Two steps forward...

[KeepItReal]

I was alarmed by this article in the paper today. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2023/10/19/university-lgbtq-centers-disappearing/71147364007/

It seems we are still in a "two steps forward, one step back" situation here in the USA. 

My firm opened a new office in Dallas, TX and offered me a leadership position - I turned them down cold and was very explicit about my reasons.  Our CEO was taken aback by my strong feelings about the climate in that state. He clearly thought the usual platitudes would work "be a team player" "bring mature leadership". Instead I lobbied him for the firm to take a stronger position to support our LGBTQ staff and clients in specific  states. My next stop is our regulatory relations office. 

These "small attacks" are easy to overlook when there are much bigger news events going on. Which is why I like reading the newspaper instead of just scanning the CNN website - that is what most of my friends do. 

[floridarob]

Dallas is pretty gay...take the job, move there and run for political office, look into The Victory Fund https://victoryfund.org/  they help train people how to run elections.

[vinapu]

9 hours ago, KeepItReal said:

 

These "small attacks" are easy to overlook when there are much bigger news events going on. Which is why I like reading the newspaper instead of just scanning the CNN website 

+1

[fedssocr]

I have some gay friends in Texas. But I wouldn't want to live there either. I can see the argument about changing a place from within...the whole idea that progressives should move to the "red" states and take them over. But I don't know that I personally have the energy for it.

[PeterRS]

Odd that Singapore which has been officially anti-LGBT wth its section 377A on the statute books, has taken the opposite route. That wily statesman Lee Kwan Yew realised near the end of his term as PM that Singapore needed muti-national companies to locate their Asian head offices in the island state. There was intense competition with Hong Kong which had till then won the race hands down. Lee accepted that the executives whom they brought and attracted would seek a lifestyle somewhat similar to what they enjoyed in the west. So the government not only offered tax advantages, they first opened the door to major entertainment companies, particularly those headed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and producer Cameron Mackintosh. Then came the Universal Studios Theme Park and a host of other attractions on Sentosa. The restaurant scene soon expanded with some of the finest eateries in Asia.

By the early 2000s the tiny gay nightlife scene soon enlarged with more bars, more saunas, more spas and a gradual relaxation of harrassment against the LGBT community. Now that Section 377A is finally a thing of the past, there are no legal restictions on gay men other than the usual issues of age, rape, and so on. Many in SIngapore society are still wary of the new LGBT freedoms, but as in Hong Kong it is likely these concerns will eventually wither away.