MadridMan,

I am certainly glad you expressed your views. I, also, agree with your standpoint. No one should dictate values on another culture. However, Spain has been showing the world it can progress quickly into the 21st century. I also understand Spain can be a highly homophobic.

Traveling with my boyfriend, we stayed with parents of our friends back in California. In Catabria, the Basque Country, Madrid and Andalucia we had nothing but a warm welcome. Many were also impressed we flew amongst the terrorism. Spaniards are - on the whole – warm and accepting people.

MadridMan, thanks for keeping this thread in the discussion. More posts in this thread would be excellent.

As a gay, African-American male, I had no problems being gay in Spain. Many couples in Chueca showed their affection in public by holding hands and kissing. Madrid is quite tolerant.

Anyone who is gay should have no problem in Madrid. I am going back this summer and am looking forward to having a great time in Chueca (Bar Liquid, Ricks) and La Sastrería.

Looking forwrad to moving back in January for good.

I am not your typical gay person. I don't believe in gay pride, I don't like drag shows and I can't stand being around too many gays for a long period of time. This may sound like a contradiction, but hey, that's just me.

Enjoy Madrid and have a great time.

Shawn
pr4552@yahoo.com

Just thought I'd resurrect this thread ... another "gay" thread went down in a flaming, smoldering fireball of a mess today ... and MadridMan justifiably capped the discussion and closed the topic.

In my humble opinion, this topic deserves to be kept in the active section of MadridMan's SpainMessageBoard. España has earned a honorable reputation as a tolerant environment for gay men and women. This may not be entirely accurate (based on every individual Spaniard's personal sentiment), but it's an accolade worth mentioning.

For those interested, the following website has some good information and statistics:
ILGA

"... predicting that Spain will afford equal rights to gays before the United States. Most nations in the EU already extend immigration benefits to same-sex relationships. Many Americans ... look to Europe and the UK with a mixture of envy and inspiration"
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is so true. And I think this applies to all facets of life, not just the gay rights issues. Europe, in general, is far more open-minded and tolerant socially than the U.S. despite enclaves of strong liberalism in this country."

What kind of intellectual garbage is this? Why do so many people think they need to put my beautiful country the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA down to make Spain sound better. I can't tell you how many gay SPANISH friends I have who are trying to start their life here..... why, because they say "I feel a lot more free to live as an open gay here in the good ol USA." If fact, many have American boyfriends. My closest gay Spanish friend just had a "green card party" to celebrate and just bought a house. There next step is to adopt. Viva el Rainbow!

Toddy, you are apparently very defensive. That you needed to pull a quote from "Puna" and myself - from another thread - and accuse us of "intellectual garbage," tells me a lot about your motives on this message board.

The USA is a wonderful place, is my birthplace, my current residence, and I hold our nation in high regard. Nevertheless, to assume all criticism about the US is based on anti-American rhetoric is faulty.

From a legal and societal standpoint, Europe and the UK are far ahead of the US in terms of granting homosexuals equal rights. This is simply a fact.

"From a legal and societal standpoint, Europe and the UK are far ahead of the US in terms of granting homosexuals equal rights. This is simply a fact."
In Spain, can homosexuals adopt children?

"And I think this applies to ALL facets of life, not just the gay rights issues. Europe, in general, is far more open-minded and tolerant socially than the U.S. despite enclaves of strong liberalism in this country."

How can you intellectually quantify such a statement. Not by ANY fact.

You are missing the thesis of my response, toddy. Indeed, the US offers certain legal protections, but they are patchy and only the result of state legislation (not Federal) The US is still far from providing full-equality to gay men and women.

Besides, this was not the gist of my retort to you. You should stop assuming all criticism of the US is based on anti-American rhetoric. And as you've managed to flame many of the threads you've arrived in, I have no interest in pursuing a discussion with you.

Ask the real author - it wasn't me. toddy, you appear to be picking a fight.

NO FIGHTS!!! COOL IT!!!
Do I HAVE to close yet another thread???? PEOPLE COME TO OUR MESSAGE BOARD TO FEEL GOOD, TO REMEMBER SPAIN WARMLY, TO SHARE MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES WITH OUR FELLOW SPAINIACS!! (yes, ALL CAPS=shouting)

Allow me to make this a blanket statement so as not to single out any person(s) here in a public forum.
There's a BAN USER feature on this message board. I've only had to use it two times so far in 2 years (not bad, really). One was some nut who went on about swinging ham legs and stupic stuff like that. Another was someone who couldn't get a clue that our message board wasn't to be used for advertising/posting "Get Rich Quick" schemes.

Let's keep this nice, people. Talk about ETA, homosexuals, prostitution and drug use (if you must) in a respectful, open-minded way. I WILL NOT ALLOW OUR MESSAGE BOARD TO BECOME ONE OF THOSE FLAME-HOLE-FORUMS YOU SEE AROUND THE INTERNET. I WILL NOT ALLOW ANYONE OR ANY GROUP TO CAUSE OTHERS TO THINK TWICE BEFORE COMING TO OUR MESSAGE BOARD BECAUSE IT MAY BE 'STRESSFUL'.

Our message board is intened to be a positive, warm, respectful place where mature adults (and mature children) can share, make friends, get together, and ENJOY themselves for heaven's sake!

Oh-SO-VERY-Sincerely, MadridMan