London pride parade at public expense
GeeWhiz - thanks for an interesting and balanced post. I think you had a few doubts 4-5 years ago about joining up because of Service perceptions of your sexuality. I’m pleased to read that you are in and clearly enjoying service life.
I was hauled in to various fora and focus groups to discuss the issue in the mid 1990s, when I was at Lyneham. There was a spectrum of views - predictably the 'dinosaur' view from the old and bold and a generally more enlightened view from the younger brethren. There were comments regarding the requirement for different toilet and shower blocks, the ‘what would happen in combat?’ discussions etc…almost exactly the same arguments I had heard in the 1980s concerning the employment of women aircrew.
Fast-forward a couple of years and I was at a dining in at a well-known helicopter unit and there was, in attendance, an equally well-known ’gender assignee’, who I had met some years before in her earlier persona. Emboldened by a few beers, I asked this officer what her experience, with respect to colleagues, had been. She said that most colleagues had been supportive; some congratulating her determination to serve, albeit couched with ‘not my bag’ sort of comments. However, the group that she said she had the greatest difficulty with was women officers. [Apologies if you think I have misquoted you].
For some of the older posters here, times have changed. Students joining the RAF now have much greater ‘exposure’ (no double-entendre meant) to gay people and issues and generally couldn’t give a flying fig about it. Perhaps more talented people – some of whom are gay – have been tempted to enlist? Perhaps a visible presence at a Gay Pride parade helps with this recruitment? I’m sure some research has been done in this area.
I was hauled in to various fora and focus groups to discuss the issue in the mid 1990s, when I was at Lyneham. There was a spectrum of views - predictably the 'dinosaur' view from the old and bold and a generally more enlightened view from the younger brethren. There were comments regarding the requirement for different toilet and shower blocks, the ‘what would happen in combat?’ discussions etc…almost exactly the same arguments I had heard in the 1980s concerning the employment of women aircrew.
Fast-forward a couple of years and I was at a dining in at a well-known helicopter unit and there was, in attendance, an equally well-known ’gender assignee’, who I had met some years before in her earlier persona. Emboldened by a few beers, I asked this officer what her experience, with respect to colleagues, had been. She said that most colleagues had been supportive; some congratulating her determination to serve, albeit couched with ‘not my bag’ sort of comments. However, the group that she said she had the greatest difficulty with was women officers. [Apologies if you think I have misquoted you].
For some of the older posters here, times have changed. Students joining the RAF now have much greater ‘exposure’ (no double-entendre meant) to gay people and issues and generally couldn’t give a flying fig about it. Perhaps more talented people – some of whom are gay – have been tempted to enlist? Perhaps a visible presence at a Gay Pride parade helps with this recruitment? I’m sure some research has been done in this area.
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Geewhiz - I was impressed with your initial post. Like you, none of my homosexual friends would want to attend gay pride events as they have long accepted their sexuality as just a normal part of their life. I'm very pleased to hear that you have been able to pursue your service career successfully without your sexual orientation being an issue.
Nutloose's post neatly reinforces the fact that being homosexual is no more a life-choice than being male, white or left handed - it is just something you are born with.
I am pleased that whenurhappy talks about some of the older posters here. Some of us are quite ashamed at the attitudes of those few dinosaurs who still seem unable to understand that they have no more to fear from a homosexual colleague than one with red hair.
(Mind you, a ginger co-pilot? Not so sure, come to think of it
)
Nutloose's post neatly reinforces the fact that being homosexual is no more a life-choice than being male, white or left handed - it is just something you are born with.
I am pleased that whenurhappy talks about some of the older posters here. Some of us are quite ashamed at the attitudes of those few dinosaurs who still seem unable to understand that they have no more to fear from a homosexual colleague than one with red hair.
(Mind you, a ginger co-pilot? Not so sure, come to think of it
)
Avoid imitations
Got a ginger bloke here working on the house today. When he arrived I asked if he was OK with dogs around (we have dogs). He asked if we had an Alsation because he says that every Alsation he's ever met goes for him, including the one he once owned!!
Now there's prejudice for you.....
Or is it just "good taste"?
(I've never tasted one).
Now there's prejudice for you.....
Or is it just "good taste"?
(I've never tasted one).
I'm very glad to see that as this thread ages, there are now some sensible comments appearing. I don't think I feel this because they tend to echo my own thoughts but rather because they are now less gay bashing and more in the nature of a debate.
My faith In PPRuNers has been restored.
Doc C
My faith In PPRuNers has been restored.
Doc C
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[double entendre/]
We'd an obviously homosexual PE master, another engineer at my MoD employer resembled Benny Hill in appearance and inclination and then three years in the Merchant Navy completed my exposure. No-one made a big deal of it.
SO by the time I joined the RAF my personal view was 'Don't ask' and, had I known about someone, I doubt very much if I'd have told.
Anyway, re the march
Recollect being in Anchorage when they had a winter parade. Amongst them was a bunch of 'nuns' most of them pretty rough. I remarked to a colleague: "That one at the back isn't too bad." He replied: "FFS Bas! They're all guys in drag!" Bas (adjusting specs) "Oh, er, yes."
We'd an obviously homosexual PE master, another engineer at my MoD employer resembled Benny Hill in appearance and inclination and then three years in the Merchant Navy completed my exposure. No-one made a big deal of it.
SO by the time I joined the RAF my personal view was 'Don't ask' and, had I known about someone, I doubt very much if I'd have told.
Anyway, re the march
Recollect being in Anchorage when they had a winter parade. Amongst them was a bunch of 'nuns' most of them pretty rough. I remarked to a colleague: "That one at the back isn't too bad." He replied: "FFS Bas! They're all guys in drag!" Bas (adjusting specs) "Oh, er, yes."
Nutloose, far too many innuendos in your post!
Incidentally when I joined the RAF way back in 1976 when these things were frowned on to put it politely, our room senior man at Swinditz walked in on two new recruits in the lounge getting up to some things, he mentioned it to us all in our room, but would not say who they were, though later did, he reasoned that with the over subscription for places at the time, they had worked hard to get there as we all had, were probably homesick, and as fellow 16 year olds may just have been going through a phase, so we all kept it to ourselves and that was the end of the matter, we were not going to destroy the dreams and careers of a couple of fellow recruits over such a thing.
Last edited by NutLoose; 31st May 2012 at 19:15.
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" Nah, all dogs taste like chicken that's gone off."
That's because of what they are fed on.
Same as crocodiles taste like chicken, because that is all they are fed !
That's because of what they are fed on.
Same as crocodiles taste like chicken, because that is all they are fed !
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Actually I thought the Allego looked rather sweet with a pretty read end.
Not that anyone ever proved it, the gearbox would end up on the tarmac some time before terminal velocity was reached.
HEY!!!! Leave us gingers alone... We're people too you know...
Wasn't the Allegro the one with the square wheel, but drove like it had five of them.
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Better to be ginger than a slaphead ...
And I bet you drive an Allegro!
All a "slap head" means is one has grown up through ones hair, on the other hand ginger hair is The Mark of Cain.
.
.
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Whenurhappy:"For some of the older posters here, times have changed".
I can even recall some official disapproval from a high level when an RNZAF Wg Cmdr was noted in SSOs to have resigned "due to the Air Board having lost confidence" in him. I can't say what official policy is now, but I somehow can't see Kiwis marching down Queen Street [not a pun, the main street in Auckland is Queen Street!] participating in Gay Pride, [which parades have incidentally been banned as being lewd!]
Last edited by Samuel; 31st May 2012 at 22:36.
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A slap head is just an ugly bloke that can't get laid. By a woman or a man.
Even a wig's better than a bone dome.
Even a wig's better than a bone dome.
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Next you'll be saying that Navigators have feelings too 
And I bet you drive an Allegro!
And I bet you drive an Allegro!
TTN
(Straight, Ford driving slaphead
)
