UK Foreign Office warns LGBT tourists about travelling to Southern US
47 replies, posted
[QUOTE=RainbowStalin;50175987]Joke all you want. Some US states are making discriminstion legal and people that can be affected by this deserve to know.[/QUOTE]
Yeah ones that can't get over Jim Crow and are still salty about losing the civil war
Most people in the U.S like people with british accents though, so don't fret if you're gay
I'm amused Texas didn't get a shoutout consideringly less than 15 years ago it was illegal to be gay here.
[QUOTE=Saxon;50179468]Yeah ones that can't get over Jim Crow and are still salty about losing the civil war
Most people in the U.S like people with british accents though, so don't fret if you're gay[/QUOTE]
If anything, Brits will be even more welcome in the south than other parts of the country. Y'all supplied the Confederacy with war materiel after all.
[QUOTE=thisguy123;50177700]True but in this instance they are making a bit of a generalisation which paints a somewhat unfair representation of the American south.[/QUOTE]
I live in the American south as a gay man. I don't experience any hardship being in a university town, but right on the fringes of it the hicks have been known to harass lesbian couples. My state legislature just voted to ban the office of Diversity and Inclusion from receiving any funding, which spends that funding holding informational sessions for those looking to know more about LGBT culture or facts, as well as trying to make sure new LGBT students don't feel afraid to let anyone know they are LGBT. I'm told that the past six years of that funding since it began went a long way to making the campus culture as accepting as it is today.
I don't think it is at all bad for a foreign entity to label the south in a generalizing manner. If you actually read what they said it isn't that generalizing; it is only the truth. Rural areas are best avoided and travellers should research southern destinations before they go.
[QUOTE=RedBaronFlyer;50174811]It's so dangerous down here in the south. We got rednecks doing LGBT patrols riding around in trucks that have Budweiser containers, with several people riding in the back with double barrel shotguns and with confederate flag shirts and trucker caps (Also with a confederate flag) [sp]sarcasm[/sp][/QUOTE]
... I take it this amuses you?
Sorry, but living in California and running into as many dumbshit, Silverado-driving, dirt-road rednecks with a flag flapping from a pole mounted to their tailgate... I can only imagine the South is like that, but like, ten times worse.
It probably IS irrational as a fear, but as a liberal, bisexual, atheist, humanist blasphemer... I avoid the South like it were a zone full of mind-readers. My girlfriend just got back from seeing her great grandmother in Tennessee, and I was terrified she wouldn't come back... I just feel like the local lynch-mob would sniff you out, or make up a bullshit charge to get you thrown in jail to some cop that's unwilling to protect "pinko-commie scum" like me on principal.
[QUOTE=Vigilante2470;50186065] My girlfriend just got back from seeing her great grandmother in Tennessee, and I was terrified she wouldn't come back... I just feel like the local lynch-mob would sniff you out, or make up a bullshit charge to get you thrown in jail to some cop that's unwilling to protect "pinko-commie scum" like me on principal.[/QUOTE]
Its not often you find the dumbest post ever, but you sure nailed it
You clearly have absolutely no idea what it's like in the south at all, just shitposting and bs stereotypes. "The local lynch mob"? Are you fucking serious? And some police conspiracy to suppress "the commies"?
I ask that you please stay away from the south but i'm more concerned with the well-being of the south, i wouldnt wish someone like you on anyone. Stay in Cali, bro.
[QUOTE=Bazsil;50186289]Its not often you find the dumbest post ever, but you sure nailed it
You clearly have absolutely no idea what it's like in the south at all, just shitposting and bs stereotypes. "The local lynch mob"? Are you fucking serious? And some police conspiracy to suppress "the commies"?
I ask that you please stay away from the south but i'm more concerned with the well-being of the south, i wouldnt wish someone like you on anyone. Stay in Cali, bro.[/QUOTE]
Well YEAH, I said as much, closest I've ever been is the Atlanta airport on the way to Florida :\
Never been, so all I have to go on is the abysmal civil rights, regressive voting and overall ghoulish history. I'm surprised at some people I meet here in [B]California[/B], the most liberal state in the country, the testing ground for new progressive policies!
With all that, why WOULDN'T I or anyone outside the US not be kinda petrified at the prospect of entering that territory? It feels like one stop above me with my shoes and t-shirt and white skin just walking through town in a politically neutral Middle-Eastern theocracy by myself, sticking out like crazy. More likely than not, I do one wring thing in the wrong side of town, I'm gonna get grabbed (not by the police, though I worry about their laws too), stuffed in a van and put up for ransom... if I'm lucky. If you go there, as a journalist or otherwise, then you have the biggest, hairiest balls in the world, or no damn sense... Some places you just don't go.
And yes, there are plenty of instances where people in the southern states decry violations of church/state separtion, and the local police are so entrenched in those beliefs and culture that they'll ignore federal law and the constitution.
Maybe things have changed a lot since the 50's over there, but the way they've been acting about the whole gay marriage business suggests not...
Also it says you're from Germany... as such, your vehement objection confuses me...
[QUOTE=Silence I Kill You;50175117]You're right. NC is constantly jailing dissenters and committing genocide.[/QUOTE]
lmao
you can't be serious, you have to be trolling
they're literally just directing you to [url=http://www.hrc.org/local-issues/north-carolina]this website, warning about some bill that got passed recently[/url]
Sounds reasonable. Some parts of America are crazy.
[video]https://youtube.com/watch?v=pKcJ-0bAHB4[/video]
[QUOTE=Vigilante2470;50186578]Well YEAH, I said as much, closest I've ever been is the Atlanta airport on the way to Florida :\
Never been, so all I have to go on is the abysmal civil rights, regressive voting and overall ghoulish history. I'm surprised at some people I meet here in [B]California[/B], the most liberal state in the country, the testing ground for new progressive policies!
With all that, why WOULDN'T I or anyone outside the US not be kinda petrified at the prospect of entering that territory? It feels like one stop above me with my shoes and t-shirt and white skin just walking through town in a politically neutral Middle-Eastern theocracy by myself, sticking out like crazy. More likely than not, I do one wring thing in the wrong side of town, I'm gonna get grabbed (not by the police, though I worry about their laws too), stuffed in a van and put up for ransom... if I'm lucky. If you go there, as a journalist or otherwise, then you have the biggest, hairiest balls in the world, or no damn sense... Some places you just don't go.
And yes, there are plenty of instances where people in the southern states decry violations of church/state separtion, and the local police are so entrenched in those beliefs and culture that they'll ignore federal law and the constitution.
Maybe things have changed a lot since the 50's over there, but the way they've been acting about the whole gay marriage business suggests not...
Also it says you're from Germany... as such, your vehement objection confuses me...[/QUOTE]
Your perception of the south is incredibly twisted, and this is coming from a liberal who's not all that fond of the south.
Literally all you have to do is stay away from rural areas and you'll be fine. Hell, even if you go to rural areas the most you're probably gonna get is some hick going "we don't like no fairy boys here" and then drunkenly stumbling away.
Seeing how my bisexual friend is scared of talking about anything LGBT related outside of his house, I'd say rural Missouri is pretty bad. They talk about how they want to break transgender women's legs if they see them use the "wrong" bathroom.
[QUOTE=Vigilante2470;50186578]More likely than not, I do one wring thing in the wrong side of town, I'm gonna get grabbed (not by the police, though I worry about their laws too), stuffed in a van and put up for ransom... if I'm lucky. If you go there, as a journalist or otherwise, then you have the biggest, hairiest balls in the world, or no damn sense... Some places you just don't go.[/QUOTE]
are you for real?
[QUOTE=space1;50187372]Seeing how my bisexual friend is scared of talking about anything LGBT related outside of his house, I'd say rural Missouri is pretty bad. They talk about how they want to break transgender women's legs if they see them use the "wrong" bathroom.[/QUOTE]
This place is a garbage state full of a lot of garbage people honestly. Rural areas are terrible no matter where you go around the country when it comes to behaving like reasonable human beings that have progressive and decent attitudes, and that's not likely to change. Progress usually happens in the cities/urban environments, and the rural communities are the ones left behind in their dust kicking and dragging their feet trying to stay as backwards as they possibly can because they don't know any better and aren't smart enough to see that there's actually a better way for them to live their lives. And that's not just true of the United States; the same kinds of phenomena can be observed all over the world. Urban and rural communities all have certain underlying features which are universal-- the countries may change, the languages and cultural aspects might be different from place to place, some places will be more progressive and valuable than others are, etc., but the behavioral patterns are basically the same no matter where you go.
Religion holds us back here a lot. Can't tell you how many weird fuckers I've met believing everything from the Earth is 6,000-years-old and Creationism is a literal fact to ones who believe that aliens exist but actually aren't aliens-- they're demons and evil spirits doing the devil's work as told of in the Book of Enoch or some dumb shit like that. But hey, we're part of the Bible Belt. This is what happens in super-religious places. What I love is how many people back here are actually fucking atrocious Christians. They're bigoted, lazy, stupid... basically just real assholes in general, especially to people who are different from them.
Sorry to hear about your friend having to live that way, dude. I really am.
[QUOTE=Smug Bastard;50187176]Your perception of the south is incredibly twisted, and this is coming from a liberal who's not all that fond of the south.
Literally all you have to do is stay away from rural areas and you'll be fine. Hell, even if you go to rural areas the most you're probably gonna get is some hick going "we don't like no fairy boys here" and then drunkenly stumbling away.[/QUOTE]
Not everyone is going to have the same experience, my friend was called a nigger repeateadly and had to leave a bar in Texas because he seriously felt he was in danger and the owners weren't doing anything. I'm not saying the south is totally like this, but it's definitely still around.
[QUOTE=Smug Bastard;50187176]Your perception of the south is incredibly twisted, and this is coming from a liberal who's not all that fond of the south.
Literally all you have to do is stay away from rural areas and you'll be fine. Hell, even if you go to rural areas the most you're probably gonna get is some hick going "we don't like no fairy boys here" and then drunkenly stumbling away.[/QUOTE]
Boy, I have an Anglo name, speak with an Texan accent, carry a .45 on my hip and boy I tell you what, even I'm afraid of stopping in Alabama or Mississippi when I drive to Florida.
[QUOTE=Vigilante2470;50186065]... I take it this amuses you?[/QUOTE]
To be honest, no. It's kinda depressing how backwards some people are around here, Atlanta is fine but a lot of the small towns (and large ones) aren't.
Oh come on, it's not like the South is actually that bad. Though the sensationalist headline got me interested and when I looked further it was a pretty benign travel advisory, I think it's nice that they do that.
I don't care what anyone thinks, it's nice that the British government was considerate enough to think about this and put all of this together.
[QUOTE=DeepInferno;50177400]I can feel your saltyness.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=Cushie;50175305]It is probably humiliating for the USA/those states but again its just the UK govt making sure people are well informed before they travel rather than trying to attack the states.[/QUOTE]British people freaking the fuck out about things isn't embarrassing to us, on the contrary it's quite amusing. It's okay, you two have an excuse though because you're from another country and our ways are going to be alien to you.
Then there's this guy:[QUOTE=Vigilante2470;50186065]It probably IS irrational as a fear, but as a liberal, bisexual, atheist, humanist blasphemer... I avoid the South like it were a zone full of mind-readers. My girlfriend just got back from seeing her great grandmother in Tennessee, and I was terrified she wouldn't come back... I just feel like the local lynch-mob would sniff you out, or make up a bullshit charge to get you thrown in jail to some cop that's unwilling to protect "pinko-commie scum" like me on principal.[/QUOTE]Woah. I mean at least you are aware that you're irrational and paranoid, so there's that.
[QUOTE=Vigilante2470;50186578]Also it says you're from Germany... as such, your vehement objection confuses me...[/QUOTE]I mean like even if a dude from Germany gets that you're off your fucking rocker you might want to sit back and reevaluate your situation. I mean holy shit:
[B][QUOTE]More likely than not, I do one wring thing in the wrong side of town, I'm gonna get grabbed (not by the police, though I worry about their laws too), stuffed in a van and put up for ransom... if I'm lucky.[/QUOTE][/B]Dude.
While I may be from Minnesota I'm pretty sure that these things don't happen in the South. I've been down there and as far as I could tell everyone had a speech impediment that made them speak very slowly, but beyond that the worst thing I heard was somebody called me a yankee. I laughed. Perhaps maybe you think this way because California is an awful shithole or something?
[QUOTE=Vigilante2470;50186578]Well YEAH, I said as much, closest I've ever been is the Atlanta airport on the way to Florida :\
Never been, so all I have to go on is the abysmal civil rights, regressive voting and overall ghoulish history. I'm surprised at some people I meet here in [B]California[/B], the most liberal state in the country, the testing ground for new progressive policies!
With all that, why WOULDN'T I or anyone outside the US not be kinda petrified at the prospect of entering that territory? It feels like one stop above me with my shoes and t-shirt and white skin just walking through town in a politically neutral Middle-Eastern theocracy by myself, sticking out like crazy. More likely than not, I do one wring thing in the wrong side of town, I'm gonna get grabbed (not by the police, though I worry about their laws too), stuffed in a van and put up for ransom... if I'm lucky. If you go there, as a journalist or otherwise, then you have the biggest, hairiest balls in the world, or no damn sense... Some places you just don't go.
And yes, there are plenty of instances where people in the southern states decry violations of church/state separtion, and the local police are so entrenched in those beliefs and culture that they'll ignore federal law and the constitution.
Maybe things have changed a lot since the 50's over there, but the way they've been acting about the whole gay marriage business suggests not...
Also it says you're from Germany... as such, your vehement objection confuses me...[/QUOTE]
Is your entire knowledge of the South from watching To Kill A Mockingbird?
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