Re: poly: Re: tolerance... promoted by shadows??

David Brin, brin@sd.cts.com, writes:
> Hal said >>
> Privacy forces society to be more tolerant, in effect, by allowing people
> to hide those aspects of their lives which society would not approve of.<<
>
> He gave as an example the persecution of gays.
>
> SAY WHAT? Hal, pause and reflect. In times past, gays kept it secret...
> and suffered horribly when caught. Today it's in the open and they get
> elected to Congress and have their own TV shows.

You're right that in many ways homosexuals are more accepted and able
to be more open about their sexuality today than in the past. But there
are still vast areas in the US and in the rest of the world where things
will go very hard on someone who openly admits to being gay. While some
parts of the country are relatively open minded and tolerant, there are
still places where religious views dominate that consider homosexuality
a sin against God.

Do you disagree that for homosexuals in those situations, their privacy
is protecting them from bad consequences?

Suppose you discovered that someone was secretly homosexual. Say he
was a high school teacher in a conservative school district, and he'd
likely be fired if they found out about his sexual orientation.

What would you do? Someone who believed strongly enough in the benefits
of openness might "out" him involuntarily, but I assume that you would
not do that. Would you advise him to become open about his sexuality,
despite the bad consequences? Do you have faith that the benefits would
outweigh the problems it would cause in his life?

Hal
Received on Fri May 22 15:41:34 1998