legislate the idea of marriage because it is a common term for matrimony which is a religious item.

So, I take it it shouldn't be possible for atheists to marry, then?

Marriage may have originally been a religious thing, but much like Christmas and the word "goodbye", it has become secular.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

The spelling of goodbye has changed as well. Marriage has always been a synonym of matrimony so as a separation of church and state problem. The United States should consider all legal marriages as civil unions and marriage can only apply to religious ceremonies. That means atheists and homosexuals are not religiously married but everyone has equal protection under the law of civil unions.

I have talked about this extensively here but I will not try to publicize this proposal until I can garner support for it somewhere.

So yes, no homosexual marriage but no Las Vegas marriage, atheist marriage, commercial marriages, or courthouse marriages either. Marriage cannot be used in official legal documentation but freedom of speech is preserved to allow for the usage of the term marriage for the colloquial term.

  Edited December 4, 2011 by OcramSeattle  

[s.i.X 13]

So, the mayor of Toronto may not be obligated to attend any Pride Week festivities, but as the chief representative of the city, he should. Unfortunately, he chose to spend his entire week on vacation in his cottage up north.

And I'm sure that whatever he was up to in that "cottage" up "north" (it's a mansion on a lake in one of the southernmost parts of the country) was far more traumatizing to witness than a parade float full of men with their little Johnnies flapping in the breeze. (Awesome feeling btw.)

[Meg 368]

There is such a thing as lesbian sperm? Who knew?

Bill Johnson, Former Alabama Governor Candidate, Caught In Lesbian Sperm Donation Scandal

[astronelson 339]

There is such a thing as lesbian sperm? Who knew?

Bill Johnson, Former Alabama Governor Candidate, Caught In Lesbian Sperm Donation Scandal

Perhaps soon, although not exclusively lesbian.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

2 women can have both of their eggs combined to have a daughter though it is a very expensive and difficult procedure and I am assuming the sperm was donated for lesbians to have biological children.