>>>>>>But notice that you're not talking about gay accountants or lawyers or doctors or ..., and you're not talking about women at all. 40 or 50 years ago, for most people, if they knew or knew of someone who was gay, that person was in the arts because in the arts, it was safe to be gay and out (well, at least for some--can't help but think about Rock Hudson, who had to hide his sexuality to be a movie star). And, of course, it's only in the last few years, that you can be gay and serve in the US military.
>>>>>
>>>>>What do you mean "it was safe to be gay?"
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>I mean that in those fields, being gay didn't automatically keep you from working. Being found out to be gay didn't get you fired.
>>>>
>>>I've been in the business world a long time and I've never seen anyone fired or otherwise demeaned for being gay.
>>>One of our best managers in one of my jobs was a gay black man.
>>>
>>>Ditto in the military.
>>>All the nonsense about gays being mistreated is hogwash.
>>>We had lots of gay guys in our units overseas and in the states. They tended to hang out together.
>>>I never saw anyone mistreated for being gay.
>>>Some of the women officers were built and talked like Hulk Hogan.
>>>If you didn't know that they were gay you were on another planet.
>>
>>Forgot to answer this part:
>>
>>http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/10/30/anti_gay_harassment_missouri_man_cannot_sue_for_sexual_orientation_discrimination.html
>>
>>http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/5-people-who-were-fired-for-being-gay-and-the-29-states-where-that-is-still-legal/
>>
>>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/07/us/gay-veterans-push-for-honorable-discharges-they-were-denied.html?_r=0
>>
>>Tamar
>
>I don't doubt these sources, but as I said I never saw anyone, either in the military or in the corporate world, mistreated in any way for being gay.
>
>Any smart recruiter in the corporate world will know the culture of the company and screen out people who clearly don't fit. I can't imagine a recruiter for a women's fashion design company hiring a straight, marrried man with a family as a designer.
>I doubt that I'd have much of a chance getting a job as a singer in a rap group.
>
>When I was recruited into the military, I was asked several times "Do you like girls?"
>If someone was discharged exclusively for being gay and is being denied benefits that he'd otherwise get, that's an injustice that should be redressed.
>However, if he was asked that question and lied, I have less sympathy for his case.

My original point was that the world has changed significantly in this area. Back when you served, the military attempted to screen out gay men. Around the same time, Alan Turing, one of the fathers of Computer Science, was prosecuted for being gay and accepted chemical castration to avoid jail.

Tamar