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Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man
Its not an issue of political correctness. Homesexuality is a fact of life, not a cause. Is it right that this game should either exclude gay people or else force them to play a role with which they do not feel comfortable?
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But no-one's being forced to play the game at all. I didn't say homosexuality was a 'cause' in itself - but I think getting it into this game is a 'cause' for certain individuals involved in this -
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An editor with GayGamer.net called Davidson’s explanation “a giant cop-out”: “Now that such a feature's been banned, I worry that the decision will help foster homophobic comments and behavior within the game's universe,” he wrote.
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Now this strikes me as a perfect example - 'If gay marriage is not allowed in the game it will result in homophobic behaviour & comments'. That doesn't follow at all.
The point is, whether we approve or not, gay marriage is not soemthing that happens in M-e. Tolkien was a bit of a fan of family trees & there are no family trees which show same sex marriages, nor any mentions of same sex unions - or unions across racial divides - apart from Elves & Humans (yes, I know there's also the Melian-Thingol thing, but that's another exception that proves a rule). Now, Tolkien wasn't ignorant - he was obviously aware of the
fact of homosexuality. But he chose not to include it in his creation. Maybe that was for artistic reasons, maybe it was for religious reasons - or maybe some long lost text will turn up giving the reason for the absence of homosexuality/same sex relationships in M-e terms.
The whole point is, this would be to introduce something into the world that doesn't exist in Tolkien's creation. To permit same sex unions into the world changes it - you're attempting to move it towards a 21st century liberal (or libertarian) utopia, & impose 21st century values. The 'if its logically possible' argument doesn't work - its logically possible that the Romans could have invented firearms - the raw materials to construct them & the necessary chemicals to make gunpowder were around. But the fact is that the Romans didn't have guns, & introducing guns into a role playing game set in ancient Rome would wreck any historical 'truth' the game had.
If anyone has a real problem with 'X' being banned (ie never having existed in the first place) from M-e I'll happily write them a note excusing them from playing...