Ban politics threads in this sub forum?

excellent point CF.

 

While we're at it, can we ban religion threads too?

 

i am on some other forums where politics and religion are kept in a seperate sub-forum and in some you have to ask permission to access them.

just a suggestion

 

No and no. People can scroll down the page if they are disinterested. I am not trying to be rude, but it's a simple fix.

 

I can see banning politics from this sub-forum as it would not be specific to the discourse here.

I would, however, be hesitant to ban our discussion of religion as for many of us it has been both an agent in the process for keeping many of us closeted and for some freeing us from that self-same closet. Regardless of one's stand on religion, I believe our conversation is benefited by it. We simply need to be sensitive to faiths and beliefs that are not our own.

 

I agree with this entirely.

Politics in general belongs in either Chit Chat or Current Events. Religion can hold a lot of relevance to the topics discussed here, though there are also obvious limits where it is more appropriate to have certain religious discussions in Chit Chat.

 

Whether we like it or not, religion is a relevant factor in discussions about LGBT issues.

We welcome reasoned and respectful debate on the matter, and when there are disagreements on matters of opinion, such as religion and politics, I would like people to resist the temptation to take it personally. When all the arguments for and against have been expressed, and an impasse remains, the principle of agreeing to disagree is paramount and should be used more often.

What I would really like to see are opinions that evolve, on both sides, as a result of the dialectic. A good conversation is one in which both parties are changed in some way, and deeper understanding (and respect) is acquired on both sides.

 

I think we need to look at the front page of EC and read what it says at the top: A safe online community for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people coming out.

If you're a closeted gay person who is committed to your faith AND is hoping to maintain some kind of connection with it when you come out, would you feel like you were in a "safe place" if you read some of the thoughts that show up pretty regularly in basically any thread here that touches on religion? Or would you feel like coming out of the closet might hold a double risk, of possible rejection from your faith for being gay, AND rejection from other gays for your beliefs, and wonder why you should even bother?

If you're a closeted gay person whose political beliefs are right of center, and you've arrived at them through your own thought and discernment, would you feel like you were in a "safe place" when you read threads that state that "no gay person" should support the people you do?

It's hard to not take things personally when I see terms like Nazis and lynching get casually tossed out on threads, and I'm well beyond worrying about what will happen when I come out. If I was still deciding, what to do, I can't say that I would feel very comforted or welcomed by statements like that. If we can't remember what and who we're here for, then perhaps the subjects do belong on another forum.

 

Well said. There are gay atheists on here who continually mock us for being gay and christian on this forum and most of the time I ignore it but it does hurt honestly. We should make all feel welcome here despite their beliefs.

 

Dano218, I am an agnostic/atheist and I have the utmost respect for people, who lead religious lives. As a matter of fact, I sometimes feel like my words are being thrown away simply because they come from someone, who is not religious.

So, now what?

p.s. I should add that I am against banning threads on religion or politics in this sub forum or on this site as long as they are connected to LGBT matters.

 

...I should have added that when disagreeing, one needs to avoid making it personal to begin with. This is achieved when the condition of respect is itself respected.

 

of course not all of atheists on here are like that. Sorry if you took offense. I just mean some are like that and it does hurt to hear some of the comments made. I don't think they as long as they are respectful and mature that those threads should be banned. I just mean in general posts made to mock others for their beliefs should be banned. It is not helpful to any discussion.

 

I understand you. No harm done. When it comes to lgbt problems I often feel as if both sides are trying to completely disprove each other, when in fact something half-way will work even better. Anyway, as long as people are civil there's not need for bans.

 

If I may say, it seems like the religious threads down here are treated a lot better than in chit-chat. Not sure why. It seems like(on average) Christians and other people of faith are left alone down here or at least respectfully agreed with here.

 

Banning whole swaths of discussion rarely goes well. It's outright censorship. So long as people aren't being intentionally inflammatory or intolerant, they are allowed to have whatever opinions/affiliations they want. Politics and religion are very deeply entwined with LGBT issues and omitting them from a support forum would be laughably inconsiderate.

 

I wasn't following the Republicans thread so I don't know what it was like.

There were times on the Religion thread where I felt a bit guilty that we were moving beyond a support topic, but I was conscious that if we went too far beyond that, there were penalties available to the mods (though I don't think that many of us needed that as an incentive to be civil).

Part of the problem with banning topics is that most of the threads on the support pages (including the religion one) are started by people who haven't been here long, and they are probably the most important people to be allowed to say what they need.

I think that if the religion thread had dragged on much further there might have been reason to worry that it was crowding out more on-topic support threads.

I think that a warning from the mods where necessary should suffice to keep us in check most of the time.