Scrutable

Today we had a “Pride Ally Coffee Morning” thing. Essentially there were a few cakes provided and some leaflets about how to be an ally to LGBT+ colleagues. It was straightforward fairly anodyne stuff. One older gent asked why this was “being rammed down our throats?” Given that there was no requirement to go along or take a cake in the first place this seems a slight overreaction. I’m not sure how less offensive it could have been tbh, apart from the gays not existing in the first place of course.

I think maybe the implication was that "pride" should be renamed "shame"?

Yeah, it sounds like he answered his own question there.

Was this perhaps an attempt at "humour" with an oral sex reference?

I tend to give older low-level homophobes a bit of leeway. Many of them grew up when male homosexuality was illegal, and it's only a short generation since Larry Grayson was the closest many of them knowingly got to a gay person. The intergenerational correlation of religion shows how hard it can be for people to change attitudes that they probably got from their parents.

sTeamTraen wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 9:43 am

Was this perhaps an attempt at "humour" with an oral sex reference?

I tend to give older low-level homophobes a bit of leeway. Many of them grew up when male homosexuality was illegal, and it's only a short generation since Larry Grayson was the closest many of them knowingly got to a gay person. The intergenerational correlation of religion shows how hard it can be for people to change attitudes that they probably got from their parents.

It wasn’t an attempt at humour no, it was really quite grumpy. I didn’t engage with that comment. I did engage with a discussion about why they might need allies in a way that straight people don’t.

Lets face it, some people will do anything for cake.

greyspoke wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 11:28 am

Lets face it, some people will do anything for cake.

I’ll be anyone’s ally for a cream filling.

sTeamTraen wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 9:43 am

Was this perhaps an attempt at "humour" with an oral sex reference?

I tend to give older low-level homophobes a bit of leeway. Many of them grew up when male homosexuality was illegal, and it's only a short generation since Larry Grayson was the closest many of them knowingly got to a gay person. The intergenerational correlation of religion shows how hard it can be for people to change attitudes that they probably got from their parents.

It doesn't sound like this particular homophobe deserves any leeway. Since he's still working he is likely under 65 - ie the age of people like me and my friends, none of whom are homophobic.

He doesn't get a pass on background either - I grew up in rural North Yorkshire which in the 60s and 70s was, shall we say, a little backwards in such matters.

JQH wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 2:24 pm

sTeamTraen wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 9:43 am

Was this perhaps an attempt at "humour" with an oral sex reference?

I tend to give older low-level homophobes a bit of leeway. Many of them grew up when male homosexuality was illegal, and it's only a short generation since Larry Grayson was the closest many of them knowingly got to a gay person. The intergenerational correlation of religion shows how hard it can be for people to change attitudes that they probably got from their parents.

It doesn't sound like this particular homophobe deserves any leeway. Since he's still working he is likely under 65 - ie the age of people like me and my friends, none of whom are homophobic.

He doesn't get a pass on background either - I grew up in rural North Yorkshire which in the 60s and 70s was, shall we say, a little backwards in such matters.

Oh, definitely this!

The guy must be around my age, so most of his growing up would be AFTER 1967...One is not too old to change views on matters; most people just don't think and don't bother to change.

Some people of a certain mentality seem to actively seek out things like this, just so they can toss off
a letter of complaint.

I don’t want to give away too much personal information, but he’s older than 65.

Fair enough, but 1967 is still over 50 years ago...

Grumble wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 10:31 am

sTeamTraen wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 31, 2020 9:43 am

Was this perhaps an attempt at "humour" with an oral sex reference?

I tend to give older low-level homophobes a bit of leeway. Many of them grew up when male homosexuality was illegal, and it's only a short generation since Larry Grayson was the closest many of them knowingly got to a gay person. The intergenerational correlation of religion shows how hard it can be for people to change attitudes that they probably got from their parents.

It wasn’t an attempt at humour no, it was really quite grumpy. I didn’t engage with that comment. I did engage with a discussion about why they might need allies in a way that straight people don’t.

Dr Freud might have had something to say.

"Who is this artist Rorschach, and why does he keep painting pictures of my parents fighting?"

The Onion once wrote something (which you can understand why I won't try to google) called "Why do these homosexuals keep sucking my dick?" or similar.