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[LGBT]: Bigots can go eat a bag of [Chick-Fil-A]
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So what are the more positive alternatives? Or would it be better to not have any homosexual characters at all?
Gay characters that could very easily offend the assumed straight male audience. Like a normal gay man, apparently. Or a completely lesbian woman who's not thin. So far what's they've included, admittedly that I know of (which isn't anything beyond DA or ME2), have an "out" - always bisexual (or moreso in the case of Zevran).
EDIT: What I'd like to see, actually, is the option for the player to decide what sexuality the various characters are. Not dateable by either gender, really, but for you to determine what gender they prefer, male, female, both or none. Admittedly that could be quite a bit more work but if the setting really says "it doesn't matter" then it shouldn't be. I remember people were asking for Alistair to be able to be romanced by male characters and the studio responded that "it's not that easy, you can't just flip a switch" but in a setting where both are considered normal, it really should be. Someone proved that by making a mod where a male could date Alistair and, if I remember correctly, except for two instances of a gender specific pronoun in the dialogue, it worked perfectly and was completely believable.
Not exactly the same thing, and probably already mentioned though.
They did almost exactly that in DA2 and everyone bitched about it. Something about how sexuality shouldn't be that fluid.
Like, Anders is pretty clearly gay if you are a male character and they play up his former (male) love interest in his recruitment quest. If you're female, the guy was just a good friend.
In fact the only time their terrible over the top style really worked was with Star Wars.
http://nonadventures.com/2012/04/14/gays-and-confused/
To be honest, whilst I understand the complaints you're making, I have to say I would rather Bioware's efforts to date than none at all. It feels like we are shooting ourselves in the foots when we "bitch" about the options given the progress that even those options represents. I also think that both gay male relationships in ME3 were actually well written and enjoyable. Heck, I'll even admit to being a bit touched with how the relationship with Kaiden progressed simply because it was so *normal* - no-one commented that it was two men, it was just accepted as fact and totally okay in the game. To have that level of "Your character is gay, and no-one cares" rather than it being A Big Thing was very pleasing to see.
Basically this.
The homosexual options/characters in ME1 and ME2 weren't perfect. I didn't play much DA, but it sounds like they weren't perfect either. ME3's are a big improvement; still not perfect, but close to the level of the also-not-perfect heterosexual relationships.
I have a hard time seeing the point in jumping on Bioware for implementing imperfect homosexual romance options when the vast majority of other games at the time (2007 for ME1) were still pretending that the gays didn't exist. Attacking Bioware for putting them in but not as good as they could have been is "perfect as the enemy of the good;" they changed the conversation from "why are there no homosexual romance options?" to "why aren't the homosexual romance options better?" which, to me, is an improvement.
It seems like Bioware is the one getting grief for their homosexual romances because they're the only ones even trying to put them in. Giving them shit for not making it perfect seems like a good way to discourage other developers from even bothering.
Here's the interview about it.
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9026170
Glad they decided to add it, personally.
There is some shit going down. Like, next year maybe! But right now, I'm captain of the USS Save The Galaxy and I ain't got time.
http://troublethinking.wordpress.com (Updated Wed) http://twitter.com/#!/Durandal4532
Shepard has to pass on the Shepard gene so that in 1000 years a descendent can use some sort of machine to relive the Shepard adventures to find the secrets to save the galaxy.
Coming in 2015 - Mass Effect Creed.
I was actually pretty disappointed by that mod. It was super-obvious, imo, that the dialogue was all written for a woman. The language Alistair used was all female-valence, for instance, 'you're so lovely' and 'compare thee to a rose' type business. So I don't think it's as easy for the writers as just flipping a switch--which is not to say they shouldn't do it, I was enraged that they didn't! But if they have anything approaching traditional gender dynamics, it does require another script.
Vatican orders crackdown on American nuns (for not being anti-gay enough)
Catholic pastor applauded for shunning anti-gay marriage drive
I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not bad. In fact, it's good--and good for them for doing it--but the Montgomery Bus Boycott it ain't.
Not only that! The League of Catholic Bishops is going after the GOP because their budget is too anti-poor. It seems the GOP's maneuver to involve the Bishops in politics may hilariously backfire for us.
If history so far is any lesson the GOP loves Rich people more than it loves religious people, so they'll basically lose all that nice and politically convenient religious cover for their activities suppressing minority rights.
I'm not holding my breath.
Let people make their own decisions and then leave the church to decide if they will allow it in their own sanctuary. The church should be able to retain the right to not allow a same-sex marriage from happening inside their church, but they shouldn't be able to stop it on the outside.
But then again, I'm sure that I could get burned at the stake for saying these things also.
Compare to churches that don't allow interracial marriages. Churches certainly retain the right to refuse marriage to whoever they want, including to interracial couples. But if word gets out that they're doing that, it won't matter that they're obeying their holy text - people will stop coming.
The more accepted gay marriage becomes, the less in tune the greater population will be with the churches that don't accept it. Those churches will have to either change their doctrine or shrink substantially, neither of which most churches are willing to do (although I'm sure the Mormons will have another miraculous revelation when it becomes politically viable to do so).
I really do think that right now, the church is doing what you said (in comparison with interracial marriage). When you're not allowing it to happen (or even open to the discussion there of) you're going to end up on the fringes. I'm not saying that church needs to abandon it's holy text (I am actually pretty conservative), what I am saying, is that forcing other people to follow it (by making it a federal law) isn't going work. I remember this whole papal state thing not working out for us?
I don't think the less intune it won't be. I think that churches that aren't open for the discussion will become more irrelevant, but I think that church is becoming irrelevant as it is.
Top story makes me sad about being catholic.
Bottom story makes me good about being catholic.
I R conflicted.
Pro tip: This also applies to Mormons, Jews, Lutherans, Seventh-Day-Adventists, and many more!
Okay, now for some real news: The Starcraft 2 community should be applauded for supporting Scarlett, an underdog competitor who is kicking some serious Korean ass. She also happens to be trans.
Not true for Lutherans. Often described as Diet-Catholic, same great ritual, 0 guilt!
Methodism treats religion more like a hobbyists' club. However, the old joke is true: Jews don't recognize Jesus, Protestants don't recognize the Pope, and Baptists don't recognize each other on Saturday night.
Man, I grew up as a Lutheran. It was not a completely enjoyable experience, let me just say. Maybe because I was a Minnesotan Lutheran, though...
So is Garrison Keillor like, your patron saint?
Doesn't stop my mother from being as bigoted and hateful as Fox News tells her she should be, but a least the religious message isn't that bad.