Afraid to speak out.

This isn't a free country any more. I am curious, who do you think is stopping you from saying what you want, when you want? Do you think there are spies in Sainsbury's? Are your next door neighbours reporting you to the Stasi? I am not being goady, but unless you are shouting on street corners about wanting blacks, foreigners, and gays to go home then frankly, nobody cares what we say or think, we are all entitled to express opinions as long as they do not offend.

In answer to the question how many gays can live on one street , it's about as plausible as everyone working within spitting distance of where the live and eating out at every meal either in the pub/cafe/bistro. I have stopped watching Corrie and Emmerdale because the storylines are so stupid.

The biggest fakery in East Enders ( don't watch it) is how they afford the rent. What a load of cobblers! They live in a house in the East End of London, and pay for it through a series of part time jobs down the market or the pub or the mini mart??? At in excess of £2k per month rent for a two bedroom flat in the real world, they must pay very well.

When a couple of friends of mine made a similar comment recently about the breakfast cereal families 'ticking boxes' with a black parent, a white parent, possible a gay couple and maybe squeeze in someone with a wheelchair if the kitchen is big enough (sorry). I said that maybe this was necessary until it wasn't commented on anymore, until we just didn't notice.

We have either a very vain or very lonesome dove in our garden, spends hours preening and admiring himself in front of the garden mirror.

I do not feel uncomfortable , but I do feel that scriptwriters are under pressure to include every diversity , a bit tough for them to achieve this given the size of the population of Emmerdale & Coronation Street.

I don't watch soaps and haven't heard the Archers for 12 years. But, I am aware of the stronger stories because they are often mentioned in the news. The soaps have, I gather, dealt with not only gay relationships, but fertility, cot deaths, Alzheimers, other life threatening illnesses and suicide. If just one person watching a soap gets a degree of comfort from finding out that they are not alone in this world then that is a good thing.

It's not always easy to tell if someone is gay. I remember back in the early seventies I worked for a few weeks in a dry cleaners in Kensington. Shortly after I joined the business was taken over by a gay couple. After that, lots of good looking men came into the shop and my only thoughts were that they were a loss to women kind.

Re Corrie: I suppose that at the moment the members of the cast that we are seeing the most of are those who are least vulnerable to the virus. So the strongest will be younger men and women, who are the gay characters.

Skydancer

The OP is right - soon we won't be able to speak our minds about anything. I keep my mouth shut more often than I used to. I'd love to write my opinions on here on all sorts of topics but I know I'd either get my posts removed or I'd get shouted down. This isn't a free country any more.

If you believe in what you (want to) say, then if anyone 'shouts you down', you can disagree. That's the good thing about living in a free country - as muffinthemoo points out, free speech works both ways.

When you say 'we' won't be able to speak our minds about anything', who do you mean by 'we'?

PinkCakes

ExD I agree. I haven't watched any of the soaps for years now, as I felt they were all too "politically correct" with their stories of gays, domestic abuse, drugs, rapes, etc. I want to be entertained by programmes, not subject to the misery that happens in life.

How is it Gay Pride lasts for a whole month, yet Remembrance Day gets a couple of minutes' silence once a year?

There are church services you know.

Alegrias1 and Flossiebo A bit late in the day but China is not the only country to attempt conversion therapy. I believe that in the States, the extreme churches also off such therapies.

Freedom of speech does not include the right not to be disagreed with.

Your free speech is not in any way impeded by the right of other people to use their right of free speech to disagree with you.

Well the OP has changed her mind on some of what she wrote, so if ever there was a reason for reading the whole thread....

As I said above, if you think this isn't a free country, take a look at China.

The OP is right - soon we won't be able to speak our minds about anything. I keep my mouth shut more often than I used to. I'd love to write my opinions on here on all sorts of topics but I know I'd either get my posts removed or I'd get shouted down. This isn't a free country any more.

Baggs

I think the idea is to get people who think homosexual relationships are sinful to get used to the idea that such relationships are 'natural'. This doesn't mean that the majority won't stick with heterosexual relationships which are, after all, still the best way to reproduce.

It's not homophobic to think heterosexual relationships are normal and that homosexual relationships, while natural to some people and not harmful to everyone else, are not "the norm". You only have to look at the rest of the sexual animal world to see that that is true.

Not quite. The neutered male cat of a friend was raped by a tom cat. Apparently it's quite common - they will go for anything in sight.

I totaly agree with you ExD.

Alegrias1, your post last night at 20.57 was very interesting & makes a very good point.

Nonogran

Is anyone interested in a “Heterosexual Pride” parade?
Let’s broadcast our sexual preferences far & wide.

Ha! You could call it a ‘Prude Parade’.

Muffinmoo and Summerlove -your points absolutely! As VegansRock points out children are still bullied because of their sexuality. We have a young man nearby who is going through this and self-harming as a result, and in turn also bullying others outside of school. Because it still isn’t normalised. And TV programmes can help to normalise it.

And a lovely town it is too Miss Chateline!

Well said Maddyone. ?

I actually live, in the town known as the gay capital of the UK. It is often cited that house buyers pay a premium to live in such a gay friendly town. I can not imagine children here having to have different types of relationships or sexuality explained. There are children at all of the schools who will have 2 mums or 2 dads. There are couples of all ages from young new to the scene and setting up home together to elderly couples who have been together for decades. Just like real life everywhere I guess.
I am so grateful to both gay men and women in the past who suffered so badly for their homosexuality but their belief in themselves and their commitment made it possible for couples like myself, my wife and my lesbian neighbours to live “normal” lives and just be part of the community possible.

Gay people are still taunted, bullied at school and beaten up. There is a reason why few gay footballers come out. If gay relationships becomes normalised then that’s all to the good imho.
Corrie is a drama and not real life. You don’t have to watch it. It’s not Nazi Germany or China.

I’m so very thankful that my son and his partner can lead normal, happy lives together. I’m glad they don’t have to live through what gay people had to put up with not so many years ago. I think my heart would have broken if that were the case. Please remember folks that every gay person is somebody’s child, somebody’s brother or sister, somebody’s grandchild, and also an auntie/uncle, a nephew/niece. They are loved and cared about the same as everyone else.

I hardly know any straight people. But apparently you all bloody exist, since you won’t shut up about it.

Quite.

I have never understood why anyone would want to control the sexuality of others, but it's a pointless exercise anyway.

You can imprison people, have them stoned to death, ban their poems or films, send them to camps - it won't work. You can drive sexuality underground (and this applies to gay, bi or straight people) by passing laws about who can have sex with whom, according to colour, sex, gender, age, marital status, anything you like, but people are the way they are made, and that is not subject to law.

Trying to control the sex lives of others ruins lives, but for some reason there have always been those who want to do it.