How the world perceives gay people

[tombarr]

What is your motivation for going there?

We are cataloging gay places in asia in an effort to promote gay tourism to these countries in our website gayrice.com. We are about to launch a new section called "Gay Places" that lists by country, city, region, area, all types of gay or gay friendly businesses by genre in cities that are and/or cater to the gay asian community and those that like to be a part of it.

What's he supposed to think? ...... Should we have expected they'd abandon decades of life experience and perception and perspective the moment they found out we were gay? Or should we realistically expect it to take a lil while for them to get used to it, if ever? Homosexuality isn't openly expressed in Vietnam because it's taboo and misunderstood, which in turn leads to more misunderstanding.

well, he certainly did not warn about the female hookers along the way that literally grabbed my arm and were hard pressed to take no for an answer as to the offer of sex for money, and he certainly did not warn of the people on motorcycles that are known to swoop in on pedestrians in that area and, working in pairs, rob them.... or in some reported cases force them to go somewhere with them, where they are beaten and robbed.... no the Imminent danger was HOMOSEXUALS, who, judging by his presentation of that as the lurking danger at night in Saigon, are obvioulsy much more dangerous than muggers, or very agressive female prostitutes and their pimps......

But it wasn't the concierge's fault

sure he was trained by a society to feel this way based upon misconceptions, misperceptions, lack of visibility....but this is a country where they only allow very limited gay bars and they are monitored and raided almost nightly by police, and those that are open are only open for 2 to 2.5 hours once a week. Any other bars that "allow" gay people have to be mixed to escape the heavy hand of "big brother".

What did I expect of the concierge? I expected tollerance....he works after all in a 4 star hotel, one that is frequented primarily by westerners.... I expected cultural sensitivity on his part... I expected him to be exposed to more than say the average dweller that does not often come into contact with other cultures....As it turns out, this hotel sits right across one of the few places where a predominantly gay party is held once a month and he sees them as many gay people use the restaurant in the hotel on the nights of these parties.... He has been exposed to gay people many times in the course of his job.... I suggest it was his own prejudices and stereotypes that guided his comments to me..

The original post was not to point the finger and fault the concierge...he certainly is a product of his society, the government's official positions on homosexuality, and his own cultivated stereotypes and prejudices, but he was the medium through which I experienced this situation. The point was that the visit was a reality check on the perception of gay people in different spots in the world, and how, even though we bitch about our rights in the USA, we certainly are leaps and bounds ahead of many countries, (yet still behind others) in the areas of our perceptions and rights accorded to the gay and lesbian community.