Waste of taxpayers' money

Has she left officially? Is it too late for us all to PM her and beg her to stay?

I tried to PM her last night but I was too late.

That's a shame. Hopefully she will come back in the future, under a new name, and will be forewarned and better able to deal with the bullies.

It's possible she may still look in as it's not a closed forum. If you do, margaret, I completely understand how you might have felt bullied. Some posters do come across as patronising sometimes, and seem to almost wilfully misconstrue folks' comments. But then I guess any forum will be a microcosm of types of personality - bit like a children's playground. So sad that she felt pushed into leaving.

If you do look back in Margaret I too hope you will return xx

The word "homophobia" should never have been used in this thread. The OP had no trace of it. Once that word was mentioned, the thread went downhill.

Hope you come back margaret.

She isn't the first and won't be the last. Such a shame that some choose to misinterpret posts, sometimes wilfully! What happened to Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby?

I have been on the receiving end of someone quite deliberately misquoting me and when I said so refusing to apologise. When I said she had twisted what I said my post was deleted! She clearly had. I know how Margaret feels but wish she had stayed and stuck it out.

I'm afraid I disagree. I don't think margaret was bullied. Some people disagreed with her, that's all.

I agree janea*

I'm wading my way through this long thread after reading the bullying thread, I wanted to see for myself what had happened. In response to JessM asking for evidence from the EA annual report, I read through the latest one online and of course it's not there. But I've just looked at the DM report and they are referring to events that happened in 2009 - long before the current state of affairs so really the DM is digging up dirt to throw at the EA when it's already being criticised. I've only read the first three pages of this thread so apologise if someone has already mentioned these facts ...

She obviously felt bullied and harangued. Whether we agree or not is beside the point.

Yep, knew it, Janeainsworth got there first... now, if I had a delete button...

mollie

I just did the same as mollie – read this whole thread. Seems to me some people agreed with the OP, some sort of kind of disagreed but not very strongly, one or possibly two asked for a link, and there was a variety of slight digressions about tax and ads on buses and suchlike. I can't find any bullying. I don't know what the deleted posts said. This probably doesn't matter.

Come back, margaretm74. I know how you feel. Been there. Came back though and i'm glad I did.

Agreed!

Come back, margaret. Please.

It's how margaret felt that's important. All those who have left GN ( and thankfully come back) will understand what it feels like.

Yea, Aka it is not a good place to be for margaret at the moment; as you say, it is her feelings that are important, and she has withdrawn but only, I hope, for the time being.

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Oh it's quite simple.

The gay community is a big one - one that has been oppressed and vilified in the past, and still is in some quarters.

Demonstrating that these attitudes are unacceptable is a legitimate and sensible way to address prejudice.

For these marches / celebrations/ festivals to be supported by national or local government is a perfectly sensible way to allocate a tiny proportion of revenue.

The same applies to any festival, for example the Lord Mayor's Show, Bonfire Night fireworks, the South Bank Festival, the Early Music Festival, Pop Festivals, a skateboard park and so on.

Each one of these can be described as 'a pet project'. But actually they all form part of the rich diversity which makes up this country. And that is a good thing.

Can we not draw a line under this subject?

Thankyou MiceElf my reply would not have been as reasoned and patient as yours

Again well said Charleygirl and * Adriane*

ninny you entitled to voice your opinion only up to a point. If it involves allegations about the conduct of individuals you would be well advised not to post it on any social media. One of the problems with your post is that it could open you or GN to legal action. Private individuals made untrue allegations about Lord McAlpine on Twitter not so long ago and he took them to court, won, and it cost each of them a fair bit of money.
If your post was a letter to a newspaper it would not get printed.

I'm getting really annoyed by this thread.

It seems to have been hijacked by a few who are determined to see prejudice and bigotry where absolutely none is intended. The resulting verbal bullying - accusations of bigotry - are totally unacceptable.

If I had my way, this whole thread would now be deleted!