As a Homosexual, what needs to change in your country to make you feel equal citizen?

[average7inch]

1,500? Seems to be slicing it a bit thin. If accurate, it only makes the point of pursuing equal partnership/survivorship rights for all (not "just" gay couples) that much more important.

 

[QuiteOne]

Over the years I had a few negative experiences with being gay (house was vandalized by kids on a few occasions, spray-painted FAG on my garage, things like that) but my very conservative neighbors were always supportive and the local police was also very helpful. So in that regard, the government was always on my side.

Unfortunately, I'm now in a much different position. Several years ago I fell in love with a wonderful man who is not a US citizen. His visa expired and he was unable to get it renewed. The only way for us to stay together was for me to leave my job, my friends, my family and move to his homeland (a third-world country). Needless to say it has not been easy. We are both college educated and I had a very lucrative job in the States. Now we struggle just to get by.

If we were straight, we could have gotten married and stayed in the US.

So, what needs to change? Immigration law... that's what. My family hasn't seen my partner in well over 5 years, I rarely get to see my 80 year old father who hasn't much time left on this earth. I miss my siblings terribly. Nobody should have to go through this.

 

[average7inch]

Sorry, but being a straight couple doesn't guarantee a free pass through immigration in most countries. I'm personally aware of numerous examples regarding straight couples trying to move U.S.-Canada or Canada-U.S. who couldn't get the appropriate visas or be approved for immigration.

 

[D_Jared Padalicki]

Living in Belgium isn't that bad for equal rights for homsexuals. But a few weeks ago I read an article that said that homosexuals aren't allowed to give blood for the Red Cross. That was the first time I heard it. So that is the one thing I can come up with for now.

 

[cock23]

Living in Belgium isn't that bad for equal rights for homsexuals. But a few weeks ago I read an article that said that homosexuals aren't allowed to give blood for the Red Cross. That was the first time I heard it. So that is the one thing I can come up with for now.

Yup, that's completely true in the UK as well. My friend (a lesbian) wasn't allowed to give blood and they cited that reason. Apparentely it's because gay men and lesbian women have a higher risk of carrying HIV/AIDS and other STD's than straight people. I find that to be completely moronic bullshit, but what can you do eh?

 

[ginger_qboy]

Yup, that's completely true in the UK as well. My friend (a lesbian) wasn't allowed to give blood and they cited that reason. Apparentely it's because gay men and lesbian women have a higher risk of carrying HIV/AIDS and other STD's than straight people. I find that to be completely moronic bullshit, but what can you do eh?

Same thing in Canada. Homosexuals cannot donate blood. Total bullshit.

They're happy to take a homosexual's organs in the event of a fatal accident, but blood, no way! Where's the logic?

 

[naughty]

1. Insurance for your partner if you have better insurance.
2. Holding hands or kissing in public (not all over each other, etc.) without fear or being bashed.
3. Being allowed in the hospital room without any family interference.
4. Ability to go over even to relatives houses and not be worried that you are not a str8 couple; no judgements from anyone.
5. Not being refused housing when they realize you are gay.
6. Not being categorized or instantly thought of to be somewhat feminine or somehow inferior simply because you love your own sex (you can love the other too but it's a different kind of love).
7. I could go on and on.
5.

Sweetheart,

Some of the things you mentioned unfortunately can not be legislated.

 

[Bbucko]

1,500? Seems to be slicing it a bit thin. If accurate, it only makes the point of pursuing equal partnership/survivorship rights for all (not "just" gay couples) that much more important.

This website lists the rights variously as 1100 and 1400; the exact number is subject to variation based on what rights may or may not be available in some states and not others.

It took me less time to Google "1500 rights conferred by marriage" than it did for you to type out your reply. With a couple of hours, imagine what you might have learned :wink:

 

[Rowan Ravenseed]

Noticed you used the N word. Hope you got a thrill out of that.
I don't use the word out of personal respect. I don't need to be told or threatened not to use it. I was also raised down south in Georgia and have had sex with a black basketplayer. Funny, they call each other the N word all the time and laugh about it.

A little less sensitivity and more of a sense of humor would make us all better off.

I understand you point of view and I agree that you can't legislate emotions or feelings but you can alter them over time with awareness and education......

Alot of politcal correctness isnt so much about punishing those who are hateful but moreso about trying to stop that hate being passed on to future generations......

Many hate speeches and hate campaigns aren't targeted solely on the people they are preeching hate to..... most of them are two fold campaigns designed not only to slur the people they are preeching hate against but also to inspire hatred in the hearts of the upcoming youth.......

the best way to counter this is to teach our up coming youth that hatred is no acceptable and that society as a whole will not tolerate hateful acts.... how do we teach people what is and isnt acceptable to society??? by implementing laws

So regardless of whether or not you feel the hate speech act is justified or not please try to remember that without laws such as the one you are so vehemontly against more and more of society would be growing intolerent instead of the results we say today were society is growing ever more tolerent

 

[Chriskenney81]

I've never been one to accept cultural or societal change through fiat. The fact that every state that had gay marriage on a ballot had it voted down is a sign that any federal court ruling or law that makes it legal would not be the best thing. So what does that suggest? Small steps. Start in your local communities, then move on to the states. Its not going to be an overnight thing where the Federal Government just decrees gay marriage and everyone holds hands and skips down the road together singing kumbaya.

 

[average7inch]

This website lists the rights variously as 1100 and 1400; the exact number is subject to variation based on what rights may or may not be available in some states and not others.

It took me less time to Google "1500 rights conferred by marriage" than it did for you to type out your reply. With a couple of hours, imagine what you might have learned :wink:

As for your suggested Google search, it came up with only one listing, and that was linked to an un-sourced post in a small-town paper's forum. Just because somebody says it, doesn't make it so.

At your other link, 21 examples are listed, with "more" alluded to. Amongst the 21 listed, there are seven that are arguably all covered under right of survivorship, so yes, that's slicing it pretty thin.

Hell, if you're just going for a big number, why not count each line in the tax code that applies to married straight couples as a separate distinct right, that should get the number up into the tens of thousands easily.

Just amongst the 21 examples listed at the link, I can see two that are based on fallacious assumptions, one that is speciously categorized as a beneficial right, and a few that are easily addressed with advance estate planning.

However, the original point of the thread isn't about keeping score, or the various ways one can inflate a list for effect.

The issue I raised was that the problem of lacking survivorship rights/benefits, medical power of attorney rights, and other partnership rights/benefits is not limited strictly to gay couples.

In fact, on the list of 21 examples, at least four are examples of problems faced by a single adult offspring caring for an elderly parent. Of those four, two cannot be addressed through any amount of advance estate planning.

So, to save you the trouble of going all the way back to the previous page on this thread, I'll repeat my original challenge here:

Rather than (just) extending special rights to another limited subset of the citizenry (gay couples), how about pursuing equal partnership/survivorship rights for everybody?

 

[average7inch]

As a footnote here, to save some of the electrons wasted by reflexive rebuttals, our end goals here are neither competitive nor mutually exclusive. I just prefer to stick with cold simple logic instead of inflated rhetoric and overwrought emotion, and to work through the broadest possible coalition of interests.

For those who may have missed it, my position is that everybody should have equal partnership/survivorship rights.

What part of "everybody" doesn't include gay couples?

 

[HUNGHUGE11X7]

Please list all the things that infringes on your rights as a citizen and what you would change.

One thing and one thing only. The very idea and ridiculous one that someone chooses to be born GAY LESBIAN BISEXUAL or TRANSGENDERED. If that was better understood it would be seen as natural and something that you are born with should be protected and afforded all rights that one would not receive if they CHOSE to be this or that !
The main reasons we have progressed as far as we have today in civil rights is due to the evolving belief that one does NOT CHOOSE to be GLBT and b/c people of power have come out to give support to the civil rights cause.
The only hindrance, well not the only one but the BIGGEST hindrance is the fukin religious wrong and funny enough most of the GLBT hypocrites come from this very organization ( DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO)!
RELIGION has been responsible for more hatred, murder and wars than anything else on the planet and in the hands of narrowminded bigoted homophobes it becomes a dangerous weapon !


HH