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cinderparty t1_jdjzqc5 wrote

He came out in 1969. That took serious bravery.

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rectanguloid666 t1_jdk2axr wrote

Damn I can’t even imagine what it must have been like at that time. Definitely courageous.

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Schiffy94 t1_jdl1xnm wrote

Elton, before being out as gay, declared himself bi in a 1976 interview.

He basically had no career for like a decade.

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ankylosaurus_tail t1_jdn1hz6 wrote

So did Lou Reed and David Bowie, and it didn't hurt them much.

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Schiffy94 t1_jdn1ruf wrote

In fairness no one can explain David Bowie. Not even David Bowie.

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Grizlyfrontbum t1_jdncw51 wrote

Lori Maddox and Sable Starr can. He allegedly took the former’s virginity when she was 14.

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Schiffy94 t1_jdnf7px wrote

That's something she said in one interview, yet in another she claims the two of them snuck into his hotel room uninvited and initiated the encounter.

I'm no victim blamer but she seems to have willingly self-identified as the offender in one instance. At the very least, that's weird.

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Grizlyfrontbum t1_jdnfq87 wrote

Well, it could come off as victim blaming. Certain celebrities get a pass it seems. If she was 14 she was incapable of consent. How could she be the offender at 14? Honest question. The truth is, certain people seem to get a pass, depending on which side of certain arguments they fall on. Which is the really weird thing.

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Schiffy94 t1_jdngkmb wrote

There's a gray area if her account of him being tired is accurate. If an adult and a minor both appear to "consent", then it's statutory rape on the part of the adult hands down.

But what if the adult in the situation doesn't consent? What if the minor initiates against the adult's will? If he was in fact tired, or even not alert enough to consent, we tread into a territory where the age of reason matters more than the age of consent.

Hypothetically, what if a minor were to roofie and adult and have sex with them? Who's the offender there?

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Grizlyfrontbum t1_jdnhnud wrote

Well we can guess that he was never alert with all the drugs, however I actually agree with you. I’m more calling out the ridiculous ways people try to make it ok in some instances and not others. I think that a 14 year old knows enough between right and wrong. So do most courts in regard to murder sentences when deciding to charge as an adult. Either they’re capable of knowing right from wrong or they’re not. The severity of the crime shouldn’t be the deciding factor on whether they are an adult or not. In your hypothetical scenario, I have had this same thought as well. I think that the current state of our system would place the blame on the adult, even when incapacitated. Which is ridiculous.

Her Account

Edited to include what I read. Doesn’t seem he was incapable of consent. Obviously there are multiple stories.

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Schiffy94 t1_jdniv1s wrote

Nothing more fun than a he-said/she-said.

Or a... she-said and then she later said.

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tydestra t1_jdlyw1h wrote

Saw friends, family and lovers die of Aids. We gay people lost an entire generation worth of people who should be seniors now during the 80s.

I'm glad they lived to see all the progress we have made even if it's hard now to see how that progress is constantly challenged

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COMCredit t1_jdmwojr wrote

I'm reminded of this photo of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, which shows the absolutely stunning impact and loss that AIDS had on the community. It's absolutely heartbreaking to remember that many of those men had moved to San Francisco and found a new family after being rejected from their original communities, only to see most of their friends suffer and die in a matter of years.

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tydestra t1_jdnqwmn wrote

I was 8 in 1990 and my mom's best friend is a gay dude who is like a father to me. He survived, but every other week I was hearing about him going to another funeral. I remember hearing people joke about it, assholes like Rush Limbaugh who mockingly read gay obituaries on his show.

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yeatsbaby t1_jdm4ndm wrote

It’s so heartbreaking. Whenever I see an elderly gay couple, I always reflect on the amount of tragedy and loss they witnessed and endured.

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cinderparty t1_jdmxagu wrote

Fuck Ronald Reagan. AIDS just needed money thrown at it to have saved so so so many lives. Once the money was there effective drugs were found pretty damn quick.

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MillyBDilly t1_jdnj2b8 wrote

Ronald and every evangelical pile of garbage. Another of thousands of examples of how terrible religion is for humanity.

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