I don’t know, scott - The Ryan has had difficulty in the past with the concepts of homosexuality, romance, sex, and dating, putting them all together, and trying to understand them…
Esprix
I also find it interstign the gay posters who have been most vocal about their sexual experience–**Matt, Esprix, Scott Evil, ** and your friendly, neighborhood Gobear–have all tested negative for HIV. Do you think maybe we know what we’re talking about?
ok, i admitting right now that i haven’t finished reading all the posts…but here are some of my thoughts and observations…
when i came out to my mom her first two questions (actually the first two things she said at all) were
- You are going to get AIDS, aren’t you?
- You haven’t touched any of the little kids you babysat for, have you?
when i told my friends, most of them were great, however, some said that they were concerned that i might get AIDS, and they had to be careful around me…they have since come around. and this wasn’t THAT long ago, i would say 1995 or 6.
When my landlord passed away from complications from AIDS, my straight female roommate said that she was concerned that my boyfriend and i were going to get AIDS…from all appearances my boyfriend and i are in a monogamous relationship, she has more “unprotected” sex with different people than i ever had. When i quote unprotected, i do so cause…“well i am on the pill, i don’t have to worry about getting pregnant…”
When i mentioned to a friend of mine that i had a huge crush on a bartender from the local strip club (well, it’s sort of local, it’s in dc) she said i should be careful, she always worries abou me and AIDS.
When i have discussions about trysts i have had in the past, conversations with good friends that you should be able to talk to about these things, the first question is always…are you careful? not, wow, crazy, was it good, do you like him, what were you thinking, are you going to do it again…nope, just “were you safe?”
i grew up with AIDS in the news, i myself was afraid to come out, cause i thought if i did, i would be a candidate for the disease, probably cause i saw those GAY=Got Aids Yet signs. I never got to experience the level of sexual freedom some people did. but GOD who i long for the day when i don’t have to hear that stupid were you safe question again…i ache for the day when my gut reaction doesn’t have to be one of dissapointment that my friends…MY FRIENDS, who are supposedly smart intelligent intellectual educated people, who also happen to be women who are having unsafe sex, won’t think that i am the ONLY one in these conversations that has anything to worry about…
and sometimes i wonder if it is just our cross to bear, through no fault of our own…but look, the price was high, but acceptance of homosexuals today is LEAPS AND BOUNDS better than ever before, and i think SOME of it has to do with the AIDS crisis.
i’m not sure if i made any sense, but i have wanted to rant about this for a while.
I also find it interesting that the gay posters who have been most vocal about their sexual experience–Matt, Esprix, Scott Evil, and your friendly, neighborhood Gobear–have all recently tested negative for HIV. Do you think maybe we know about safer sex precautions?
Perfect sense, Jaytini.
Esprix
I think you’re right, in part. Sure it was seen as “the gay disease” but most people (hey, even Jesse Helms!) have learned otherwise. Magic Johnson helped that.
I’d add to the package the Matthew Shepherd story – guy who looks like a cute little boy, killed simply on account of his being gay. That startled Joe and Mary Couchpotato out of their stupor and made them realize that there is hatred out there.
First off, JillGat, point taken, but scott has since said that his friends look at it the same way he does, so I stick by my statement.
Hmm. That was weird. It seems the computer decided I was done with my typing before I really was. Ah, well. Here goes:
I fail to see what that has to do with him getting sexual advice. If a hetero Doper posts a thread in MPSIMS asking whether they should break up with their girlfriend, would it make sense to barge in with warnings about AIDS?
So your entire argument isn’t that the AIDS warnings were warranted, but that gobear’s evidence for that statement wasn’t as good as it could be? You came into the thread and made a whole new post just to critique his debating skills?
Putting aside the fact that matt has since provided a good example, I fail to see why you thought it was worth it to criticize the particular evidence choices of a Pit rant. After all, scott evil’s thread was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and the most recent example of the Gay/AIDS thread relationship. Therefore, it is the best one to use as evidence. And there were some pretty “ridiculous” responses in that thread, too. Do you really think that a post consiting entirely of:
is a rational and balanced addition to the conversation?
This is true, but I didn’t get the impression that he was having sex with anybody else from his OP. And since scott himself has since cleared it up, that isn’t even an issue anymore.
I’ve looked at this a couple times and still fail to see what it has to do with anything.
If a hetero Doper were to ask whether they should continue having casual sex with two different girls, it would not be utterly surprising to hav someone bring up AIDS.
No. If you want to know my argument, then read my posts.
More accurately, it was an example of the casual gay sex/AIDS thread relationship.
No, and I think it might be evidence of prejudice against homosexuals. However, I was of the opinion that the benefit of the doubt should be given, and I shared that opinion. If gobear wishes to have a discussion in which he is free of the danger of being exposed to differing opinions, perhaps he should have you all over for a party instead of opening a thread on a public message board.
Of course it’s an issue. We’re discussing people’s responses to what scott said, not their responses to what scott meant.
And I fail to see what scott’s being only one guy away from monogamy has to do with anything.
So HappyHeathen says something that might be construed as suggesting an AIDS test, after you state that you have an immune deficiency syndrome (which is three fourths of “acquired immune deficiency syndrome”)?
jaytini2 and jester, excellent posts. Thank you.
Btw, the last post was from me, not Hamish.
In the thread I linked to, The Ryan, I joked in what was manifestly a humorous rant about why it was that I got a cold at the most inconvenient possible time, by facetiously speculating that my immune system was depressed by stress.
Now that you’ve reviewed the meanings of those words, I’ll continue. HappyHeathen then went and implied that a plausible reason for me having a goddamned cold was that I had AIDS. Do you see how this is just a little bit over the top, and do you seriously think anything of the sort would have been said to a heterosexual?
I am personally offended by people who start completely valid rants to let off steam and The Ryan comes in to nitpick semantics, meanings of words and other such babbling nonsensicals. I’d give examples, but I think I’d crash the server.
Esprix
So maybe HH didn’t get that you were joking. Or aybe he did and responded with his own joke.
I beg to differ.
I try, but they’re painful to get through, what with their cumbersome repetitiveness and lack of any sort of new argument.
Such as yours?
I beg to differ. I laid my cards on the table and was honest about my situation. My OP wasn’t about sex, if you were to have read it closely. It was about my doubts about whether I should keep seeing my “friends” given I was going through some emotional crap unreleated to either of them. I should stress “was” because I’m fine now, having seen the light re: the emotional crap.
- s.e.
Perhaps if people didn’t misstate my position so much, I would not feel such a need to repeat myself.
Then perhaps we could assume that the people in question had poor reading comprehension, rather than something against homosexuals. Or we could just take everything as a personal attack. There are many different options. I just want to make sure that you are aware of ones other than the one you choose.
It seems you suffer from both.
Who, exactly, is “we?” Are you a nurse now? *I (I don’t refer to myself in the plural, Nurse Ratchet) never took any of this as a personal attack; rather an amusing display of ignorance on your part.
No shit, Sherlock.
Your concern is touching, but I can make up my own mind.
- s.e.
What makes you say that?
The people reading that thread. Do you disagree that the number of people in the category is sufficiently large to warrant the plural?
Ignorance of what? (And why do I feel like your answer is going to be along the lines of “ignorance of the fact that I’m right and you’re wrong”?)
Okay, Ryan, you may be right, and we may be constantly misstating your argument. With that knowledge, I ask you to please state exactly what your argument is, as clearly and concisely as possible. Therefore, we can continue debating your specific position, and not just play a lot of runaround games.
Jester, we’ll play runaround games at The Ryan’s option, and only his option, and it’s looking more and more likely.
Of the fact that hello, it is useless and really kind of irritating to bring up AIDS every time a gay person is mentioned, as people seem to be insisting on doing.
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believing that a post that goes on and on about someone’s romantic life and asks for advice on romance is about sex.
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believing it is warranted or defensible to bring up AIDS in a thread about gay romance (or colds) in a way I have never once, in my life, seen someone do for heterosexuals.