[joyofdiscord]

Jazuela:

Not all games are like Armageddon (which BTW is my home MUD as well), where you can play with someone daily for a RL year or more, without ever learning the first thing about their OOC lives. Some people like to play MUDs where they can get to know their fellow players and chat about their lives. And sometimes when you chat about your life, people may become aware what your sexual orientation is. Just like straight players might mention that their spouse is bugging them to get off the game, so might a gay player. However, crypto-bigots think that whenever gay people are talking about their personal lives in a way that reveals they are gay (just like a straight person might say things that reveals they are straight), they are "seeking attention." Bull****. That's because crypto-bigots are uncomfortable with the fact gay people exist and latch on to any indication that a gay person is gay, and imagine they are "seeking attention" or "flaunting" their sexuality. If you think this, I'm sorry, but it's a sign that you have a nagging problem with gay people and just don't like the fact that they exist and you might have to be aware that they exist.

SnowTroll:

Regarding your (nonsensical) rant about word meanings: I appreciate your linguistic descriptivist stance, but you're doing it all wrong. Sure, "gay" has a demeaning, offensive, pejorative meaning. Okay, that's one of the meanings. When someone uses that word with that demeaning, offensive, pejorative meaning, they are being a bigoted asshole. It doesn't matter if there are laws against it (WTF?), other people have every right to correctly assess that the person using that kind of language is a bigoted asshole and treat them like one accordingly, whether that be banning from the game, shunning them, calling them a bigoted asshole, or what-have-you.

It's also hilariously obvious whenever someone has to include a sentence like "I have no problem with homosexuals" or "I'm not racist but..." that they do, in fact, have a problem with homosexuals, or are racist. If you are defending the use of the term "gay" as an insult: congratulations, you have a problem with gay people, as the rest of your post makes abundantly clear! Your post amounts to "I have no problem with gay people as long as they stay in the closet where they belong." That's what the whole "attention" / "it shouldn't make any difference (because they should STFU about it)" stuff is really getting at.


Guess what guys, gay people are here. They're out of the closet. Most of them have been told for their whole lives to be ashamed of who they are and to hide or suppress it, just like you "well-meaning" chodes are attempting to tell them again, right now! Well they shouldn't have to be ashamed. They shouldn't have to bite their tongue to avoid exposing your delicate senses to the fact that gay people exist. They should have every right to talk about their lives, even talk specifically about being gay, or *gasp* how homophobia is a real and ****ty problem, one which taints this very thread with its unmistakable stink.