Quote:
Originally Posted by lio45
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be alarmist at all... but let's not have our head in the sand either. In my experience (living in probably the most Arab province in the country), Muslim immigrants are definitely among the most "taco trucks on every single corner if you let them" type of immigrants, culturally/religiously. It shouldn't be taboo to point out where we draw our lines for gender equality and freedom from religion in the public sphere.
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Many people seem to think that this is a hypothetical that will work itself out, that if you're bringing it up you must therefore be grandstanding, and since there's no real conceivable reason for this you're probably racist.
I'm gay and I go out with groups of gay friends. This is supposedly a gay-friendly city but actually we get yelled at in public regularly (i.e. sharing war stories is a regular topic of conversation; the last time this happened to me was a couple weeks ago). A couple years back there was a mayoral candidate in Burnaby, where I live, who included in her platform that same sex public displays of affection should be banned. A bunch of our neighbours are, well, not very nice to us. I had some guy call me an alcoholic in the elevator a while ago because I was bringing recyclables down and he deemed that I had more than I should (none of his business whatsoever).
Then we also had the Trinity Western debacle, which is based on religious accommodation. It may soon be the case that if you're gay you're not welcome at 50% of the law schools in the Lower Mainland.
So actually I feel like this stuff does have a real impact on my life and of the lives of my friends and acquaintances. I understand how women feel too when they are judged by what they wear and how they behave. It is hard to be comfortable living in a place where, say, 30% of people privately or publicly think that the way you live your day-to-day life or your very existence is morally negative. People who don't have to worry about this should consider themselves lucky and not assume that everyone else is the same.