Romania Gay

[usarandyo 0]

whatever happened to the good old days when you could put on a good old fashion ####### bash! <looks in wonder> How I miss the good old days.

[pedroh 21]

oh Gooood !!! and i thought romania will still be normal country, no matter what will be going on in this world....i guess i was wrong.....gay marriages should not be at all legalized, but the world is going down so....its sad though.... but hey, we have to join EU and that probably is a requirement

so gays are not normal people? are u a better person than a gay one because u're straight?

[Jaci 0]

whatever happened to the good old days when you could put on a good old fashion ####### bash! <looks in wonder> How I miss the good old days.

Well.. the good old days are alive and well in certain parts of the world, that's for sure. I appreciate the level of tolerance here in the US, imperfect as it is, after being in places generally much less so, like Romania.

[Jaci 0]

oh Gooood !!! and i thought romania will still be normal country, no matter what will be going on in this world....i guess i was wrong.....gay marriages should not be at all legalized, but the world is going down so....its sad though.... but hey, we have to join EU and that probably is a requirement

so gays are not normal people? are u a better person than a gay one because u're straight?

Pedroh,

Romania is such a different place. Many people are superstitious and intolerant about homosexuality, which it would seem they have had very little exposure to.

Maybe where I live (in FL) things are more liberal than other parts of the US, but I can't really imagine not having grown up with a friend or two who grew up to be homosexual, so it's normal for me to think of my friends as people first, regarless of their "orientation". I would think for most Romanian people the concept of an actual gay person would be rather hard to comprehend (never met an "out" homosexual there), so it's a fear and stereotype of something they've never had any exposure to. Their ain't no Key West in Romania , AFAIK.

Mind you I'm not excusing the phenomenon, but offering a suggestion that anyone brought up in that environment would likely automatically adopt a similar intolerant attitude, until confronted with the reality that homosexuals are people too.

Of course, probably %75 of Romanians would say they are religious, also, compounding the problem. Hopefully they might consider that Jesus probably wouldn't advocate the beating of homosexuals in the street, even if he wouldn't condone gay marriage.

OK. You guys can flame now. I'll get some jiffy pop.

[pedroh 21]

oh.. that sucks jaci..

[Jaci 0]

oh.. that sucks jaci..

Sure does. I'm pretty tolerant with lots of things, but ironically it's quite difficult to tolerate intolerance.

I really would prefer to live here in the US. There's no place like home, crab grass and all.

[babybunny 2]

dayum

[MichelleandCraig 1]

Well Jaci, I don't think anyone would or should flame you for stating WHY people there think and act as they do...it's not as if you share their beliefs!(Or should be flamed if you did, but we all know..it happens!) I myself don't agree with homosexuality, due to religion, but I also know people who are and was quite good friends with one woman for a while(my ex's sister!) but since that relationship ended, I don't see her around much anymore.(I also used to work with her and no longer work there.) Live and let live and all...it's not likely anything anyone tells them(not in all cases, but most) is going to change their minds/bodies(depending how you believe) about who or what they are. Also. from a religion standpoint, I totally agree with what you said...IF one believes in Christianity, what you wrote was very apt: homosexuality would be wrong from that view, but Jesus certainly wouldn't 'condone' the beating of people by others for it either. Aside from the beating alone, that also brings up another point: Judge not, lest you be judged. It's no human being's place to decide someone should be beaten for how he or she is living.

BTW...great to see you around! M.

Edited June 5, 2006 by MichelleandCraig

[Fischkoepfin 1]

oh Gooood !!! and i thought romania will still be normal country, no matter what will be going on in this world....i guess i was wrong.....gay marriages should not be at all legalized, but the world is going down so....its sad though.... but hey, we have to join EU and that probably is a requirement

While the EU is certainly opposed to discrimination against gays (among others), gay marriage is not a requirement because it concerns internal affairs. Romania's problem in joining stem from a corrupt judicial system which is a real problem. But it's hard to see the difference once on the single-issue route...

[Fischkoepfin 1]

oh.. that sucks jaci..

Sure does. I'm pretty tolerant with lots of things, but ironically it's quite difficult to tolerate intolerance.

I really would prefer to live here in the US. There's no place like home, crab grass and all.

I understand where the problem in Romania comes from and I think it's great that you mention it here. From what I understand there are two different causes, religion and the communist regime. Eastern European communists were quite adverse to homosexuality because it ran counter their views of the role of the individual in society and was a clear marker of Western decadence.

Coming to think of that I find it quite fascinating that groups opposing gays and lesbians are usually authoritarian and claim to be concerned with the well-being of the community which they see threatened by homosexuals. However, by dogmatically condemning homosexuality as somehow deviant and in violation of social mores (whether communist, facists, or what have you), these authoritarian groups fail to realize that they are not only threatening the well-being of society by excluding large groups but they also disregard human rights, which runs counter to Western democratic beliefs... (sorry about this brainstorming rant).

Jaci, I think that it is difficult to decide if tolerance needs to include being tolerant of intolerant people. Having lived in several places were that would have meant complacency in the face of violence, I tend to believe that one needs to resist intolerance. But I also know from experience that sometimes it is necessary to compromise your beliefs...