Gay Bashing Circa 2014

[sp1814]

Seriously...

In 2014, why is this still happening?

And this isn't a 'making a point' thread...I'm genuinely interested in the possible reasons behind this.

Is it religious fundamentalism? Anger at perceived favouritism towards an admittedly small minority? Mental illness? Bravado?

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/28/man-jailed-two-years-vile-violent-attack-outside-london-club-ammonia

Again - I'm not making a point, I would like to hear your ideas as to why someone would do this?

I've seen lads having fights in nightclubs, but this is different - any ideas as to why it still happens (and I promise not to shout anyone down - honest).

[Baldric]

Get a room, you two FGS!!!!

[anotheoldgit]

Why turn this into a thread about gay bashing, when gay bashing never took place.

I suggest to the OP wait until an example rears it's ugly head and then post a thread on it.

[sp1814]

AOG

I mentioned this before on page one - please see my *second* link!

[sp1814]

Thanks andy-hughes. I didn't notice your post earlier.

And thanks retrocop - it all makes for interesting/disturbing reading.

[agchristie]

SP - you will no doubt recall the case of neo-Nazi, David Copeland in 1999. Having carried out two nail bombings in London to stir up race/hate, the police issued a warning that a gay bar could be a strong possibility. This was indeed the case and the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho was bombed.

[retrocop]

ag
Thank you for some back up on this topic. As I tried to explain to sp in his quest to discover why gays are subject to violence. You open yourself up as gay and flaunt it openly and visit gay pubs/bars you will be declaring yourself as open season for a bout of violence inflicted upon you. Do not flaunt it in non gays faces and flaunt the fact that you are proud to be gay. It ends in tears and I,for one, am not impressed with gay pride marches or having it shoved in my face. I repeat. I would not condone violence towards gays any more than I would fly to the moon to avoid them .

[agchristie]

Retro - I thought the Soho bombing pre-dated the N.I ceasefire as I thought it was an Irish atrocity! I then remembered this OP and it made me think.

Copeland was a real extremist whose sentence reflected his deeds.

I know many people share similar views to you especially the Gay Pride marches which are seen as too overt and unnecessary.

[andy-hughes]

retrocop - "As I tried to explain to sp in his quest to discover why gays are subject to violence. You open yourself up as gay and flaunt it openly and visit gay pubs/bars you will be declaring yourself as open season for a bout of violence inflicted upon you. Do not flaunt it in non gays faces and flaunt the fact that you are proud to be gay. It ends in tears and I,for one, am not impressed with gay pride marches or having it shoved in my face."

Frankly, your antique cromagon bull-headed predjudice took my breath away.

Are you seriously saying that being apparently (and camp behaviour is not more a reliable barometer of homosexuality than muscles is a barometer of steroid abuse) gay leaves men and women open to violence in a manner that suggests you simply think that is the way things are?

That is NOT the way things are! This is 2014, and equality and tolerance for minorities has never been higher, and long may it continue to rise.

The notion that being outwardly gay is to invite violence is an utterly abhorrent concept, and if you do not think that's OK, as you grudgingly aceed at the end of your post, then your acceptance is less than convincing.

If I am in a pub (I rarely am) and a bunch of lagar-swilling louts are singing football songs and generally behaving in a brutish fashion I would simply leave.

I would not decide that my offence at their appearance and behaviour entitles me to visit violence upon them because I don't like their way of enjoying themselves.

Thanks the inherent sensitivity to hostility that most gay people routinely grow up with in our straight society, I would imagine that intolerance radiates from you like a homophobic beacon, and you need have no fear of anyone 'shoving' anything in your face - unless it might be a sarcastic response to your pre-war attitudes.

Learn some respect.

[Zacs-Master]

Andy. For some more or retro cops 'logic' see my thread on the terror threat increase.

[sp1814]

retrocop

I don't understand how going to a gay bar is somehow 'flaunting it' in the face of non-gays.

In fact, it would seem the very opposite of that.

I suspect that the default position should be that everyone should be able to walk down the street without fear of attack,

There are many things that I find personally unpleasant, but that doesn't give me the right to beat someone up, surely?

[agchristie]

SP - For my benefit, can you advise me what the purpose of the Gay Pride Marches are? It seems an obvious question as the clue is in the title but is it actually about more than this?

[sp1814]

agchristie

They're a celebration, a party, a place where gay people and their family/friends can publicly give voice to 'other side of the story'...we don't have to look too far to hear those who preach anti-gay messages from the pulpits and from the mosques.

And as retrocop has pointed out, there are vile pieces of filth who genuinely think that it's acceptable to attack and/or kill gay people for no other reason than they're gay.

Pride marches are a way to counter those voices.

Explained quite well here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlene-obernauer/whats-the-point-of-pride-marches_b_3462807.html

[sp1814]

I didn't read it that retrocop has this attitudes.

I thought he was explaining the mental process of the filth who think it's acceptable to beat someone up, simply because they don't like them.

You would have to be scum to do that. I think that's what retrocop meant.

[agchristie]

I didn't realise SP that these marches had existed that long.

[sp1814]

agchristie

Yes...I think ours started in the early 70s - but back then it was far, far more political.

[agchristie]

SP - that's what I thought. Does the LGBT community feel as strongly as it did even just ten years ago? Have these marches really amounted now to just what the description implies - pride and celebration?

To what extent is it 'work in progress'? I've nothing against the marches but from moving matters on, what further progress can be made in the UK?

Is the fear of victimisation greater than the reality of the situation?

[sp1814]

agchristie

The march has moved more towards a big party, with less emphasis on politics.

Attacks on gays still happen, although they are rarely reported in national press.

[Svejk]

some people look for homophobia everywhere and if they cant find it,,,,,,,they'll just make it up. (ditto;racism)

[sandyRoe]

I confess in the distant past I'd occasionally bash the bishop but I've never bashed anyone else.

[agchristie]

SP - I've no doubt that homophobic attacks continue though can't comment on under reporting by the media.