[Ansteorra] Same-Gender Consort Proposal

[Miles Grey]

I've had my say.  Play your little games.

   Miles

On 7/18/2012 7:00 PM, Rose wrote:
> You said: "Save for the rattan sword, everything else is his own fault.  You could be using proper quilted cotton and linen padding, using metal armor and a wooden shield, and rehydrating with barley water, and we would all appreciate your devotion to accuracy. So what's your point?"
>
> The point is that the person in the mundane gear wouldn't be turned away from Crown List.
>
> You said: "Our goal is to be as period as possible for modern people who aren't actually medieval nobility with constant income from our lands . . ."
>
> ...so if Elisabeta and Hrafn have children, we can keep them as monarchs forever, and then raise up their red-headed children?? Or maybe just if Jean-Paul and Gilyan do so, resulting in wonderfully blue-headed monarchs? That would be GREAT! Wait, now I'm confused. I thought the point of Crown Tournament was to pick someone to run things for six months, in a fun way that's close enough fer shootin'. :P
>
> You said: "Oh, wait.  You know that.  You're trivializing an important issue in order to mock those who disagree with you, NOT making a valid point. Sorry, I didn't catch that at first."
>
> So it's okay to trivialize my my valid point by implying that it's a joke, but it's not okay to trivialize your valid point by making a joke? Oh, I am even more confused, Miles.
>
> You said: "As I said last time this issue was discussed, there are plenty of people out here who aren't willing to speak out against the issue because they know people will ridicule them, rather than respect their opinions."
>
> I don't respect the opinions of who tell me that I can't lead because I own a vagina, or that I can't be in public because I'm brown, either. Not all opinions get an automatic 'respect' pass, you know.
>
> You said: "There are a number of people who will leave the SCA if this passes because, eventually, they just get tired of each mundane-world cause du jour encroaching on the recreation on which they spend a lot of money, time, and talent precisely to get away from modern concerns, if just for a little while. Every group like the SCA needs a certain critical mass of participants.  Maybe we who disagree on this don't belong in the SCA."
>
> Don't belong? That's certainly the impression I get when you tell me that I can't enter the list as the consort of a female knight. I spent alot of money, time, and talent in the SCA and am still told that my perfectly valid self isn't welcome to enter the list if my ID has the same letter as my fighter's ID. That seems alot worse than the disenfranchisement that you might feel when simply disagreeing with someone on a topic that will rarely present itself.
>
> You said: "That's the impression I get when my perfectly valid opinions are mocked and ridiculed.  Keep driving away people who want to play and, eventually, you'll reach the point where there just aren't enough to sustain the SCA."
>
> If your point is ridiculous, then it will be ridiculed. (C'mon, you're kinda the king of ridiculing silly points.) I'm sorry that it makes you feel unwelcome. (Brewers, by the way, are *never* unwelcome. :P) I am even sorrier that people like myself are made to feel unwelcome by the opinions of those who would rather keep us in the closet *and* by the very rules by which we are governed. Both probably suck, but the latter seems to carry the weight of even more suckage.
>
> You said: "People have choices on what to do with their time and money.  When you ridicule their opinions, they keep quiet and just go away because what you're doing is telling them they don't belong and you don't like their kind.  Keep it up.  Some other volunteer group will appreciate it."
>
> It seems immature, at best, to declare that you'll be taking your ball and bat and going home if we let a few extra folks enter the list. After all, us gays haven't yet left en masse because the rules discriminate against us, and make us feel unwelcome. We just feel plugging away, becoming peers, holding offices, mentoring new people, and so on. I'm not saying that you're immature, Miles, but that it's the impression that I get when I see that particular Danegeld argument.
>
> You know that I like you alot, as a person, even when we disagree. (Maybe *especially* when we disagree? Because I appreciate intellect.). I don't want you to feel unwelcome, but neither do *I* want to feel unwelcome. And everything you're saying was already said when they let ladies enter the lists before I was even born. Somehow the SCA is still here and still a ton of fun. I feel certain that it will be the same when we let a lady on the arm of a lady enter the procession before the list.