[dark acacia]

Wow, sorry for coming late to the party guys (I was on a semi-break from TMS and mudding for a while), but I have a few things I'd like to point out based on my experience in the many MUDs I've visited and hung out in over the years.

I think I need to preface this by saying that I don't hate homosexuals and I don't tolerate hatred or violence against them.

1. I've never seen a MUD that tolerated hostility towards homosexuals. I've seen people in different places say bad things about homosexual people, but I've never seen it get so bad that whoever was in charge of enforcing rules wasn't doing anything about it. I don't think there's a single active MUD out there where the Admin is going to respond with any sort of hateful rhetoric or allow it to go on unhindered, unless the Westboro Baptists finally set up a MUD somewhere (GodHatesEveryoneExceptUsMUD?).

2. I -have- seen MU* environments which basically all but put themselves on the Pride bandwagon. If you say anything contrary to what the homosexual rights movement believes in an OOC discussion, you're done: get out of our game. You're a bigot, full stop (to use a British term).

I've seen this go as far as a cleric character getting muscled out of a game because the cleric would not perform an in-game same-sex wedding ceremony because the cleric didn't agree with same-sex marriage, though the cleric had performed male/female in-game weddings before. The cleric never told the couple that they were going to Hell, or that the cleric hated homosexuals, or anything of the sort; just denying the service was enough to leave a black mark, even though other clerics were willing and available.

3. No one ever seems to want to stick their necks out for people who happen to have a religious belief. Even if everyone on a game's OOC channel is proudly atheist, it won't stop anti-religious discussion from coming up sooner or later. The discussion of religion may or may not have anything to do with a religion's take on homosexuality, it doesn't matter. If you're a Catholic, people will say that your priest touches kids. If you're a Jew, people tell you that you hoard money and are trying to take over the government. If you're a Mormon, they ask how many wives you have. If you're a Muslim, they say you're going to blow something up.

#3 is endemic to the Internet; I've often said that people on the Internet have no place in commenting on the religious beliefs and practices of others, because 9 times out of 10 they have no idea of what they're talking about and are usually basing their incredulity and insult on something they don't properly understand. Still, there's a wide audience for anti-religious rhetoric and they will eat up anything except what the religious say in their own defense, regardless of how wrong the critic was about the religion and how right the defendant is.