Posts: 264
Threads: 91
Joined: Jun 2016
Reputation:
56
I too was in the U.S. Navy for 4 years and hid my other side. I lived off base so it was easier for me to dress in my dresses and skirts. IT is time for acceptance of all people.
Posts: 94
Threads: 16
Joined: Jun 2016
Reputation:
6
Uk has been accepting for a while but the Dutch were the first in 1974!
Posts: 54
Threads: 3
Joined: Jun 2016
Reputation:
2
Sorry michelle, if forgot to check back on this topic.
What I meant is that the Netherlands has been able to create this super liberal, tolerant and progressive image for itself worldwide. One that really doesn't hold up in reality, though...but gets validated by tourists who visit Amsterdam and never make it past the Dam, Anne Frank house and the coffeeshops (which are terrible there BTW). Dutch people overall are actually fairly conservative and right wing.
A great social commentor once said (and this was decades) ago pointed out that our supposed tolerant nature all to often looked suspiciously like 'not giving a damn' and that for the inclusiveness being propagated in the media we're all as much living on our own islands as everybody else.
Last month's so called 'pride parade' in Amsterdam left me with a rather foul taste. Because while all the politicians and social justice warriors were celebrating inclusivity I know a lot my gay friends don't dare to walk hand in hand in Amsterdam anymore. Cross dressers don't dare to go out at all anymore. Jewish friends make sure they don't look Jewish or wear that David star that's been in the family for over a hundred years and miraculously survived the holocaust. Gay couples have been harassed so much and felt so threatened they had to abandon their homes and go into hiding... and most people don't care, it doesn't even make the news.
In Amsterdam! It makes me so mad. But oh no, god forbid I mention the M-word...that would make me a racist.
