http://www.stiridecluj.ro/social/memb ... ut-la-sectia-de-politie-4

For those who don't know Romanian, here's the summary:
Few cops assaulted, without a mandate, a group of people, part of the LGBT comunity. At the section, they were insulted, beaten, mocked, sworn of their mothers. All this happened in my city, and it's one of the first hate crimes in the city.
Pay attention that in here, "Crime" is referred to any violence act done over somebody on the basis of discrimination.
I ask you this, is this the way things are supposed to go in an important city, with the highest level of education from the whole country?
Would things ever be safe for me, taking in account that the police would do such things to me, given the fact they found out I was gay?
Is this city safe for anybody from the LGBT community, if the law organ is like this?

I just don't understand some people these days. >_> Even though I am straight, I still care and understand the members of the LGBT community.

Are there laws in your country against the LGBT Community? If there are none, then those law enforcers deserve to be called idiots. Why are they punishing (without a mandate or warrant perhaps? from court!) people who did nothing wrong? In other countries, doing that is illegal! Also, the community should seek for justice; crime does not pay.

You said it yourself that the city is noted for its high educational level. They seriously should know better.

Well, they should, but the director of the Police Academy is impertinent, as I thought from the beginning, as father, as son, his son is my classmate. And there are no laws against the LGBT community. However, none of his colleagues tried to stop him, so that makes them responsible too. It just gives our city a bad reputation.

Those policemen should be persecuted. There's no justification to randomly beat up LGBT people.

Reminds me of one of the bad times of US where the police would randomly break into gay establishments to arrest/beat everyone up there for the fun of it.

That was actually what they did now...

My country doubles fines and jail sentences in that case.

Glad SAntorum is out of the way though, this thing happens in the US far too much already, by the way.

(That's assuming that other Republicans aren't extreme which they are, obvious even to non-Americans)
Well, on the whole, you don't exactly need to tell the police you are. Sometimes, when the place is horrible to the LGBT community, like here as well, it's best to not reveal your sexuality to every single person because it leads to
A) Hate Crimes
B) If the city is biased enough, death, violence.

Guys, not all Republicans are extreme like Santorium, just like not all Democrats are extreme. A good majority of them are more toward the middle.

Sexuality: In general, unless you're in a blatantly welcoming place like San Francisco, don't advertise it. It'll save you a whole lot of trouble from bigots and other idiots.

In Belgium the capital is one of the most unsafest places to be openly gay, there is a lot of gay bashings every year.

It doesn´t really matter how important a city is, it has more to see with the mentality of his inhabtants.

Of course this doesn´t mean that it is ok to be this discriminating, especially not for policemen on duty, who are expected to enforce the law, not break it.

The worst places I have heard of is Memphis and Nashville (crowding, maze, high crime rate, etc.).

It's so sad to hear about this. But this isn't just a probem in Romania, to some degree it happens everywhere.

Quote:
Really? I would say that America is realatively safe in general; I have no fear of being openly gay at work or in public/personal life even though I don't live in a largely metropolitan area. I do live in the North-West though, which is pretty liberal. I can see how this might be different in the Midwest/South.

Quote:You mean we agree for once?!

Quote:Do we need to have a talk? I strongly disagree (God, I think that's a first.) Unless you have fear of bodily injury, you should be who you are regardless of how other people react. Telling people to "pass" as straight is a step in the wrong direction, and I think you know it. If you ever want things to progress to the point where being gay is just another preference, then you need to start acting like it NOW. Regardless of whether bigots and idiots are ready for it. it's also insulting to GLBT people who have paved the way to get to the point where we are now, people who actually had an extreme risk of bodily injury or even death for openly being who they were.

"you have fear of bodily injury"

^ This right here is all the reason needed.

In highly bigoted areas where it's almost guaranteed you're going to end up beat up, maimed, raped, or even killed, I would strongly recommend keeping a low profile.

I prefer to be alive and whole than end up in any of the above conditions. Even more so if a loved one is with me as if something happened to her/him, it'd be on my head.

I'd only consider not keeping a low profile if you have a community/group to support and back you up.

But alone with no backup and only pain/humiliation to look forward to? Heck. No.

Well, in Pakistan, telling you're gay would be amounting to getting kicked out of your parent's house, losing any inheritance you were getting and also most likely killed by some religious nut.
Even if the last didn't happen, would someone prefer to live being humiliated by everyone?

Some people do. Others, not so much.

Many have no desire to be a martyr for a cause.

@KTC That's because most people don't know to sort their priorities out. The marriage between two gay people doesn't count just as a symbol, yet it also provides legal right of one in case the other one dies on his property, otherwise, everything the partner which died owned would go directly to his or her family. Also, in the married state, people can also take larger loans that individually, and also both contribute for their belongings and investments, so legally it's not one or other's but it actually belongs to both. As simple as that. Many fail to realize what benefits legal marriages bring to them.

@Kenneth: No, many people do not want to be humiliated and/or injured/raped/killed.

Being alive and whole is a very practical reason that often trumps lofty ideals.

@KTC Do you think that as a group they don't support that idea? Marriage has a lot of perks with it, that's why LGBT community is fighting for the right, otherwise who would care? Religious marriage has no importance whatsoever. Individuals of course are afraid, being alone in a homophobic background, but that's why groups exist, and support, am I wrong?
EDIT: And why would be lofty? It's actually pretty normal to want to be allowed the same as everyone else, instead of being put aside like an abnormality. It's like that case when someone would yell at somebody else because they eat a steak while they're on a diet. They don't have the right to oppose the same right for people exactly as them. That renders them simply as evil.

Lofty because the ideal isn't going to feed or protect you.

In places like what theone pointed out, that ideal is going to get you humiliated and/or injured/killed.

And most people would rather not be. Call it human nature or 'cowardliness', but most people would rather be safe/alive/whole than dead/homeless/bullied/etc.

It's all well and good for people from the safety of their homes or behind the 'anonymity' of the internet to preach about fighting xx enemy, but when it's your life on the line ideals often take a backseat to more practical things like staying safe.

I do agree that the best is to stay alive, however there is also a thing called maximum limit of how much a person can endure being in that state. And that's why people come out. It will become uncomfortable at one point to still be in the closet.