How many Gay peopel Do you know?

Doc

I came to England last year from Ireland and in that time have come to know 6 gay people 2 of which I would say are friends of mine. Before I left Ireland I knew no one who was openly gay.(I did suspect a couple of people) but no one was openly Homosexual.

P.S. I’m not gay.(Don’t worry Niall )

Baz_

I know 0 gay people but do you have a point.

amp

Uh, what is that point? That more people are out of the closet here? That Ireland is more tolerant?

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Lunacy Abounds! GLminesweeper RO><ORS!
art is everything and of course nothing and possibly also a sausage

Doc

Amp you’re way off. No the point is that I know no one in Ireland that is gay yet in less then a year I have come to England and now know 6 people who are gay. I was wondering just how many people posting here actually know gay people particularly in Ireland. I think It must be a lot harder to be openly gay in Ireland the it is in England.

Karl Hungus

I know about 5 Gay people...
Most of who are girls.

And yes, in Ireland.

androphobic

in small towns id say it is.

but i live in a small town and some of my best friends are homosexual/bisexual.. though not all openly so..

but at the same time i reckon they wouldnt get *that* much hassle if they were.. i dunno if that's the same all over Ireland though..

DeVore

add up the number of people you know.
Divide that by 20.
Thats how many gay people you know.
How many confide in you that they are gay is another thing entirely...

The difference between those two numbers says something about you. What... im not too sure.

DeV.

Harmo

I am a moron

[This message has been edited by Castor Troy (edited 21-04-2001).]

Doc

Hope you don’t mind me saying DeVore but what a load of crap. Come on now can anyone possibly generalise something as easily as that and just say "oh 1 in 20 of the people you know is gay" bull**** most of the people I would call friends I am confident are not gay that is just a statistic that can not be true for everyone.

Greenbean

Fraid so doc.

TwoShedsJackson

Even if it is true Doc, what difference does it make? I'm sure you wouldn't be so shallow as to think less of your friends if you discovered they were gay.

As for being 'confident' they aren't gay - would be surprised, nay shocked to discover some of them were?

DeVore

1 in 20 is accurate as much as any such rule can be. For god's sake just look at any of the gay bars round town. They're ****in packed on a weekend...

<funny story>
I had a friend of mine arrive in my flat one night in a terrible state. Very aggitated. He told me he had to talk to someone , he looked really anxious and troubled.
I was really concerned for my mate, made him a coffee and eventually he just blurted out "Look, I'm gay!" and looked at me to scrutinise my response. And there was quite a response! I burst out laughing in relief (not the best response I admit!). He looked a little hurt so I told him the truth: "Is that it, jesus man I thought you had fúckin cancer! Dont do that!!" He saw the funny side of it and I think it gave him the perspective on the topic....

DeVore.


[This message has been edited by DeVore (edited 21-04-2001).]

Doc

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by DeVore:
1 in 20 is accurate as much as any such rule can be. I suspect why you might think it is less is that with your approach to the topic.... how many people are going to confide in you?

DeVore.</font>

As I have said I now have friends who are gay.It was awkward for me when the first person told me he was gay but only because I had never dealt with the situation before but I still think that 1 in 20 is not an accurate representation of the people I know in Ireland. It would make no difference to me if some of the people I know turned out to be gay except maybe for close friends and then only because I would feel hurt they never told me before. Where do You get your 1 in 20 figures anyway? How many gay people do you know?

[This message has been edited by Doc (edited 21-04-2001).]

harVee

i have 7 gay friends
2 bi friends
1 friend who has a think for frogs
5 black friends
1 iraqi friend
5 fat friends
2 friends who are there owm sister/aunts
3 friends in wheelchairs
2 friends in prison
1 traveller friend
2 goth friends
1 romanian friend
3 anorexic friend
1 politician friend

My top three minorities are:
1. asians
2. travellers
3. fat people

Magwitch

I think in England the "lad" culture is such the norm that the "gay scene" is a closed shop with close ranks, with good reason. In Ireland I know a few (4) gay folk (one is an ex-girl friend who "turned" ?!?) and they are much more relaxed.

It is worth noting that Ireland (well Dublin) has a thriving Gay tourist industry so there must be something to it.

btw I am a rabid insatiable Lesbian trapped in a mans body.

bugler

Your "top three minorities"?!
The mind boggles.

mewso

Please don't start listing off your minority friends with some kind of pride for Gods sake. I have several friends and I'm not going to list of their religion, race and sexual preference. I know a few gay people but I take the point of it being more apparent in England. One of my best mates went to England and only then did he finally come out. HE told us by coming back to Ireland on holiday with his boyfriend. The only thing that ****ed me off was that he didn't think he could tell any of his friends before he left the country. Oh and it wasn't because me or the others are homophobic. Now things are more relaxed and I can slag him off as being bi-sexual just to annoy him.



[This message has been edited by musician (edited 21-04-2001).]

amp

Soz Doc, I misread your post. Thought you'd come to Ireland from England.

To continue Devs funny gay stories:
On the last overseas holiday I was on a group of us went to Andorra for skiing. The way the numbers worked out I ended sharing a room with I guy I didn't know called Gary.

So the first night in the hotel and we're getting dinner and we're talking the usual bloke stuff: football etc. and the topic turns to women and stuff. After telling a few of my more memorable and strange conquests he confesses that he was in fact gay.

I didn't see that coming, and I must have had a really shocked look on my face, but I reassured him that it was cool, it was just that I'd never met anyone who was gay before let alone shared a room for week with. We got on pretty well but made sure that when we scored we played away from home.

The only station on our tv that was english was Eurosport and we had a good laugh watching the mixed doubles:

Me: Her ass is great!
Gary: His isn't bad either!
Both: hahahahahaha!

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Lunacy Abounds! GLminesweeper RO><ORS!
art is everything and of course nothing and possibly also a sausage

DeVore

Doc, sorry I edited my post almost immediately because I read the whole thread again and didnt think I was being fair. I have to admit tho that you dont express your thoughts very clearly. It would be easy enough to paint you as a homophobe (which I dont think you are).

I didnt see your reply before editing, so now your quote looks out of place and it looks like I edited my post to get rid of it! Sorry...

DeV.

DeVore

Amp,
Me, my mate and a few other guys went on a weekend to Scotland. We were comfortable enough to make jokes about men in skirts etc which my mate laughed off and slagged us back as "breeders". However joking about is one thing and being serious is much harder...
We had a blast (we've all been mates for ages) and noone thought anything except that my mate didnt get involved with the banter when it turned to girls (which we thought was fairly understandable).

On the boat on the way home we all got polluted drunk. This bloke walks passed us and when he's out of ear shot my mate amsentmindedly drunkenly slurs... "Jaysus he's ****in gorgeous".

We all just lost it.

DeV.

yossarin

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Harmo:
I am a moron

[This message has been edited by Castor Troy (edited 21-04-2001).]</font>

thats some nice editing castor...
Its true that there seem to be less prevolent gay people in ireland. I think that its harder to come out here. Its certianly colder anyway, maybe thats it...

harVee

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Please don't start listing off your minority friends with some kind of pride for Gods sake. </font>

I was trying to take the pi55 out of what i thought was a ridiculous thread title.
On a serious note though, i think the scene is far more compact in dublin than it is in london. does that make it better ? i dunno. i remember readg the bootboy column in hotpress years ago. it was written by a gay irishman living in london, who didn't know too many people at first (i think) and seemed to be awful isolated all the time. This can happen to any emmigrant of course, but i know a lot of people left ireland because of the close knit (close minded) church led society of the past.
I'm still in college, and one of the best pary weeks of the year is the lgb society's rainbow week. A lot more fun than sitting in a room with 20 gamers and their lan-ed up pcs

harVee

A tragi-comic story to add to DeVores:
I have this one friend who recently got cancer somewhere in/near his ass (he's 52 btw). As you can imagine, he wasn't too happy, and told me his sex life is ruined, and that he'd just got a nice new blond russian lover. But the worst thing was the chemo. because of the position of the cancer, he managed to get his balls in the way. Not only will he never have kids, but now he has this big sunburnt streak across the bottom of his bollo><.

smoke.me.a.kipper

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by harVee:
A tragi-comic story to add to DeVores:
I have this one friend who recently got cancer somewhere in/near his ass (he's 52 btw). As you can imagine, he wasn't too happy, and told me his sex life is ruined, and that he'd just got a nice new blond russian lover. But the worst thing was the chemo. because of the position of the cancer, he managed to get his balls in the way. Not only will he never have kids, but now he has this big sunburnt streak across the bottom of his bollo><.</font>

sorry, but i don't see what this has to do with the topic. funny story though, if a little tragic.

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- Ciaran
smoke-me-a-kipper
S-M-A-K bottom!!™

RopeDrink

I have suspected people in the past of being Gay... Im sure AngelWhore can guess

But after thinking about it, I felt very sorry for anyone of a Bisexual / Homosexual nature. For a start, tolerance was at a minimal in the majority, and the number one insult at the time would be "You Queer".

First off, im not gay, but I do repsect them (Those that expose themselves for a start) as it is a brave thing to do considering the amount of people who dont understand homosexuality (Those who brand it a "Bad Thing") or have a general problem being around a homosexual.

One event happened to me not too far back, which still gets me flabberghasted sometimes when I think about it. During my time working as Hygiene, one thing that was made quite clear in the workplace was everyone hated a specific worker because they "Assumed" he was gay. Being the talkative chap that I am, I sparked conversation with him and found him to be quite a sound bloke. Got on ok, and had a hard time trying to ignore everyone else's remarks (Which were along the lines of - "That guy's a queer" - "Ever wonder why he only hangs around with girls?" etc). So that said, we all decided to have a Night out - All the staff were going, so we all met up, got ****ed, dancing etc etc and once all the clubs closed, we found out about a house party. By now most of us had been divided and I was with my best friend, the "Supposed" Homosexual and a few others. Walking along, it ended up with just me and him. We had a chat about this and that then it got a bit personal. I got upset about a few family problems, and so he gave me one of those big crushing hugs, pat on the back etc etc but it got a bit too close for me... He actualy tried it on, made an attempt to kiss me and I pulled back. I just pointed my finger up and said "No!" and walked on. He apologised a lot, blamed the drink etc I told him not to worry. At the house party then, he ended up sleeping with one of the staff from work (Who was female) so it was quite a confusing event for me... We had a laugh about it all weeks later. Still, twas quite a shock really.

I have lots of friends (Not going to list any) and my feelings for them would in, by no means, falter should one of them confess to any change in their sexuality.

Lucy_la_morte

Hmm... *hides*.

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J'ai dormi sous l'eau.

Lucy la morte.

Clintons Cat

<True Story >
I remember when i first left college i deceided to seek my fortune amongst the bright lights of Blackpool.
Almost the entire staff of the small hotel i worked in were either Homosexual or Lesbians.
Being a simple country lad unversed in the ways of the world this came as a revelation that They were completely normal,fully rounded individuals each with their own personality and sense of humour,Not the sterotypical fag as portrayed by John Inman or Dick Emery.Let alone Shirtlifters.
Somethings do make me mad though...
...For instance the other night me and my brother were round a friends house chilling when this new friend of a friend comes round.
He has just split up from his girlfriend and has a 2 year old kid,but before he sat down on the sofa he said some lame **** about "i just want to sit down,i am not gay or anything"
to which i automatically replied "it wouldnt bother me if you were mate."
you could see the cogs turning in his fu<king brain.
Lamewit as though wanting to sit down between two men on the only available seat in the room was a sign of Homosexuality,i really do wonder how people raise their kids to be such complete idiots.

Bard

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Doc:
I came to England last year from Ireland and in that time have come to know 6 gay people 2 of which I would say are friends of mine. Before I left Ireland I knew no one who was openly gay.(I did suspect a couple of people) but no one was openly Homosexual.

P.S. I’m not gay.(Don’t worry Niall )</font>

Jeez, Dave -

Well for one thing, the thought never had or never really would have occurred to me of there being any possibility of you being gay - and even if it had or would, it would hardly be a source of 'worry' to me.

I don't see that it's any more difficult for someone in Ireland to "come out of the closet" as it were, than in the UK. I think we're in a relatively tolerant society these days, although I could be wrong, of course (as the number of racial attacks alone in Dublin might indicate).

I personally know at least 5 people who are gay, and quite openly so, but that minor trait of theirs does nothing to alter my perception of them as a person. These people, whom I'd consider friends just as easily as anyone else, would rarely, if ever, have been the butt of any jokes or discrimination because of their sexuality, to the best of my knowledge.

I don't waste my time "suspecting" anyone as there are frankly a lot better things to be thinking about.

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Bard

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"and there was much rejoicing..."

[This message has been edited by Bard (edited 23-04-2001).]

Shinji

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I do repsect them (Those that expose themselves for a start)</font>

Ooh er, missus.

I have no idea how many gay people I know. I know that I know quite a lot of them, I'm sure there are plenty more who, for whatever reason, haven't told me. It's none of my business anyway, if folk want to tell me then that's up to them.

I do see Docs point about Ireland; one girl I knew when I lived in Monaghan, I met again months later after both of us had moved to Dublin... with her lovely girlfriend. "There aren't any gay people in Monaghan", she told me; "but oddly enough there are lots of gay Monaghan people elsewhere..."

RopeDrink

Heh - I think it's my turn to hide now

meglome

There are a lot of openly gay people these days in Dublin and I think we're better for it. My last flat mate was gay and one mad ******* he was...he used to recount to me in great detail all his exploits, it was quite funny really; the guy would do almost anything. The result being that I'm very up with the gay scene in Dublin. Also DnC being in what has been called the gay triangle (Back Lounge, The George, Inn on the Liffey) means we get quite a few gay people coming in. Long live variety in life.

Actually if you're sick of never getting the eye off any girls, take in a glitter ball in The George and those dirty dogs will give you the eye np...a bit of rough

I've edited this bit in after...
I don't like the suggestion that knowing gay people is some sort of fashion accessory; maybe it is for some people. But I wouldn't know something trendy if I fell over it. The guy I mentioned above I knew for years before I knew he was gay. A specific question was asked and I gave a specific answer to it nothing more.

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www.doesnotcompute.ie
www.gamire.com

[This message has been edited by meglome (edited 29-04-2001).]