It has to be said, it isn’t always easy being a gay lad living in Scotland. The media will tell you it’s all sunshine and rainbows, but there are still people with prejudiced views. There is no doubt however, that things have got a lot easier over the last ten years.
Prejudice doesn’t always have to come in the form of the local idiot and his mates giving you a punch in the mouth. Far from it in fact. Prejudice can just come with a false perception as to what you stand for as a homosexual.
An Unbelievable Test
Take this story from Turkey. It surrounds Ahmet, a young man in his 20’s who was trying to get out of doing his Turkish military service by proving he was gay (you get a ‘pink certificate’ exempting you from service if you are gay). The story first circulated on the BBC website two years ago, but has been put back up today, as often happens with popular stories.
Ahmet had to answer a number of quite ridiculous questions to prove he was gay.
“They asked me if I liked football, whether I wore woman’s clothes or used woman’s perfume,” he says.
“I had a few days’ beard and I am a masculine guy – they told me I didn’t look like a normal gay man.”
He was then asked to provide a picture of himself dressed as a woman.
“I refused this request,” he says. ”But I made them another offer, which they accepted.” Instead he gave them a photograph of himself kissing another man.
Now I am not here to mock Turkey for their attitudes towards gay people. To be fair, considering it is a country in that part of the world, it’s attitudes towards gay people is quite refreshing.
If you want to take a walk across Syria (dodging bullets as you go) and step foot in Iran, the authorities having pre-conceived ideas about what a homosexual is will be the least of your problems, if you get my drift!
A Long Way To Go
I can understand why, if you have rules that openly gay people can’t serve, you have to ask questions. I’m sure if it as just a case of you saying you were gay and getting out, then every person who didn’t fancy it would become gay all of a sudden. But this must have been totally degrading for the poor lad.
To be fair, these false ideas about what gay people are like still happens today. We even see it in ‘liberal’ Scotland. Yes, I like to go and see the Edinburgh TS escorts, as well as the male escorts but guess what? I go and see Hearts play football as well (laugh away Hibs fans, we will be back next year!)
All over the world there is still a long way to go until we get real equality, and people realise we are just NORMAL people like them with the same interests. We are not a bunch of weirdo’s!
It is getting better though, there is definitely more acceptance. We have come a long way, brothers and sisters!
Since then, he has specialised in articles on the battle for equal rights for sex workers, sexual health, as well as bringing the readers fun news from around the world. He also has a major interest in LGBT rights, and is an active campaigner in this field.
When he isn't fighting the good fight, he enjoys spending time with his girlfriend, and young daughter. He also enjoys reading and taking long walks.
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