# After gay folks, who's next? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 7, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048 "2013-04-07T00:38:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/41 "2013-04-07T22:23:02Z")
> [@Dragwyr](#): > > I would say that Atheists will be next. They are currently the most feared/hated group in the USA right now. They pretty much have to keep their mouths shut if they want to hold any type of public office. Thanks, but no thanks. Atheists may be feared and hated, but our rights are not trampled, nor are we a discriminated class. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/42 "2013-04-08T01:03:01Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Thanks, but no thanks. Atheists may be feared and hated, but our rights are not trampled, nor are we a discriminated class. I don’t feel the burning need for a movement but we are discriminated against. At least here in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/43 "2013-04-09T10:35:30Z")
> [@Saraya](#): > > The threshold is whether the issue is out of someone’s control or not. > Race, gender, nationality - you can’t control those > Sexual preferences, diet, unhealthy living - you can control those And religion – that’s under their control. So all those people that choose to be Jews, we should ship the off… wait, didn’t someone try that a while back? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/44 "2013-04-09T10:41:12Z")
Mineral rights! Rock on! ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/45 "2013-04-09T11:18:26Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > The right to suicide > > Right now, the situation is: > > (most enlightened will say: “Any sane, rational person has the right to choose death”). > > The law says: anyone considering suicide is mentally deficient and must be physically restrained to prevent that choice. > > For many, life is miserable; it is only the thought that they can check out at will whifch makes it tolerable. > > For those who have seen the TV show “MASH” but not the movie (in the movie, the song is sung), the words to that little tune on the intro are “and I can take or leave it if I please”. The title is “Suicide is Painless”. I’m with that and also abortion. The right of a person to choose to check out, and the right of a pregnant female to chose to terminate the pregnancy (within some boundaries ie \<20 weeks) should be easily fixed up. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/46 "2013-04-09T12:16:13Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > I could NOT have come out and started my transition from an intersex person to female in 2002; I would not have been able to face the social pressure, and it’s doubtful what would have happened with me at work. When I first began to deal with it in my life, at the end of 2004, I could not see any way forward. It seemed impossibly scary and daunting. But only 2¾ years later, in 2007, it was the obvious course to just go right ahead with transition. I couldn’t have foreseen it at first, but those years 2004–2007 are when things really started to improve for us in terms of social acceptance, and I had the full support of management at work. I had to educate everyone in my company, but they were readily open to learning and accepting. > [@](#): > > Courts are more and more used to transpeople changing their name, and more often are approving the change without a hearing or any delay - in fact, due to the sensitivity to employment issues, courts will sometimes expedite trans name changes (my name change took an incredible **6 days** from filing without a publication requirement nor a hearing, instead of the 3-4 months it normally takes!). Yeah, I’d heard lots of unpleasant stories of difficulty in the courts. But in 2007 my name change went through as a routine procedure in less than 2 weeks as a judge simply signed off on it with no further to-do. All I had to do was drop off the application at the courthouse with a modest processing fee and my name change came in the mail just like that. It was far easier and less complicated than renewing one’s car registration. > [@](#): > > It may still suck to be me, but it sucks much less than at any time in industrialized human history. Good way to put it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/47 "2013-04-09T12:18:47Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > we are discriminated against. At least here in Texas. So, you’re discriminated against in Texas, doesn’t that mean you’ve _achieved_ equality? Or do you believe atheists have some special right to be the only people not discriminated against in Texas? ---
**Author:** ![Doggo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Doggo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doggo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/48 "2013-04-09T13:21:14Z")
> [@Saraya](#): > > You assume that this period or era in our history is the best or the pinnacle? > If anything is probably one of the low points morally, ethically, socially, politically, philosophically and so on. > > About the only advantage we have is scientifically/technology and even then for each step we move forward, we regress three steps morally. > The threshold is whether the issue is out of someone’s control or not. > Race, gender, nationality - you can’t control those > Sexual preferences, diet, unhealthy living - you can control those > > If we coddle people whom live bad lifestyles, then all bets are off. Whomever can stick their nose in and have the audacity to claim they should get special privileges - sure enough there will be someone to take up the mantle. You are so correct. No doubt the Romans just before the collapse of their civilisation thought that they were at the “pinnacle”. All civilizations eventually decay from within and collapse, so it’s just a matter of time before western civilization follows the Greeks, the Romans, the Spanish, the British, etc etc into decline. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/49 "2013-04-09T13:43:05Z")
Isn’t the obvious answer Marijuana Enthusiasts? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/50 "2013-04-09T13:51:37Z")
Hispanics. I don’t know about the rest of the US, but in Indiana there is a distinct, nasty vibe of “Hell-at-least-the-blacks-speak-English”. It’s nothing official, but, really, considering the increase in Hispanic population in this country, how many characters on TV sitcoms and dramas are Hispanic? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/51 "2013-04-09T14:24:35Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Hispanics. I don’t know about the rest of the US, but in Indiana there is a distinct, nasty vibe of “Hell-at-least-the-blacks-speak-English”. It’s nothing official, but, really, considering the increase in Hispanic population in this country, how many characters on TV sitcoms and dramas are Hispanic? Which civil rights are Hispanics denied by law? I think a lot of people are misinterpreting the OP. It’s not about which group will gain in social prestige, but which group which is currently denied legal rights will get those rights. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/52 "2013-04-09T14:34:48Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Which civil rights are Hispanics denied by law? > > I think a lot of people are misinterpreting the OP. It’s not about which group will gain in social prestige, but which group which is currently denied legal rights will get those rights. Well, consider this: the Federal Bureau of Prisons shows that Hispanics make up 34.9% of US prison inmate population. The US Census Bureau indicates that 16.7% of the US’s population is Hispanic (as of 2011). When one-sixth of the population makes up over one-third of the prison population, that indicates to my little liberal 1960’s heart that there is discrimination going on, and that even though they may have legal rights, they are not being allowed to use them. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/53 "2013-04-09T16:45:53Z")
I don’t know about _next_. Probably transgender. Immigrants and the rights of people in general to migrate freely across the earth. Drug users and suppliers. I suspect prisoners and ex-criminals will be way down on the end of that list, but their time will come. And of course none of these are mutually exclusive, though they do tend to come into focus sequentially. But eventually… Children. They are currently little more than their parents’ property. They can’t vote, work, drive, invest, enter into contracts, have sex, drink, gamble, nothing. The entire Bill of Rights is denied to people under 18. They are provided with an education, but it’s mandatory so that’s a mixed blessing. Especially in places where the schools are more like Jesus Camp. Kids don’t even get to choose what school they go to or what they study. There are some protections against abuse and neglect, but that’s it, and even dogs have those. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/54 "2013-04-09T17:58:15Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Thanks, but no thanks. Atheists may be feared and hated, but our rights are not trampled, nor are we a discriminated class. > [@Shakes](#): > > I don’t feel the burning need for a movement but we are discriminated against. At least here in Texas. And in politics. I guess you could argue that that reflects the will of the people, but when the will of the people says that atheists aren’t trustworthy enough to make decisions for the country, I’d file that under a certain kind of discrimination. ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/55 "2013-04-09T18:54:44Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Isn’t the obvious answer Marijuana Enthusiasts? Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048/56 "2013-04-10T10:38:29Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I don’t feel the burning need for a movement but we are discriminated against. At least here in Texas. In the south it’s called a “crisis of faith” and can go on for years, while we still enjoy the networking found in “fellowship”, and pot-luck dinners. 🙂 I still hope Native Americans get a voice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-gay-folks-whos-next/655048.md?page=2)