Quote:
|
Originally Posted by jcfiala
It depends on what is *in* the two paragraphs in question. Mind typing them in?
|
I'm not sure that would be legal, to be honest. But let me grab my book and paraphrase the hell out of them.
Page 32 under the heading of 'Marriage and Romance'.
Paragraph one: Aldin marriage is a bond between any two or more legal and willing adults. Marriage is an expected social norm for pretty much all adults. Aldins are notorious matchmakers.
Paragraph two:
People attracted to the same gender are called
caria daunen (lovers of the dawn, after a diety of the setting who has a male/male relationship in one of his aspects), slang shortens this to
caria. Straight people are called
cepia luath, keepers of the flame. A reference to home, hearth and family. If you get hit on by someone with a different orientation, it is customary and polite to just say, "Sorry, I'm
caria or
cepia."
Paragraph three:
Aldins don't have a cultural prejudice based on orientation. Someone who does is thought of as ignorant or bigoted in Aldis. That discrimination is rare outside of Jarzoni refugees, who come from a culture where everyone is expected to produce as many offspring (within the bounds of a one man/one woman marriage) as possible to offset losses due to a harsh environment and predation.
That's it. Dry, concise and the only advocacy going on is a simple statement of existence and a note that in this fictional country, being gay isn't a big deal, one way or the other.
In addition to those paragraphs, out of the dozen or so vignettes, one deals with a mother relating the story of Hiathas and Braniel, a pair of male gods who fell in love with one another to her children as a fairytale. The children requested the story because their older brother is
caria and they wanted to make him blush as his boyfriend arrives at the house. The story ends with the mother hoping for the blessings of the gods on the pair.
Nowhere in the above story is the idea that it is 'cool' or 'good' to be gay, just that in this particular culture is just something that
is for a portion of the population.
And that is pretty much it. Less than half a page, including the fiction, out of a 224 page book. Unless one's position on 'advocating homosexuality' is that unless people in the setting throw rocks at gay people and shun them actively, you are promoting a 'gay agenda', it is pretty clear that the setting presents people of different orientations in a neutral light. Neither inherently good or bad but just there.