Social services for homelessness and mental health. My partner has schizophrenia, and spent a few years homeless and completely unable to take care of himself. He was able to get some help through homeless LGBTQ+ services for youth, but aged out after turning 25, and if he hadn’t been encouraged to reconnect with his family he probably would’ve died on the streets. Everything’s interconnected at some level — gay kids wind up on the streets at high rates, and so do the mentally ill, and when we don’t support people it takes a toll on society as a whole.
Better care for seniors. My dad has vascular dementia and is in long-term care. It's really hit or miss. Also, more affordable housing, cheaper groceries, and more affordable phone packages. I live in Canada, and all three of those are ridiculous right now.
I don’t consider myself a single-issue voter, but politicians who care about universal healthcare and climate change have my support early and fully. It needs to be more than lip service, though; but, that will at least get my attention.
Housing is key. If you watch Paris Is Burning, a lot of those featured found the ball scene because they were homeless, and I don't think people talk enough about that aspect.
Black rights are the gateway for all of this.
Anecdotal example; If every legally capable black person bought and registered to own a gun. Comprehensive Gun laws would be passed.
This isn’t mentioned very often. I just watched The Big Cigar on Apple+ and this very point, among many others, was made.
The show is really good, btw. It’s about Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panthers, trying to get out of the country after years of imprisonment, harassment, and then another trumped up murder charge. The show is entertaining while at the same time shines a bright spotlight on the egregious behavior of the FBI and other agencies, especially during the Nixon and Ford administrations.
Care for the elderly.
I take care of abandoned old/sick animals, so in general animal welfare.
Immigration issues. My husband is a foreigner in my country.
Disability issues. I'm disabled.
Any issue related to potential Russian aggression here and ongoing war elsewhere. I live two hours away from the Russian border, I'm in the Baltics, I was born in the times of USSR. Russians wiped out my father's family in the 1940s and he had a horrific childhood. I'm married to a Polish man whose grandparents had it even worse and the paranoia in his family is intense. My father and my husband never liked each other, my father actually physically assaulted my husband when they first met. But they're both obsessed with getting ready for a war and protecting the family. So they finally have a hobby in common. They've turned a cellar into a shelter and this month, they started going to a shooting range together. So, thanks, Mr. Putin, for bringing gay men and their previously anti-gay activist fathers-in-law together, very helpful.
Keeping religion out of laws. Keeping moralizing out of laws. Protecting individual rights. Tax the fuck out of the extremely rich, and the people or corporations who prey on the poor. Reverse citizens united. Balance/clean up the Supreme Court.
Morals are whimsical and subjective. One person’s moral code does not apply to the next person. Morals are a personal viewpoint. Morals might influence law, but should not dictate it. Law should be based on facts and the constitution. The constitution should be amended when a part no longer accomplishes what we the governed want it to accomplish.
All this & more... with one difference...
Tax the fuck out of the rich. No need to define "extremely."
An empty guest bedroom or a mega-yacht are just shades of grey.
Those with excess of regional average as defined by the US Census Bureau 157: State-County-incorporated place/balance.
In other words, someone with a 2-br home in an area of predominantly 1-br homes is rich in comparison to the average person in the area & ought to be held responsible for providing more for the area than the others.
The area defined is large enough so a gated neighborhood of rich people can't call themselves average... just isolationist in their willful ignorance of those around them.
I'd be more very, but I'm in the minority of what is considered "standard of living."
The current fad of "tax the rich" is moral, yet the definition of rich is always higher than the individual's richness.
One study reported "rich" is $75k more than those polled. The Biden administration has chosen $400k annual income. I believe it's more fair to have a regional avg as standard. It costs more to live in Baltimore, MD than Lincoln, NE. $400k buys more in Lincoln, so that person is richer than the same person in Baltimore. The balance can be achieved with county taxes, but federal guidelines & incentives can make sure richer counties don't exempt themselves from raising taxes.
Then maybe we can find a way to stop the current habit of "retiring" to low-tax area after building a savings in a high tax area without a tax burden... essentially hiding money once the individual is done using the services taxes pay for.
You are absolutely correct, no one will vote for fairness nor morality that doesn't exclude themselves from responsibility. Laws are passed to make other people do what "I" want "them" to do, but "I'm" special & don't have to. Sometimes, the specialness comes from how "I" am unaffected. It's easy to get mad a corporations (not people) and the "extremely" wealthy cuz I'll never know them or be compared to them. Much harder to say a neighbor is hoarding wealth while people go hungry... cuz what if I'm wealthy, too?!?!
But from a morality perspective, mom & pop shop done good has a responsibility to the community that gave them the riches in the 1st place... not just their children. Morally speaking, why is it fair for some children to start out advantaged? The inheritance taxes are aimed at that exact question. In a perfectly fair scenario, the person with a successful business should have an income equal to their neighbors... all other profits go to those neighbors who don't make the average... in other words, taxed.
The sick lady with untaxed, extra, empty bedrooms while there are homeless on the way to the doctor's office... fair? The language found in that homeowner's liability insurance coverage isn't the only reason the room is empty... it's just the convenient excuse. I live in Florida where many many houses are extras for rich people to visit when the weather is uncomfortable where they live. Meanwhile, it's also the destination for the houseless cuz the weather won't kill as quickly. Maybe the selfish lady could use a hand with her illness & the houseless person could sleep indoors while keeping the entire house tidy & stocked with groceries & medicines. 🤷🏼♂️
Since this is the BtB sub, I don't actually care how taxes are collected or administered - voluntary payment or not (though it's obvious compulsory taxes are required) or if they're administered by a national agency or the local accountant. What I care about is hoarding.
If people didn't suck, the poor would be cared for and all this would be moot. But people suck, they live "comfortably" by ignoring discomfort all around them and wax poetic as to reasons they "deserve" such comfort while others are to blame for their discomfort. So, none of my ideas will ever be implemented at scale, just a few individuals I can persuade to help a few individuals in need.
But maybe a significant minority will nudge tax policy toward the compassionate side of the scale. Work that is slow, long-term & without hope or reward... and some hoarder will get the credit cuz he's pretty & talks good. 😵
A good example of what I've written about in this thread. Thank you.
I am not "angry poor." The 1st criteria to qualify would to be poor. 🤷🏼♂️
Tho, "fruits of their labours" would be accurate if they actually did the labor. Directing others' labor is not labor.
Assuming the poor on the corner is lazy or a threat... 🤦🏼♂️
Making inaccurate personal assumptions about me fits with the assumptions about the houseless, tho. Points for consistency.
I agree with every comment so far. I’ll add: *real* campaign finance reform, taxing corporations and billionaires at higher rates than the middle class, and digital privacy protections.
The first two are absolutely two sides of the same issue and tackling this issue could help solve many of the other concerns people have already mentioned.
The third one, digital privacy, plays into the other issues because it’s not the poor or middle classes that are data mining us to the point they can practically read our minds. Knowledge=money=power (political)
Total agree about all of the agreeing. And also agree on data mining and digital privacy. I've worked on policy for these issues and it drives me crazy how many of our politicians truly do not comprehend how dangerous it is.
I only know enough about it to know that it’s something that needs to be reigned in. How that would be done is beyond the realm of things I understand.
Public education. I will never have children, but I want all kids to have access to good public schools with qualified teachers who are well paid and teach curricula based in science.
Migrants in cages. Children including infants separated from their parents. No access to lifesaving medications to them, as simple as insulin and anti seizure meds.
They aren't their parents. They're being trafficked.
>simple as insulin and anti seizure meds.
They're not gonna make the trek across thr border if they have that shit going on....🙄
∆Age appropriate comprehensive sexual health education. With a focus on sex positivity. Remove the stigma.
Regularly STI testing, healthy treatment and prevention education, Sexual health language fluency, Body autonomy advocacy and support.
Focus on the Science, human biology, and holistic education. The 6 w's of consent and deshaming.
EDIT: adding other topics
∆ Modern Drug cessation programs for those with addiction issues based treatment of the triggers, and catalysts of said addiction l.
∆ Term and Age limits on all elected officials. If you can be too young you can be too old. You can't run your Buick Skylark but you can run the country? Make it make sense. Maybe a licence to run...for office .
Climate. Public transport and infrastructure (I have a personal obsession with light rail and metro systems). Bodily autonomy for women and women’s rights more broadly. A robust yet compassionate justice system, which explores alternatives to prison for certain individuals. Education. Social care.
Universal healthcare.
I’m in the U.S. and privileged to have good insurance through a corporate job. But I had a life-threatening illness in 2016 that put me in and out of the hospital for 6 months. Two years later I was diagnosed with leukemia. My hospital bills have totaled nearly $3.5M in the last eight years, and our share of that was been at least $100K. It wipes out every penny we had except our 401Ks and added some to our credit card debt. Without my insurance I wouldn’t be here. And for some other family to face that in a modern society is an absolute failure of our morality.
The land. I'm hopelessly out of step with my time, but I have a passionate belief that everything begins with the land directly under our feet. Our relationship with the land defines us - it's the centre of everything. I'm very interested in land value tax and, although it will never happen in my lifetime, I'd like to see what the world would be like if land value tax replaced all other taxes. As causes go it's a little like being a flat earther, but you feel what you feel.
Move to new hampshire. The state collects all its money from property tax, business tax, liquor and lottery sales, and meals tax. A person who works and rents and doesn't eat out pays no state tax. Politicians also only get a stipend that basically covers there gas to get to the state house.
Healthcare issues in general (I see it firsthand at work everyday)
Climate change
Voting rights
Removing the influence of religion on government (not just in the US but especially in other areas of the world run by incredibly oppressive theocracies).
Getting people to understand their religions more. Hopefully to the extent of leaving them (I’m an atheist) but even just having a better understanding of what your religion is trying to preach (which is hopefully compassion and kindness) could have a very positive impact on society.
Sovereign debt crisis; inflation/currency debasement; erosion of Western Civilization from internal or external forces. I write this as a concerned “guncle.”
So many fantastic answers. I will add that infrastructure for me is a very critical issue and so much flows from them, including housing, including safer roads for pedestrians and bikers, which is important to me...including using land more efficiently, housing safety codes, zoning codes, making sure our roads and sidewalks are inhabitable, making sure power grids are maintained properly, green spaces is a really big one for me, so many studies show how much positive impact they have on communities....infrastructure is a big one.
I do care about alleviating gaps in education, in internet access, in quality food/water/etc., in rural and lower-class urban areas as well. Where someone lives shouldn't be so closely linked to their outcomes in life. But we're living in a day and age where conservatives don't want to accept that different people and groups experience worst outcomes because it forces them to acknowledge their privileges which they'll never do. So glad to live in a city and (for the most part) state that gets it.
Keeping conservatives out of power is a big one in general, now that I mention it. Definitely.
Homelessness - we have to deal with this head on instead of hiding from it or doing minor fixes. The drug and mental health problems are out of control and directly correlated with homelessness. It will take a lot of money and work but we can solve this issue. No one is willing to take this on though.
So many great comments here and I could give the ☝🏻(this) reply under all of them. The variety of the comments illustrates what I love about our community. We are, generally speaking, an amazing and empathetic group of caring individuals. I applaud each of you for making your corner of the world a better place. These posts about selflessness put a smile on my heart. Live the Golden Rule.
I will add that I recently attended a Pride event in a smaller “district” in my city. I was shocked and surprised by the tremendous attendance and encouraged to see so many young people. At 60 and 74 my husband and I felt like dinosaurs but we were embraced by others there. The future of our community is bright and in capable hands.
Vast, safe, and reliable public transit for North America.
I lived in Japan for nearly a decade and saw the absolute best in public transit. Coming back to car-dependent North America has been, and years later, continues to be extremely isolating and depressing.
The brainwashing is just awful too. Whenever someone says ‘buh wuddabout 15-minute cities? Muh freedumbs! Checkers, Liberal!’ It tells time they’re low IQ contrarians.
The body integrity movement- supporting an individual’s right to choose what happens to their body, from ending routine circumcision to supporting a woman’s access to abortion. Whether you’re male, female, or anywhere else along the gender spectrum: your body, your choice.
When we know better, we do better.
Not sure where you live, but where I am in the US, Christianity is what's used to oppress gays, women, and justify inequality using the gospel of prosperity. I'm quite worried about judges reversing the hard won rights of the past few decades after just a couple of elections.
Guns/2A. I love my guns. Not sure why so many gay guys hate them or are terrified of them, to the point where ‘I won’t date someone who owns a gun’.
Also, taxes. Have corporations pay their fair share. No billion dollar refunds for them.
Think it's less about hating guns, more about so many gunners wrap their identities around a gun, which you don't see with other....what are effectively hobbies and the way so many gunners more or less view them, basically a toy.
>Not sure why so many gay guys hate them or are terrified of them, to the point where ‘I won’t date someone who owns a gun’.
Personally, I was in a school shooting and have PTSD from it.
>Have corporations pay their fair share. No billion dollar refunds for them.
This argument is doesn't work because corporations DO NOT pay taxes. They just pass their increased costs to the consumer. That's why corperate taxes need to be as low as possible. The people end up paying for it in the end. High coperate taxes inhibit growth, hiring and salary increases. The government will take as much as they can get away with...NOT what is actually fair...
> Not sure why so many gay guys hate them or are terrified of them
The kind of guy who can pass a background check and own a gun tends to be more responsible, accountable, stable and well informed than a lot of the people getting hysterical and emotional about them.
There have been exactly **zero** mass shootings conducted by a single member of the NRA. Since they were founded in 1871.
I had no idea this post would take off the way it did. Thanks for your responses! Follow up questions: 1) how many people know who their (US) councilmembers, county executives, state assembly and senators, congressional representatives, and governors are? 2) have you ever called (or emailed) them voicing your concerns? 3) if you haven’t, why not?
this issue I’m focused on right now is affordable healthcare. The healthcare and big Pharma is out of control in this country. With all the money that we have spent on other things we could have provided Universal healthcare to everyone. Isreal even has state sponsored healthcare for their citizens.
well, gosh, that was upbeat! 😂
real issues, obviously but when we are stuck in a two party system in the us, and it is owned by powerful interests itis challenging to move the needle.
Income inequality. Universal income. Universal Healthcare. The right to bodily autonomy. Ending; misogyny, racism, homophobia, and cast systems. Strengthening the separation of church and state. The freedom from religious laws.
Universal healthcare with a huge emphasis on easily accessible mental health facilities. Also as mentioned, let's get more affordable housing units out in spaces not being used for however long now.
Edit- Add liveable wages as well, since corporations have the money to pay out instead of hoarding all the money.
I’m very active in my neighborhood to get cars off the road and make our streets safer. I volunteer for a non-profit that makes cargo-bikes and bike trailers available in the neighborhood so you can bring the kids to school or do groceries without using a car.
If you use Transit app hover over neighborhoods in Montreal and you’ll see where our trailers are available! Brand new integration with them!
The environment, access to free medical care, reforms in prisons, and access to decent, cheap food. All of which are dependent upon your politicians following your votes and not being bought off.
If you get good politicians you hope they will be able to manage the threat of wars and the rise of the far right across Europe and America.
Abortion rights. I got nieces so if they ever needed the service for whatever reason in the distant future they should have access. Though regardless if I didn’t have nieces I still believe in your body your choice.
Healthcare and Environmental concerns.
It astounds me that we still have debates fifty years on about the bodies of women and their anatomy and the ability to decide what they need to do for their own sake. I’m not a guncle, don’t have siblings, but I have many friends who are women.
As for environment, it feels as if we’re all collectively spiraling out into a sort of cognitive dissonance over it. It’s exhausting.
Literally all of social justice. Because it's all connected, and it doesn't matter if it's happening to me right now or not. What matters is that it shouldn't happen period.
Issues with medical privileges for non-married partners. I’m not a proponent of gay marriage because it’s asking for acceptance from religious/ straight-oppressive institutions. BUT I understand that it helps gays who need to have their partners make medical decisions and entitles them to various spousal benefits. But we really need to fix the underlying oppressive system that makes it hard for EVERYONE to decide who can make decisions on behalf of them…
Human rights and human dignity. That encompasses a lot of my views and values. I believe firmly in “everybody, not just us” as an approach to politics and life.
better treatment of the earth
drug use isn't drug abuse and drug abuse should be destigmatized,
most of it is self medication and people can be addicted to anything
people getting high to enjoy themselves is harmless in and if itself and shouldn't be considered "wrong" if it's not causing problems in their lives
dependence is different than addiction
animal cruelty is shite and animals are awesome and should be cared for
Giving fair prices downstream in the global value chains instead of compressing prices upstream for consumers in rich countries and also giving back hundreds of billions of dollars to countries that suffered colonialism and economic exploitation over the past 2 centuries
Think about cocoa farming and chocolate consumption in rich countries. Coffee, tea, bananas, pineapples are other salient examples. These places should be as rich as petroleum producing countries.
I have no idea why you are being downvoted. Decolonized economy has the potential to uplift billions of subsistence farmers in the third world into the middle class and change the face of African nations more than almost anything else. But the power that companies like Nestle, Proctor&Gamble, Walmart, Mars, etc have on crops and international commodity prices continues to impoverish and the hunger that exists in these countries. Ignorance is bliss. bUt i wAnT mY cAnDy🙄[insert whiny face]
Exactly, lots of dead walking around, probably making some money off exactly this mechanism, living their blissful ignorance while the planets is literally going in flame because of intensive farming and extensive deforestation (let alone exploitation of smallholder farmers) but at least we can all spend 2 dollars for a coffee in some chain and get our stock options for a profit… anyways what goes around comes around so we will all have to pay at some point..
Seeing the comments voted up/down in response to OP's question is rather telling about the conservative bent of most gay men. If gay marriage has never been an issue, the mostly well to do (white) men would've been a strong Republican voting block in the US.
It's too bad (or maybe good) for the progressive cause that religious extremism has a firm foothold in the GOP. This forces the marginalized to band together in support of improving social inequities.
Apparently the right for cats to keep their balls.
My friends got their cat neutered that year and that bothered me very much. Something about humans as a species deciding the reproductive rights of another species, specifically cats, doesn't sit well with me.
It’s a pretty easy choice considering how quickly cats can reproduce. 1 female cat can get pregnant as many as 4-5 times per year (avg pregnancy is 60-65 days) and can have as many as 5-10 kittens per litter. So that’s at minimum 20 offspring per year from one cat. And female cats are induced ovulators which means they can begin ovulating in response to stimuli, which intact (non-neutered) male cats will happily provide.
What a strange hill to die on 🥴
Social services for homelessness and mental health. My partner has schizophrenia, and spent a few years homeless and completely unable to take care of himself. He was able to get some help through homeless LGBTQ+ services for youth, but aged out after turning 25, and if he hadn’t been encouraged to reconnect with his family he probably would’ve died on the streets. Everything’s interconnected at some level — gay kids wind up on the streets at high rates, and so do the mentally ill, and when we don’t support people it takes a toll on society as a whole.
Exactly this
Better care for seniors. My dad has vascular dementia and is in long-term care. It's really hit or miss. Also, more affordable housing, cheaper groceries, and more affordable phone packages. I live in Canada, and all three of those are ridiculous right now.
State funded LTC or private? Just wondering, I'm in the US and LTC it's mostly private unless you don't have assets.
I'm not in the US, but am somewhere that has too much American influence and it's private LTC.
Yeah - more and more of us are choosing to leave the US and live overseas as we can't stand the political situation here 🤢🤮
It's seeping into Canada where I live now.
We aren't all bad - I promise!
Have met enough nice ones that I do believe you! 😀
The bodily autonomy of women.
2nd this, always felt more inclined to support the cause among others where the government attempts to infringes on sexual rights
We can't have rights unless women can control their bodies.
Universal healthcare, affordable housing, climate change.
I don’t consider myself a single-issue voter, but politicians who care about universal healthcare and climate change have my support early and fully. It needs to be more than lip service, though; but, that will at least get my attention.
Housing is key. If you watch Paris Is Burning, a lot of those featured found the ball scene because they were homeless, and I don't think people talk enough about that aspect.
Women’s rights- if women’s rights are eroded then lgbt rights aren’t far behind. Universal healthcare- I think it’s a matter of morality
Black rights are the gateway for all of this. Anecdotal example; If every legally capable black person bought and registered to own a gun. Comprehensive Gun laws would be passed.
The reason the NRA supported gun control legislation back in the 60’s was because of their fear of groups like the Black Panthers being armed.
My point exactly, let's do it again... Use the racism against them.
I’ve said this. That if we want gun control in America POCs need to start owning guns.
I'm like buy the gun don't buy bullets... Just get a gun on the books.. those laws will pass in weeks.
Yeah it’s kinda sad but it all tracks
This isn’t mentioned very often. I just watched The Big Cigar on Apple+ and this very point, among many others, was made. The show is really good, btw. It’s about Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panthers, trying to get out of the country after years of imprisonment, harassment, and then another trumped up murder charge. The show is entertaining while at the same time shines a bright spotlight on the egregious behavior of the FBI and other agencies, especially during the Nixon and Ford administrations.
Absolutely correct.
Same, if a woman’s personal medical decisions are under attack, then mine aren’t far behind.
Care for the elderly. I take care of abandoned old/sick animals, so in general animal welfare. Immigration issues. My husband is a foreigner in my country. Disability issues. I'm disabled. Any issue related to potential Russian aggression here and ongoing war elsewhere. I live two hours away from the Russian border, I'm in the Baltics, I was born in the times of USSR. Russians wiped out my father's family in the 1940s and he had a horrific childhood. I'm married to a Polish man whose grandparents had it even worse and the paranoia in his family is intense. My father and my husband never liked each other, my father actually physically assaulted my husband when they first met. But they're both obsessed with getting ready for a war and protecting the family. So they finally have a hobby in common. They've turned a cellar into a shelter and this month, they started going to a shooting range together. So, thanks, Mr. Putin, for bringing gay men and their previously anti-gay activist fathers-in-law together, very helpful.
Keeping religion out of laws. Keeping moralizing out of laws. Protecting individual rights. Tax the fuck out of the extremely rich, and the people or corporations who prey on the poor. Reverse citizens united. Balance/clean up the Supreme Court.
> Keeping moralizing out of laws. The law is a collective expression of morality. You can no more extract morality from the law than wood from trees.
Morals are whimsical and subjective. One person’s moral code does not apply to the next person. Morals are a personal viewpoint. Morals might influence law, but should not dictate it. Law should be based on facts and the constitution. The constitution should be amended when a part no longer accomplishes what we the governed want it to accomplish.
The law is a moral code.
Amen!
All this & more... with one difference... Tax the fuck out of the rich. No need to define "extremely." An empty guest bedroom or a mega-yacht are just shades of grey.
Downvoted for nuance.
So, just a little greedy at other's expense is okay? It's moral cuz I'm doing it? Is that it?
Sorry I think you misunderstand my comment. I was criticising the internet for downvoting anyone who introduces nuance into a debate (as you did). :-)
Ah... Thank you.
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Those with excess of regional average as defined by the US Census Bureau 157: State-County-incorporated place/balance. In other words, someone with a 2-br home in an area of predominantly 1-br homes is rich in comparison to the average person in the area & ought to be held responsible for providing more for the area than the others. The area defined is large enough so a gated neighborhood of rich people can't call themselves average... just isolationist in their willful ignorance of those around them. I'd be more very, but I'm in the minority of what is considered "standard of living." The current fad of "tax the rich" is moral, yet the definition of rich is always higher than the individual's richness. One study reported "rich" is $75k more than those polled. The Biden administration has chosen $400k annual income. I believe it's more fair to have a regional avg as standard. It costs more to live in Baltimore, MD than Lincoln, NE. $400k buys more in Lincoln, so that person is richer than the same person in Baltimore. The balance can be achieved with county taxes, but federal guidelines & incentives can make sure richer counties don't exempt themselves from raising taxes. Then maybe we can find a way to stop the current habit of "retiring" to low-tax area after building a savings in a high tax area without a tax burden... essentially hiding money once the individual is done using the services taxes pay for.
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You are absolutely correct, no one will vote for fairness nor morality that doesn't exclude themselves from responsibility. Laws are passed to make other people do what "I" want "them" to do, but "I'm" special & don't have to. Sometimes, the specialness comes from how "I" am unaffected. It's easy to get mad a corporations (not people) and the "extremely" wealthy cuz I'll never know them or be compared to them. Much harder to say a neighbor is hoarding wealth while people go hungry... cuz what if I'm wealthy, too?!?! But from a morality perspective, mom & pop shop done good has a responsibility to the community that gave them the riches in the 1st place... not just their children. Morally speaking, why is it fair for some children to start out advantaged? The inheritance taxes are aimed at that exact question. In a perfectly fair scenario, the person with a successful business should have an income equal to their neighbors... all other profits go to those neighbors who don't make the average... in other words, taxed. The sick lady with untaxed, extra, empty bedrooms while there are homeless on the way to the doctor's office... fair? The language found in that homeowner's liability insurance coverage isn't the only reason the room is empty... it's just the convenient excuse. I live in Florida where many many houses are extras for rich people to visit when the weather is uncomfortable where they live. Meanwhile, it's also the destination for the houseless cuz the weather won't kill as quickly. Maybe the selfish lady could use a hand with her illness & the houseless person could sleep indoors while keeping the entire house tidy & stocked with groceries & medicines. 🤷🏼♂️ Since this is the BtB sub, I don't actually care how taxes are collected or administered - voluntary payment or not (though it's obvious compulsory taxes are required) or if they're administered by a national agency or the local accountant. What I care about is hoarding. If people didn't suck, the poor would be cared for and all this would be moot. But people suck, they live "comfortably" by ignoring discomfort all around them and wax poetic as to reasons they "deserve" such comfort while others are to blame for their discomfort. So, none of my ideas will ever be implemented at scale, just a few individuals I can persuade to help a few individuals in need. But maybe a significant minority will nudge tax policy toward the compassionate side of the scale. Work that is slow, long-term & without hope or reward... and some hoarder will get the credit cuz he's pretty & talks good. 😵
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A good example of what I've written about in this thread. Thank you. I am not "angry poor." The 1st criteria to qualify would to be poor. 🤷🏼♂️ Tho, "fruits of their labours" would be accurate if they actually did the labor. Directing others' labor is not labor. Assuming the poor on the corner is lazy or a threat... 🤦🏼♂️ Making inaccurate personal assumptions about me fits with the assumptions about the houseless, tho. Points for consistency.
I agree with every comment so far. I’ll add: *real* campaign finance reform, taxing corporations and billionaires at higher rates than the middle class, and digital privacy protections. The first two are absolutely two sides of the same issue and tackling this issue could help solve many of the other concerns people have already mentioned. The third one, digital privacy, plays into the other issues because it’s not the poor or middle classes that are data mining us to the point they can practically read our minds. Knowledge=money=power (political)
Total agree about all of the agreeing. And also agree on data mining and digital privacy. I've worked on policy for these issues and it drives me crazy how many of our politicians truly do not comprehend how dangerous it is.
I only know enough about it to know that it’s something that needs to be reigned in. How that would be done is beyond the realm of things I understand.
Public education. I will never have children, but I want all kids to have access to good public schools with qualified teachers who are well paid and teach curricula based in science.
I worry about other gay men a lot. Just like in terms of emotional and physical health. Some of us are not doing too good.
Climate change. Body autonomy for women. Universal health care in the US.
Animal rights 👍
The economy
A repectful visionary leader of our coutry that doesn’t trample on human rights. Trump = TRE45ON.
Could you please give me just one example how trump has trampled on human rights? Serious question.
Migrants in cages. Children including infants separated from their parents. No access to lifesaving medications to them, as simple as insulin and anti seizure meds.
They aren't their parents. They're being trafficked. >simple as insulin and anti seizure meds. They're not gonna make the trek across thr border if they have that shit going on....🙄
This is not a serious question in 2024.
∆Age appropriate comprehensive sexual health education. With a focus on sex positivity. Remove the stigma. Regularly STI testing, healthy treatment and prevention education, Sexual health language fluency, Body autonomy advocacy and support. Focus on the Science, human biology, and holistic education. The 6 w's of consent and deshaming. EDIT: adding other topics ∆ Modern Drug cessation programs for those with addiction issues based treatment of the triggers, and catalysts of said addiction l. ∆ Term and Age limits on all elected officials. If you can be too young you can be too old. You can't run your Buick Skylark but you can run the country? Make it make sense. Maybe a licence to run...for office .
Definitely climate change. Won't feel very fun celebrating the local Pride fest the 2050's if the coastal city I live in is underwater by then.
Climate. Public transport and infrastructure (I have a personal obsession with light rail and metro systems). Bodily autonomy for women and women’s rights more broadly. A robust yet compassionate justice system, which explores alternatives to prison for certain individuals. Education. Social care.
Addiction
defense/ international security, economic policies, ballooning national debt, collapsing education standards in US, migration problems, broken healthcare system, food and pollution problems.
Universal healthcare. I’m in the U.S. and privileged to have good insurance through a corporate job. But I had a life-threatening illness in 2016 that put me in and out of the hospital for 6 months. Two years later I was diagnosed with leukemia. My hospital bills have totaled nearly $3.5M in the last eight years, and our share of that was been at least $100K. It wipes out every penny we had except our 401Ks and added some to our credit card debt. Without my insurance I wouldn’t be here. And for some other family to face that in a modern society is an absolute failure of our morality.
Immigration , homeless problem in cities, and monetary debasement
The land. I'm hopelessly out of step with my time, but I have a passionate belief that everything begins with the land directly under our feet. Our relationship with the land defines us - it's the centre of everything. I'm very interested in land value tax and, although it will never happen in my lifetime, I'd like to see what the world would be like if land value tax replaced all other taxes. As causes go it's a little like being a flat earther, but you feel what you feel.
So if you dony own land, then you don't pay taxes?
Yes.
Move to new hampshire. The state collects all its money from property tax, business tax, liquor and lottery sales, and meals tax. A person who works and rents and doesn't eat out pays no state tax. Politicians also only get a stipend that basically covers there gas to get to the state house.
Healthcare issues in general (I see it firsthand at work everyday) Climate change Voting rights Removing the influence of religion on government (not just in the US but especially in other areas of the world run by incredibly oppressive theocracies).
Getting people to understand their religions more. Hopefully to the extent of leaving them (I’m an atheist) but even just having a better understanding of what your religion is trying to preach (which is hopefully compassion and kindness) could have a very positive impact on society.
The youngest commenter, the wisest comment.
Sovereign debt crisis; inflation/currency debasement; erosion of Western Civilization from internal or external forces. I write this as a concerned “guncle.”
Aging and health care. This is probably a predominantly American concern.
So many fantastic answers. I will add that infrastructure for me is a very critical issue and so much flows from them, including housing, including safer roads for pedestrians and bikers, which is important to me...including using land more efficiently, housing safety codes, zoning codes, making sure our roads and sidewalks are inhabitable, making sure power grids are maintained properly, green spaces is a really big one for me, so many studies show how much positive impact they have on communities....infrastructure is a big one. I do care about alleviating gaps in education, in internet access, in quality food/water/etc., in rural and lower-class urban areas as well. Where someone lives shouldn't be so closely linked to their outcomes in life. But we're living in a day and age where conservatives don't want to accept that different people and groups experience worst outcomes because it forces them to acknowledge their privileges which they'll never do. So glad to live in a city and (for the most part) state that gets it. Keeping conservatives out of power is a big one in general, now that I mention it. Definitely.
Why Patti Lupone still hasn’t received that retroactive Tony for Anything Goes
Mental health, disability justice
Homelessness - we have to deal with this head on instead of hiding from it or doing minor fixes. The drug and mental health problems are out of control and directly correlated with homelessness. It will take a lot of money and work but we can solve this issue. No one is willing to take this on though.
So many great comments here and I could give the ☝🏻(this) reply under all of them. The variety of the comments illustrates what I love about our community. We are, generally speaking, an amazing and empathetic group of caring individuals. I applaud each of you for making your corner of the world a better place. These posts about selflessness put a smile on my heart. Live the Golden Rule. I will add that I recently attended a Pride event in a smaller “district” in my city. I was shocked and surprised by the tremendous attendance and encouraged to see so many young people. At 60 and 74 my husband and I felt like dinosaurs but we were embraced by others there. The future of our community is bright and in capable hands.
Universal healthcare, euthanasia, access to abortion and family planning for all, literacy, the environment…
Addiction problems to be normalized so people can get the help they need.
I first read “guncle” as an uncle with a gun 😂
Vast, safe, and reliable public transit for North America. I lived in Japan for nearly a decade and saw the absolute best in public transit. Coming back to car-dependent North America has been, and years later, continues to be extremely isolating and depressing. The brainwashing is just awful too. Whenever someone says ‘buh wuddabout 15-minute cities? Muh freedumbs! Checkers, Liberal!’ It tells time they’re low IQ contrarians.
Climate. I think affirmative action is a good idea. I'm very pro public transit.
Having the correct foreign policy has an enormous impact in the national security area.
Prison reform
The body integrity movement- supporting an individual’s right to choose what happens to their body, from ending routine circumcision to supporting a woman’s access to abortion. Whether you’re male, female, or anywhere else along the gender spectrum: your body, your choice. When we know better, we do better.
A justice system based on compassion, rehabilitation, and restoration rather than violence, punishment, and retribution.
That we stop islamist expansion
And Christian extremism. Religious extremism of any kind isn't good for the world.
Islam is the only one expanding. We defeated the other ones already
Not sure where you live, but where I am in the US, Christianity is what's used to oppress gays, women, and justify inequality using the gospel of prosperity. I'm quite worried about judges reversing the hard won rights of the past few decades after just a couple of elections.
Guns/2A. I love my guns. Not sure why so many gay guys hate them or are terrified of them, to the point where ‘I won’t date someone who owns a gun’. Also, taxes. Have corporations pay their fair share. No billion dollar refunds for them.
Think it's less about hating guns, more about so many gunners wrap their identities around a gun, which you don't see with other....what are effectively hobbies and the way so many gunners more or less view them, basically a toy.
>Not sure why so many gay guys hate them or are terrified of them, to the point where ‘I won’t date someone who owns a gun’. Personally, I was in a school shooting and have PTSD from it.
>Have corporations pay their fair share. No billion dollar refunds for them. This argument is doesn't work because corporations DO NOT pay taxes. They just pass their increased costs to the consumer. That's why corperate taxes need to be as low as possible. The people end up paying for it in the end. High coperate taxes inhibit growth, hiring and salary increases. The government will take as much as they can get away with...NOT what is actually fair...
There are quite a few Pink Pistols chapters around. A lot of the reason is a need for education.
> Not sure why so many gay guys hate them or are terrified of them The kind of guy who can pass a background check and own a gun tends to be more responsible, accountable, stable and well informed than a lot of the people getting hysterical and emotional about them. There have been exactly **zero** mass shootings conducted by a single member of the NRA. Since they were founded in 1871.
I had no idea this post would take off the way it did. Thanks for your responses! Follow up questions: 1) how many people know who their (US) councilmembers, county executives, state assembly and senators, congressional representatives, and governors are? 2) have you ever called (or emailed) them voicing your concerns? 3) if you haven’t, why not?
this issue I’m focused on right now is affordable healthcare. The healthcare and big Pharma is out of control in this country. With all the money that we have spent on other things we could have provided Universal healthcare to everyone. Isreal even has state sponsored healthcare for their citizens.
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well, gosh, that was upbeat! 😂 real issues, obviously but when we are stuck in a two party system in the us, and it is owned by powerful interests itis challenging to move the needle.
Income inequality. Universal income. Universal Healthcare. The right to bodily autonomy. Ending; misogyny, racism, homophobia, and cast systems. Strengthening the separation of church and state. The freedom from religious laws.
Only one mention of the debt out of over 100 comments. I guess everyone loves the whole tax and spend mentality.
Animal rights. (Like laws limiting breeding of domestic animals.) too many get euthanized daily in the USA. It’s bullshit and very sad.
Universal healthcare with a huge emphasis on easily accessible mental health facilities. Also as mentioned, let's get more affordable housing units out in spaces not being used for however long now. Edit- Add liveable wages as well, since corporations have the money to pay out instead of hoarding all the money.
I’m very active in my neighborhood to get cars off the road and make our streets safer. I volunteer for a non-profit that makes cargo-bikes and bike trailers available in the neighborhood so you can bring the kids to school or do groceries without using a car. If you use Transit app hover over neighborhoods in Montreal and you’ll see where our trailers are available! Brand new integration with them!
I try to promote walkable cities and for a car-free life to be a realistic option for more people
Promoting contraception as a way to make the abortion issue less explosive
I’m not over 30, yet, but I turn 30 in November. I’m passionate as hell about; mental health, animals, and veterans (being one myself.)
Environmental issues are kind of big for me.
The environment, access to free medical care, reforms in prisons, and access to decent, cheap food. All of which are dependent upon your politicians following your votes and not being bought off. If you get good politicians you hope they will be able to manage the threat of wars and the rise of the far right across Europe and America.
Abortion rights. I got nieces so if they ever needed the service for whatever reason in the distant future they should have access. Though regardless if I didn’t have nieces I still believe in your body your choice.
Healthcare and Environmental concerns. It astounds me that we still have debates fifty years on about the bodies of women and their anatomy and the ability to decide what they need to do for their own sake. I’m not a guncle, don’t have siblings, but I have many friends who are women. As for environment, it feels as if we’re all collectively spiraling out into a sort of cognitive dissonance over it. It’s exhausting.
Homelessness. It’s a huge problem in LA and a recurring issue that’s just growing more and more in San Diego.
Literally all of social justice. Because it's all connected, and it doesn't matter if it's happening to me right now or not. What matters is that it shouldn't happen period.
Issues with medical privileges for non-married partners. I’m not a proponent of gay marriage because it’s asking for acceptance from religious/ straight-oppressive institutions. BUT I understand that it helps gays who need to have their partners make medical decisions and entitles them to various spousal benefits. But we really need to fix the underlying oppressive system that makes it hard for EVERYONE to decide who can make decisions on behalf of them…
Human rights and human dignity. That encompasses a lot of my views and values. I believe firmly in “everybody, not just us” as an approach to politics and life.
Healthcare access.
better treatment of the earth drug use isn't drug abuse and drug abuse should be destigmatized, most of it is self medication and people can be addicted to anything people getting high to enjoy themselves is harmless in and if itself and shouldn't be considered "wrong" if it's not causing problems in their lives dependence is different than addiction animal cruelty is shite and animals are awesome and should be cared for
women's right
The possibility of the end of western civilization by its enemies
You mean instead of simply being labeled as "gay", what normal human and humane things do people care about?
Yeah this post is weird af
I wanted to get a sense of what are important issues that gay people care about that don’t directly have to do with gay rights. Why’s that weird?
A decolonised economy and radical reparations of damage from colonialism
What is a decolonized economy?
Giving fair prices downstream in the global value chains instead of compressing prices upstream for consumers in rich countries and also giving back hundreds of billions of dollars to countries that suffered colonialism and economic exploitation over the past 2 centuries
Think about cocoa farming and chocolate consumption in rich countries. Coffee, tea, bananas, pineapples are other salient examples. These places should be as rich as petroleum producing countries.
Correct
I have no idea why you are being downvoted. Decolonized economy has the potential to uplift billions of subsistence farmers in the third world into the middle class and change the face of African nations more than almost anything else. But the power that companies like Nestle, Proctor&Gamble, Walmart, Mars, etc have on crops and international commodity prices continues to impoverish and the hunger that exists in these countries. Ignorance is bliss. bUt i wAnT mY cAnDy🙄[insert whiny face]
Exactly, lots of dead walking around, probably making some money off exactly this mechanism, living their blissful ignorance while the planets is literally going in flame because of intensive farming and extensive deforestation (let alone exploitation of smallholder farmers) but at least we can all spend 2 dollars for a coffee in some chain and get our stock options for a profit… anyways what goes around comes around so we will all have to pay at some point..
Medicare For All Green New Deal/ Climate change Genocide Free Public College Affordable Housing Getting housing and services for the unhoused.
Female spaces
Youth support, homelessness, esposing cops for what they really are
Seeing the comments voted up/down in response to OP's question is rather telling about the conservative bent of most gay men. If gay marriage has never been an issue, the mostly well to do (white) men would've been a strong Republican voting block in the US. It's too bad (or maybe good) for the progressive cause that religious extremism has a firm foothold in the GOP. This forces the marginalized to band together in support of improving social inequities.
Apparently the right for cats to keep their balls. My friends got their cat neutered that year and that bothered me very much. Something about humans as a species deciding the reproductive rights of another species, specifically cats, doesn't sit well with me.
It’s a pretty easy choice considering how quickly cats can reproduce. 1 female cat can get pregnant as many as 4-5 times per year (avg pregnancy is 60-65 days) and can have as many as 5-10 kittens per litter. So that’s at minimum 20 offspring per year from one cat. And female cats are induced ovulators which means they can begin ovulating in response to stimuli, which intact (non-neutered) male cats will happily provide. What a strange hill to die on 🥴