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Probably a "nice looking young lady" of 20, right? TWENTY YEARS OLD??!!! These gentlemen are truly of the genus known as "macho male", species bigot and subspecies asshole, hmmmmm? (talk about a stereotype.. sorry, sorta.. but maybe not. Actually, probably not! :popcorn::evilgrin::popcorn:) My admittedly jaundiced perception of them includes beer bellies, ball caps, pickups, cowboy boots, and (only with a buncha drunk buddies) a Hooters gathering of 40 or 50-something Good Ole Boys.... :evilgrin: - Flame On! I am made of asbestos tonight! (Actually, it was the wine, then the cognac....)
I hate to stereotype ANYONE, but I lived in Alabama for quite a while with one of them "boys". My ex and his buddies were exactly like that, with few exceptions. Always scared to death that someone was going to put the "queer" on them (in the old-fashioned sense of the word) or accuse them of "liking" guys too much. The dudes whose wives stay home with the kids and make sure the meals and sex are on time but of course she enjoys neither. Same guys that whistle and hoot at a strip club and thinks that makes them desirable. :rofl:
The Old Lady sure better get it right, or else. Yes, I had the misfortune and stupidity to be married to one of them. For 15 years. :blush:
Sorry to generalize; it isn't meant for Oklahoma or any other state in particular - these assholes are everywhere. It isn't really even meant "just for men" because I know females who would have happily partaken in the virtual stoning of this unfortunate woman. I see it in this great state, where our motto used to be "we don't care as long as it isn't hurting anyone, and we'll help if you're hurting, but dammit leave me alone". My best friend, Sandra, is transsexual. Nobody I know cares, except they think she should have given up her Marine Corps tattoos - they were of very nice looking umm... chests...... :P
When my spouse and I were in high school, one of our closest friends was lesbian. In 1970, it could have been nasty. It wasn't. She was a featured singer/songwriter/guitarist in major school productions and in some for the local University. That made no difference to anyone who knew her, or didn't hang out with her, she just was fun and popular and a hell of a talent.
She still is, both talented and lesbian. And she's still a friend. Nobody in the community ever shunned her until recently. Now, if you're gay, lesbian, or PFLAG - watch out.
Unfortunately, we got and still get, our share of homophobes, Christianazi's, wingnuts, Aryan Nation types, etc. and, if I'm going to be honest, this is mostly since the Pipeline boom. I'm sure such types were here before that, too, it just wasn't as out there as it is now. Neither was the racism that I see growing more and more in this small society in a climate where you MUST depend on one another.
We have a local church (I use that term loosely) with a huge light board right next to one of the major roads in the area. For Fairbanks, it could be considered a mega-church. Huge. The sign, in bright flashing lights, tells everyone passing by just how sinful they are if they have any empathy for homosexuals, single mothers, ethnic minorities, or anyone else who may be different but most especially if you care about anyone who is gay OR if you believe it's okay for a woman to have a choice about her own body. During our annual Gay Pride/PFLAG parade, they disrupt, using their busses with nasty signs and packed with teenagers. Sad. They draw their members largely on those who are low-income, many of the military community, the less-fortunate white (you're not welcome if you are a person of color)community, and the big money (whites only, of course) who are usually Republican hardliners and Rush Limbaugh fans and want the power that this type of religion insinuates you can have. Ann Coulter would be their Pope if they didn't hate (a) Catholicism and/or (b) women and/or (c) intelligence and of course (d) anyone who is not exactly like them.
Please know that I'm not disparaging the military community in our area. They are, almost to a number, a huge asset to Fairbanks and the North Star Borough, and by and large are just like me and everyone else in the area. It seems to me, though, that so many of them are here in a new place very different from HOME, with no family or immediate friends for support. They are usually very young, and married with a kid or two. This "church" supports them both monetarily and by indoctrination made easier by their situation - lonely, most of the husbands deployed elsewhere, wife and kids out of their element and many are away from HOME for the first time. I'd estimate that at least 60% of the "church" members are less than 30, with a child under 13, and many of the women have husbands in the 172nd Stryker Brigade. The Strykers are mostly male, and mostly under 25. I thank MY God, not that "church's" so-called deity, that most of that unit of 3800+ are recently home. With 27 KIA, 9 in the last 4 months, they had a very rough two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. I hate that they may be pursuaded to follow along and join these bigots.
Yes, our community goes all out for the troops, from parades to say Welcome Home, to yellow ribbons and discounts in every cafe in town while you're wearing your BDU's or show military ID.
Sometimes, however, that support and welcome and general community spirit is not enough - especially if you're 19, pregnant with a husband in Iraq, and a "church" offering everything from daycare, almost free, to folks who'll take you shopping, to a free bus to anywhere in (and sometimes out of) town. All you have to do is go along with their agenda of bigotry, hatred, paranoia and fire-and-brimstone, i.e. give up your intellect and individuality.
I hate this type of thing. HATE it!!
My husband and I camped in Norman, Oklahoma while on an Alaska-to-Florida motorcycle tour, and we loved the place. There was a gay couple camped two sites down from us, and a "mixed race" (black woman, white man) in the site to our east and a single mom with two kids who helped us prime the water pump at our site. They all liked the overall friendliness of the area, from the Park Rangers to the folks running the local quick-stop. I know it's a university town, many or most of which are supposedly by tradition color-blind and nor are they homophobic. But, ALL the folks we dealt with treated us like we had lived there forever. We didn't see or hear of anyone who acted any differently. I don't think it was just because we were "tourists" with an Alaska tag on a big red motorcycle, but that's one of the attitudes that I've counted on - how a town treats it's bikers is how they treat just about everyone else. In other words, I've never been in a biker-friendly community that was, in general, scared of "difference" - whether the "different" folks were gays, ethnic folks (hee hee, flame me for that one, but it's a pretty inclusive word..) or otherwise just not the same as the immediate community. I know that's not a scientific gauge of determining progressive v. fundy people everywhere, but it's been pretty accurate during my almost 40 years of riding.
jp, I hope that traumatized young woman gets the help and justice that she'll need - and I'd like to find out that, sooner rather than later in life, she had that "carving" turned into a permanent tattoo. I'd like to think she spit in the face of those assholes who thought they had every right to do this. They don't even have the right to live. These boys (I won't use the word men in this instance, because men do not act like this and I have doubts they could be classified with homo sapiens in general) are the perfect argument to keep abortion legal.
Here's to a community of everyone.
(Pardon the rant) - :blush: Do ya love me anyway? :P :hug:
NoD
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