Pride Month In SL -- A Bad Experience

[Blush Bravin]

Just now, Alwin Alcott said:

When you go out for dinner and order steak, but they come with a veggy burger, you don't let them know you don't appreciate their menu change?

I don't stand up in the middle of the restaurant and loudly vocalize my displeasure. I quietly call the server over and explain that I didn't receive what I ordered. Though if I was at a party and was served something I didn't like, I'd simply not eat it. I would not make a scene by calling out the server for all to hear.

[Bree Giffen]

So she was  with her husband in SL and finds sex in general icky? 🤔

[Paul Hexem]

The real question is, if it's a mantra class about love, what does being gay have to do with it all? Isn't that like saying "You throw pretty good for a girl." or "That's an impressive jump for a white guy." Like, is she stand out because gay people are terrible at mantras, or something?

[Cristiano Midnight]

Just now, Bree Giffen said:

So she was  with her husband in SL and finds sex in general icky? 🤔

Mentioning she has a husband is triggering for me * demands to speak to the manager *

[PJBear Bitey]

1 minute ago, Bree Giffen said:

So she was  with her husband in SL and finds sex in general icky? 🤔

You can be partnered up/have a husband and not engage in sex. 

[Cristiano Midnight]

Just now, Paul Hexem said:

The real question is, if it's a mantra class about love, what does being gay have to do with it all? Isn't that like saying "You throw pretty good for a girl." or "That's an impressive jump for a white guy." Like, is she stand out because gay people are terrible at mantras, or something?

Considering a slogan of LGBT equality has been "love is love", there is your answer, especially in a month commemorating that.

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

@Luna Bliss another way to deal with that might have been to say, "Thanks for sharing that. Now, let's get started." Just move on with your session without another word. 

[Istelathis]

10 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

You go totally around a important fact in the total ; it is a mantra meditation group, not just some event. Participating in such meditation is no guest as on any event. As the meditation leader isn't just a host, they have to provide a safe and neutral guidance. They come for a very specific reason. And that's not the meditation leaders bubble of personal interest.

It has the theme around love, that is the basis of the weekly event.  So when you go to it, you know it is going to be regarding some form of love or another, be it relationships, toward the planet, nature, ocean, stars, perhaps freckles, gawdz knows what.  It has typical arrangements to fill in various special dates that regard trivialized or disparaged groups.  That is the entire basis of her Mantra group as she explained in the original post.

It is like if I went to the Baptist church just a short walk away from me, and complained about their focus on Baptisms.  Or their belief in Jesus as a savior, I just wanted to go there for the Spaghetti.. and not have their religion shoved down my throat.. how dare they!?! 😆😆 (They are lovely people though, btw, not trying to single out religion)  

[Paul Hexem]

1 minute ago, Cristiano Midnight said:

Considering a slogan of LGBT equality has been "love is love"

Exactly. If that's true, why are we singling out what kind?

[Love Zhaoying]

57 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

There's no need at all to mention gender or sexe in ány mantra group.

Heck, my own guru didn't like the fact I was gay and continually challenged me about it (to "get over it"), lovingly, of course. LOL. And we did real mantras.

[Arielle Popstar]

11 minutes ago, Cristiano Midnight said:

Right, but being gay is not interently about sex. So that is more in that woman's mind than anything said. I don't know exactly what Luna said, but it is still preposterous to be upset at the word gay. I wonder if she would have had a heart attack if she said trans.

Again Chris, Luna related that she 

Quote

she and her husband found it disgusting that gay artists were introduced in that way via speaking about what they do in bed. She went on to say, however, that she found sex in general icky.

That goes beyond any sense of decorum for an instructor to be mentioning in that way, regardless of whether it was hetero or gay or any other type of sexual interaction. Unless the class was specifically about sexual kinks which it wasn't, it is out of place to describe sexual acts between other genders in a meditation class. What's next, a video? How is that in any way appropriate for a meditation class and then to top it off with judging those who have an issue with described porn that they must be homophobes if they have a problem with it? 

 

[Love Zhaoying]

3 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

5 minutes ago, Cristiano Midnight said:

Considering a slogan of LGBT equality has been "love is love"

Exactly. If that's true, why are we singling out what kind?

There's only 1 kind!

Donna Summer sang about it.

 

[Love Zhaoying]

Maybe Luna's not gay enough, and misappropriation led to bad karma?

[Love Zhaoying]

8 minutes ago, Cinnamon Mistwood said:

@Luna Bliss another way to deal with that might have been to say, "Thanks for sharing that. Now, let's get started." Just move on with your session without another word. 

Wise advice. Turn off voice for the parcel and stream your own voice as leader, if you have to (if the negative one's voice).

[Love Zhaoying]

12 minutes ago, Cristiano Midnight said:

Mentioning she has a husband is triggering for me * demands to speak to the manager *

 

[Luna Bliss]

1 hour ago, Persephone Emerald said:

I don't think it was helpful for you to mention the singer's sexual orientation in that context however. It probably had nothing to do with the music. If you were to have a nice meal, would the sexual orientation of the chef matter? Unless the song was about the singer's love for another woman, I think the comment was out of place.

Maybe it would have been better to say something like, " In honor of LGBTQ+ Pride month, today we're going to listen to music from gay, trans and gender non-conforming artists." Maybe that would be a good segue into discussing the individual artists?

A note card was passed out to many groups before the event, and so most attendees knew what this was about.  Plus, they can click a sign upon arriving and get the note card as well, and I also announced at the beginning of the event what the focus would be this week --  songs by LGTBQ+ artists and their allies.  Here's what it said:

           MOONLIGHT MANTRAS PRIDE VERSION
            
~~~ June is Pride month so we are celebrating with songs by and for the LGBTQ+ community and their allies.

[❤]Those in the LGBTQ+ community often have trouble cherishing their romantic relationships due to the bigotry that frequently surrounds them, so here we validate songs by and for the community as well as romantic love in general for everyone.[❤]

MOONLIGHT MANTRAS -- We meet @ 9am on Saturday's to sing songs of love together, and sing a bit over an hour, almost up to Kirtan (a music & dance ritual that uplifts the spirit) beginning at noon.
LOCATION: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Satori/220/41/22

Be sure and change your environment to midnight as we gather round the fire beside the vast ocean and the shining moon -- it's Moonlight Mantras!  ｡◕‿◕｡

 

[Cristiano Midnight]

9 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Again Chris, Luna related that she 

That goes beyond any sense of decorum for an instructor to be mentioning in that way, regardless of whether it was hetero or gay or any other type of sexual interaction. Unless the class was specifically about sexual kinks which it wasn't, it is out of place to describe sexual acts between other genders in a meditation class. What's next, a video? How is that in any way appropriate for a meditation class and then to top it off with judging those who have an issue with described porn that they must be homophobes if they have a problem with it? 

 

You cut off the part of what Luna said before it:

Quote

So for Pride in June, as I was introducing a song, I simply said this was a song by a Japanese gay woman

 

That is what I am reacting to. Where was it said that she offered insight into the singers sexual habits? You have some how escalated it to Luna practically showing porn.

Edited June 16 by Cristiano Midnight

[Codex Alpha]

58 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

In today's climate, some people might feel offended if one introduced the music by saying the artist were Israeli, Palestinian, Russian or Ukrainian. In other times of war and strife, some people might feel offended if one mentioned that an artist were Iranian, Irish, Cuban, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese. People are weird, and sometimes take other people's identity as some kind of affront to them personally.

Since people can and will get offended by everything and anything these days, and they are encouraged to do so, then probably they will, and do.

54 minutes ago, Cristiano Midnight said:

And not lost is the fact that endless shame led to the need for pride.

Or for people to start proclaiming "It's okay to be White" or "I'm proud to be White". It seems people are only allowed to have pride in pre-approved groups.

30 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Would you feel offended if a teacher of a class in SL wore a gay pride T-shirt? What if they wore a Christian pride T-shirt? What if they wore a hijab? What if they wore a Black Lives Matter T-shirt? What if they wore a T-shirt with a Russian or Ukranian flag? What if they wore a T-shirt with an upside down American flag? What if they wore a T-shirt with a Nazi flag?

Clothing can be a kind of speech as well as a symbol of the wearer's identity. Would some kinds of symbolic speech be offensive to you? Why or why not?

It wouldn't be about whether the Tshirt (or flag) worn or hung in a classroom is offensive or not, because ANYTHING can be offensive. When it comes to the topic of teachers in SL wearing social or political T-shirts, or adorning the room with political or social-issue driven colors and ornaments and paraphenelia than I lean towards "Not appropriate". Classrooms in SL are for learning reading writing and arithmetic, and the teachers political,social and personal persuasions and weekend stories don't have a place there.

[Luna Bliss]

1 hour ago, Alwin Alcott said:

keep it to that, that's where those groups are for.
For awareness for lbgt (and all the rest a-z 0-9) there are other groups that people can join.

uhhh...excuse me...but I'll decide what kind of group I want to lead and what it will consist of.

[Cristiano Midnight]

1 minute ago, Codex Alpha said:

 

Or for people to start proclaiming "It's okay to be White" or "I'm proud to be White". It seems people are only allowed to have pride in pre-approved groups.

Ah back to the "what about white pride!" argument (along with the what about straight pride for good measure). It is perfectly fine to be white. Unfortunately, "white pride" so often translates to white nationalism, which is a very very different thing. Marginalized groups needing to express their pride is became they have been constantly demeaned and discriminated against. That is just not the white experience at all.

[Cristiano Midnight]

1 hour ago, Alwin Alcott said:

your audience clearly did not appreciate that, is that announced in the group description?, and discussed upfront? Or is it called "i'll educate you all my opinions that have nothing to do with mantra meditation "

keep it to that, that's where those groups are for.
For awareness for lbgt (and all the rest a-z 0-9) there are other groups that people can join.

Who are you to gate keep what she can do with her own classes? And as far as her "audience", it was one hypersensitive woman who was there with her husband, which conversely is more than we needed to know about their relationship too.

[Theresa Tennyson]

3 minutes ago, Codex Alpha said:

It wouldn't be about whether the Tshirt (or flag) worn or hung in a classroom is offensive or not, because ANYTHING can be offensive. When it comes to the topic of teachers in SL wearing social or political T-shirts, or adorning the room with political or social-issue driven colors and ornaments and paraphenelia than I lean towards "Not appropriate". Classrooms in SL are for learning reading writing and arithmetic, and the teachers political,social and personal persuasions and weekend stories don't have a place there.

Theresa Tennyson scratches her head.

[Luna Bliss]

1 hour ago, Cinnamon Mistwood said:

that is a difficult line to walk.  I can agree with both sides of this discussion. I am not sure what advice i can give (and you didn't actually ask for any)

Hhmmm...

Maybe mentioning something at the end of the session. Like "Today, I highlighted some artists from the LGBTQ+ community.  If anyone wants more information on them, let me know." Then you didnt make the art about the orientation and left getting more info to the individuals.

I imagine that comment distracted you during the session. I hope you can let it go.

I just posted how I introduced it all.

Yes it was distracting, but I let it go. I just figured the woman didn't understand what Pride was for, and it seemed she had some major sexual issues too.

[Cristiano Midnight]

6 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

A note card was passed out to many groups before the event, and so most attendees knew what this was about.  Plus, they can click a sign upon arriving and get the note card as well, and I also announced at the beginning of the event what the focus would be this week --  songs by LGTBQ+ artists and their allies.  Here's what it said:

           MOONLIGHT MANTRAS PRIDE VERSION
            
~~~ June is Pride month so we are celebrating with songs by and for the LGBTQ+ community and their allies.

[❤]Those in the LGBTQ+ community often have trouble cherishing their romantic relationships due to the bigotry that frequently surrounds them, so here we validate songs by and for the community as well as romantic love in general for everyone.[❤]

MOONLIGHT MANTRAS -- We meet @ 9am on Saturday's to sing songs of love together, and sing a bit over an hour, almost up to Kirtan (a music & dance ritual that uplifts the spirit) beginning at noon.
LOCATION: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Satori/220/41/22

Be sure and change your environment to midnight as we gather round the fire beside the vast ocean and the shining moon -- it's Moonlight Mantras!  ｡◕‿◕｡

 

You monster! 👿

[Arielle Popstar]

3 minutes ago, Cristiano Midnight said:

That is what I am reacting to. Where was it said that she offered insight into the singers sexual habits? You have some how escalated it to Luna practically showing porn.

She mentioned that their sexual interaction was done "via speaking about what they do in bed." 

@Scylla Rhiadra, I'm lodging a complaint with you that you failed to give us a run down on the presented artists last night with lurid details about how they do their slex!