It's... Not bad, not bad at all. People barely seem to bat an eye at different sexualities these days, at least in the cities. There certainly are sexuality-related abuses, though. Mainly carried out by disgruntled, poorly educated men (and women) from old industrial areas or rural communities. Them and the nazis, mainly.
People have gotten used to them. Everyone seems to have had a "I met a gay fellow once, and he was completely normal. Guess they're just like everyone else" experience. While there are people who'd rather they don't exist, the vast majority just doesn't think they're a problem anymore. It's very uplifting how small of a deal the whole thing has become.
There are still work to do, I believe you must undergo (amongst other things) sterilisation before you may have a sex change. But damn it if things aren't moving along as they should for once.
CymbaIine said:
lionsprey said:
I dont think we are that homophobic here in sweden atm we seem to be busy with steadily becoming more racist to care about LGBT people.
Off topic a bit but do you think that's because of the whole peopleshome thing? Among my left leaning (of which I am one) friends Sweden is always held up as this glowing example of how wonderful social democracy can be, but I am a bit suspicious of it. The whole philosophical underpinning seems a tad too nationalistic for my liking.
Well, you do have a point in that. Basically, Swedish social democracy (and practically all politics since) is based on the "Folkhome" idea. That is, reguarding the nation as a unified household of sorts, where everyone are expected to help each other depending on ability. Someone pays for your education on the understanding that you will later pay for a decent pension and nursing homes, you aid someone with health or financial difficulties on the understanding that he will pay his bit to aid you, should you need it. The basic idea is that everyone works together, that no citizen should have to suffer. Keep in mind that this philosophy came at a time when people still froze or starve to death during the winters.
There is, however, some nationalistic undertones that are rather frightening. Eugenics was a very respected science in Sweden before the second world war, with its own state research institute. Many people were sterilised against their consent since it was believed that they could risk degenerating the Folkhome. While the Folkhome philosophy was never overtly racist, it had several racist undertones at that time. It was less about race superiority, national pride and conquest, as much as it was a strange idea of defence from a cold outside world seeping in. However, that is a heritage that was quietly dismantled after the Holocaust. While its legacy has never been properly aired out, the eugenic undertones have largely faded.
I still think that on its own, it's a reasonably good political philosophy. After all, it was the policy of choice during a period of time when Sweden turned from a backwards, delapidated and developing nation to a industrial democracy. It isn't as nationalistic as it seems, it's more in the social-liberal direction. Of course, the racist undertones are only brought up today by the people and politicians who would rather the Folkhome ceased to exist as an idea (as well in reality, grumble mumble).
A bit of a babble, but hey... I don't get the opportunity to talk about it very often, do I?.
(Further, the growing reactionaries Lion refers to are not good news for the LGBT in the long run. They're currently focusing on Muslims, like everyone else. Possibly a resurfaced legacy from the Folkhome defence ideal, perhaps?)
