Polls for Our Souls discussion

@Melliot I was more just interested in what you thought about it.

@Kaidence Cause being straight is apparently a bad thing now. Which it's actually not.

Have you tried Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake? The subject and plot was interesting and it has wiccan themes.

It's not!
God no it's not!

Wat. *sits there wondering who is saying what to what comment*

Wuz talking to you.

Ahh. XD I already knew it though! Lol

Melliott wrote: "No, being gay has nothing to do with the gender you are born, it has to do with the gender you are attracted to, and many gay people say they have a good sense of that by the time they are as young..."

Just leave it, because apparently being against homophobia is against the rules and we're being reported. Of course, since Anna's messages were deleted, it will be very easy to say she never said anything wrong.

@Karin: if you want to report me, it's your right. But I'll ask you to leave the others who actually read the homophobic messages posted after and were hurt out of this (since you can't read those messages anymore and can't judge of their content). I take full responsability for the people who came after me to say the same thing I did, because I'm the one who made Anna clearly admit her homophobia and saying terrible things that made those people upset.

No one was upset.
Just get off this topic

Catherine, I actually chose to admit my feelings, just like you have.

And so ya'll know, not just saying this to one person, to be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/fd/c7/4d/fd...

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/16/4a/d5/16...


You all are saying your feelings, I can say mine. I've had a lot of kind people Pm me and support me.

And you were all saying terrible things to me.

I'm going to give this one more shot, because I'm stubborn, and I'm also always puzzled by people who won't see the logic.

1. There is a difference between stating your feelings or preferences and making judgments. There is also a difference between feelings and facts.

2. Anna, if you were a black person and someone posted that they didn't want to read any books with black people in them, would that offend you? If you were a fat person and someone posted that they didn't want to read any books about "fatties," would that hurt your feelings? Can you understand from this why gay people might be hurt when you said you didn't want to read any books with LGBT characters?

3. There is a difference between saying that you don't want to read books with sex and language in them, regardless if they are gay or straight, vs. saying you don't want to read any books with any gay people in them. If you don't want to read about explicit sex between people (whatever their gender), fine. But if you have such a problem with gay people that you can't bear to read a book with one as a character, then you may have problems existing in the world, since approximately 12-15 percent of the people surrounding you are gay.

I'm not saying any of this to be mean to you. I simply want you to understand why people came at you. And no, I don't think being offended is a "choice." There are things in the world that are factually offensive, and if people are NOT offended by them, then there is a lack of sensitivity or empathy being exhibited. It's easy to post memes that other people created, but harder to understand your own beliefs and behaviors.

Wow everyone lets just calm down a little here, we are all book readers and I do understand, but his is a bit over blown, let us all just get along on some level folks okay, the world is bad enough as it is. It is just me but I could care less if you are gay, not gay, black, not black and so on, I just care about people period and I hate to see anyone get hurt, so lets all just watch our words. Lets have a good day we are all lucky to just be alive anymore.

you know i should probably just keep my mouth shut because there is generally little point in arguing with people on the internet, but i find it interesting that whenever someone says 'i don't like gay people' and a gay person says 'that's offensive' people always come in like 'wow BOTH sides are being mean ~can't we all just get along~'

obviously this thread got completely out of hand, but there is no excuse for being homophobic and acting like someone who calls out that person for homophobia is 'just as bad' is ridiculous. and quite frankly no i will not 'get along' with someone who is being hateful toward a group of people for something like sexuality, race, gender, etc.

i do agree that the mods should have closed this thread ages ago though, or at least step in and provide some sort of 'verdict' on the whole thing.

This group's moderator appears to be MIA, so I don't think we can expect this thread to get frozen. The next best thing is to stop commenting and let this thread die.

Devann wrote: "you know i should probably just keep my mouth shut because there is generally little point in arguing with people on the internet, but i find it interesting that whenever someone says 'i don't like..."

I agree with you Devann

On a more book-focused note, I feel like gay characters are better in books (and there are some exceptions) when that particular belief actually plays into the story. When a character is gay "just because" or the author just creates a character solely for th e sake of representation, that's when it bugs me. Whether homosexuality is the problem or not, the conflict, hate, and pointless bickering between humans definitely is a problem. And I believe certain books can absolutely help with that. Arguing won't, because both sides always think they're right, both arguments are trying to suppress the other's beliefs, everyone involved is stubborn, etc...
Books are meant to be enlightening, beautiful, eye-opening things that communicate ideas and beliefs. So I think every belief should have a chance to expressed through writing. Because of this, I don't really think gay characters should be in every book. There are enough books for each group, and by all means, people should keep writing whatever they feel like they should. But there should be enough books for everyone, and if someone doesn't want to read about a certain topic, they should have that freedom.
Wow, long comment.

Thomas wrote: "On a more book-focused note, I feel like gay characters are better in books (and there are some exceptions) when that particular belief actually plays into the story. When a character is gay "just ..."

You don't like characters who are gay "just because?" I get having an issue with a token representation character, but this is different. Sometimes, a character just is gay, the same way a character just is black or just has a wheelchair. Does that factor into the story? Maybe. But it doesn't need to play into the story hugely for representation to be a thing. In The Raven Boys, Ronan is gay. Does it factor into the overall plot? No, the overall plot is about magic and ley lines and finding a dead king. But Ronan is gay, and that's just a part of his character.

Wow, some people have preferences in some books they want to read. This shouldn't be the platform to judge somebody on what books they enjoy reading. I can see how having a character be gay just because the author can write him/her like that can be a little contrived, especially in books where knowing a persons sexuality is *definitely* not needed. Why does sexuality have to be a part of everything? It's not offensive to chose one book over the other.

i love how you apparently always need 'justification' for a character to be gay but no one who writes all straight characters ever feels the need to justify that. people write characters because gay people exist in the world. it's literally as simple as that.

Jessica wrote: "Wow, some people have preferences in some books they want to read. This shouldn't be the platform to judge somebody on what books they enjoy reading. I can see how having a character be gay just be..."

I totally agree with that last part. I should also apologize for needlessly sharing my opinion, I really deviated from what I originally planned to say. As far as why people don't justify having straight characters... there's a lot I could say. But I won't. Because that's not even the point of this poll/conversation/discussion.

Be kind everyone! That's what really matters.