{"id":7772,"date":"2018-07-08T11:08:09","date_gmt":"2018-07-08T09:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/?p=7772"},"modified":"2018-07-08T11:23:29","modified_gmt":"2018-07-08T09:23:29","slug":"lgbt-intolerance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/7772\/","title":{"rendered":"LGBT Intolerance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday, via a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Phantom_tky\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter user<\/a>, I stumbled across this tweet:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I didn\u2019t study Physics because I\u2019m gay, I chose Physics because I loved the subject<\/p>\n<p>Why do we have to cram identity politics into completely unrelated matters?<\/p>\n<p>Where\u2019s my <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BangladeshiSTEMDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BangladeshiSTEMDay<\/a><br \/>\nor <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/UnattachedEarLobeSTEMDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#UnattachedEarLobeSTEMDay<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>Utterly ridiculous <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LGBTSTEMDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LGBTSTEMDay<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Haquers (@Haquers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Haquers\/status\/1014900853155737600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Seems sensible, doesn&#8217;t it? Only the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/professor_dave\/status\/1014904152663691264\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first response<\/a> disagreed with the sentiment and linked to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rsc.org\/news-events\/opinions\/2018\/jul\/david-smith-lgbtstem-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this article<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I\u2019m a gay scientist \u2013 a passionate chemist and a proud member of the LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, plus) community. In recent years, I have often\u00a0spoken and written\u00a0about the lives and experiences of LGBT+ scientists,\u00a0including my own, but some of the responses still shock me:<\/p>\n<p>\u2018<i>You are mistaking us for people who give a sh*t \u2013 Your sexuality is NOT important vis-a-vis your job.<\/i>\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Imagine replacing the word \u2018sexuality\u2019 with \u2018identity\u2019 \u2013 how would that make you feel in your place of work?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There is no obligation whatsoever on the part of your colleagues to ascribe any importance to your &#8220;identity&#8221;. If their not doing so makes you feel bad, you&#8217;re seeking solutions to your problems in the wrong place. A workplace does not and should not double as a support group for people who need their &#8220;identity&#8221; validated. I&#8217;ve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/7303\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">written recently<\/a> about the importance of identity, but if you need to go around demanding everyone else validates it, I suspect it&#8217;s not one you&#8217;ve adopted naturally. Rather, it&#8217;s like complaining your parents don&#8217;t like clothes you&#8217;ve chosen to wear just because everyone else wears them.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The survey also made clear that people are more likely to \u2018come out\u2019 at work if they know their workplace is safe and welcoming, and less likely to come out if their workplace is unsafe or hostile.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ah, but you&#8217;re not just demanding a safe and non-hostile workplace, are you? You want everyone to go a step further and appreciate &#8211; by force if necessary &#8211; the supposed importance of your sexual orientation.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>This is a damning indictment of the workplace environments scientists are creating, and should make us think long and hard about how we can ensure that everybody feels included and supported.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Oh please. In Britain LGBT people are blessed to be around the most open, welcoming, and supportive people on the planet who for decades have happily accepted people who are different into their ranks provided they are well-behaved, respectful and don&#8217;t cause trouble. How long do you think ordinary people who have never shown any animosity towards LGBT people, and happily seen national legislation passed for their benefit, are going to tolerate authoritarian cretins like you demonising them as bigots at every opportunity? I&#8217;ve written about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/4132\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this before<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>By moving away from the principle that consenting adults ought to do as they please towards one of forcing moral acceptance of their choices onto a reluctant public via the legal system, the gays have lost a lot of natural allies in the process, those people who may or may not have approved of what they do but on the principles of freedom and liberty believed they should have been allowed to get on with it. The question they ought to now be asking is who will they turn to when they are stripped of their victim status and chucked under the bus. They\u2019re not going to find a lot of sympathy among those who didn\u2019t care who shagged who but cared very much that the proprietors of pizza restaurants in Indiana were being crucified by the media, politicians, and gay lobby after being goaded into uttering the wrong opinions. The mainstream, in other words.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Back to the article:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In spite of my optimism about the new wave of LGBT+ scientists taking ownership of their identities, we must also remember that beyond our own privileged positions, such as in the UK, many scientists work in far less supportive environments. This includes countries where LGBT+ people have no rights, where it is illegal to speak about being gay, or where the act of homosexuality can even\u00a0carry a death sentence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And idiotic campaigns like yours are only going to make things worse. As I also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/4829\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said before<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>One of the most effective arguments authoritarian government use to repress gays is one which suggests that turning a blind eye to gays results in a slippery slope of degeneracy which can lead to outcomes nobody wants or expected. Unfortunately, these arguments can be amply supported by pointing to intolerant, ridiculous cases in the west, such as the man who recently got arrested for heckling Caitlyn Jenner or the Christian bakers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Demanding everyone attaches &#8220;importance&#8221; to co-workers&#8217; sexual orientation is simply going to convince conservative rulers abroad that they shouldn&#8217;t give an inch to gay rights lobbyists. The people who will suffer most will be gays in those countries who just want to be left alone.<\/p>\n<p>So how did the tweet thread end?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I was just waiting for accusations of \u2018internalised homophobia\u2019 to be sent my way. Instead I had a veiled threat of doxxing. Charming ????<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Haquers (@Haquers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Haquers\/status\/1015547298166837248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 7, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Now there&#8217;s a surprise, eh?\u00a0 And to think, these people have the audacity to call everyone else intolerant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday, via a Twitter user, I stumbled across this tweet: I didn\u2019t study Physics because I\u2019m gay, I chose Physics because I loved the subject Why do we have to cram identity politics into completely unrelated matters? Where\u2019s my #BangladeshiSTEMDay &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/7772\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[111],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7772"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7772"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7777,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7772\/revisions\/7777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}