As many people will be aware, in the last few days the site has seen a lot of activity relating to moderation of gay/LGBT threads. This has caused quite a lot of upset so we thought it best to let you know our position.

About two weeks ago, contact was made with us regarding a thread which included the suggestion that gay people should be sent to concentration camps. Clearly this was unacceptable and the thread was binned. Unfortunately the manner in which this complaint was brought to our attention involved not only the original complainant, but the pressure group Stonewall and even involved Good CO being interviewed by the police. Some of the site sponsors were also contacted and we lost a few significant advertising contracts. Without overstating things, both of these last two have the potential to kill the site.

Since then a lot of behind the scenes discussion has gone on, mainly constructive, with the site moderators and the Armed Forces LGBT community. Over the years the site has had a pretty excellent record of policing ourselves, particularly on issues such as racism and far right activities. Our belief is that it is now time to apply a similar approach to the whole LGBT thing.

I know that at this point a lot of people will be violently disagreeing, along the lines of 'its only banter' or something similar. Personally I'm not sure this is true, similar arguments used to be used for racist terms and yet almost no one would think of calling someone a 'wog' or 'coon' anymore.

From our point of view the following are reasons which you may find appropriate for supporting our drive to remove the 'homophobic' tag that is currently being applied to the site:

1. Fundamentally it's wrong (my personal belief). We need to accept LGBT soldiers/people in the same way that we now accept black/yellow//brown/etc soldiers. Part of this involves removing language that could be construed as offensive (by them).

2. The site is at risk. The site now largely runs because Good CO has taken the (risky) decision to do it full time. He has just bought a house and has a wife to support. If he ends up being hounded by the police and/or the site cannot be made financially viable, he'll probably decide to move on.

So what can you do? Well our request is that you continue to support the moderation team in their attempts to remove racist/extreme right wing content from the site and just add homophobic to that list.

Thanks for your support.





BTW, one final point is that we are extremely miffed about the way that this complaint was brought to our attention. Over the 7+ years we've run the site, we have an excellent track record of dealing with complaints so this has been really, really frustrating. The simple fact is that it has probably raised some overdue issues and we need to get on with it.....

Originally Posted by Bad CO

1. Fundamentally it's wrong (my personal belief). We need to accept LGBT soldiers/people in the same way that we now accept black/yellow//brown/etc soldiers. Part of this involves removing language that could be construed as offensive (by them).

Even the gay ARRSE members are saying its a load of bollocks though.
Do stonewall normally use this site or were they getting outraged on behalf of people who are not bothered?

I can see your view point, money talks at the end of the day (as do the police it seems), but why pretend it was such a big deal against the LGBT mob when they are giving support to ARRSE rather than the people complaining?

Thanks, BCO. I appreciate the sitrep regarding what's going on behind the scenes.

I did make the point on another (subsequently pulled) thread regarding Good CO doing this full time now and hopefully the constant and now entirely boring threads started about the whole matter should stop / lessen.

It is a big deal, because even if none of the LGBT folk on the site has complained, this is open forum, and the whole world can look in. This means that anyone can be offended by language that would (in the real world) get you arrested.

It's not hard to understand. If it's illegal to use the phrases/pictures/themes etc in your local public bar, then it is illegal here. Like it or lump it.

Thanks for the info BCO. Maybe that particular comment was a tad over-zealous but it's seems to have caused do-gooders to build a mountain out of a molehill. Can't speak for the other gays who use this site but I for one am 100% behind this site and fed up with people getting offended on my behalf when I personally am not offended. If you can't take the heat stay out of the kitchen and if you can't take the banter don't join a military forum.

Originally Posted by Legs

It is a big deal, because even if none of the LGBT folk on the site has complained, this is open forum, and the whole world can look in. This means that anyone can be offended by language that would (in the real world) get you arrested.

It's not hard to understand. If it's illegal to use the phrases/pictures/themes etc in your local public bar, then it is illegal here. Like it or lump it.

Well its done alot for LGBT / straight people understanding hasn't it? Judging by the amount of complaints, I'd say Stonewall has shot itself in the foot.

[quote="stacker1"]

Originally Posted by Legs

It is a big deal, because even if none of the LGBT folk on the site has complained, this is open forum, and the whole world can look in. This means that anyone can be offended by language that would (in the real world) get you arrested.

It's not hard to understand. If it's illegal to use the phrases/pictures/themes etc in your local public bar, then it is illegal here. Like it or lump it.

Well its done alot for LGBT / straight people understanding hasn't it? Judging by the amount of complaints, I'd say Stonewall has shot itself in the foot.[/quote]

I wouldn't give them the time of day before this, now I wouldn't pee on them if they were on fire.

MOD Edit: If you haven't got anything useful to contribute then STFU.
Meanwhile I am going to delete all your other puerile comments. Twat.

Originally Posted by stacker1

Originally Posted by Legs

It is a big deal, because even if none of the LGBT folk on the site has complained, this is open forum, and the whole world can look in. This means that anyone can be offended by language that would (in the real world) get you arrested.

It's not hard to understand. If it's illegal to use the phrases/pictures/themes etc in your local public bar, then it is illegal here. Like it or lump it.

Well its done alot for LGBT / straight people understanding hasn't it? Judging by the amount of complaints, I'd say Stonewall has shot itself in the foot.

I totally agree. However Stonewall have huge political sway and are not afraid to use it. None of us complained ('us' being the LGBT members of ARRSE). The backlash this has caused was probably not anticipated.

Chinook, knock it off mate please?