LGBTQ Divers?

northatlanticdiver1 · Jun 20, 2011

Hi!

i've just been wondering who else is around. I am in Massachusetts, and it would be great to get a group of LGBTQ divers together for some dives. If anyone else is from a different area, and has an active LGBTQ dive club, I'd like to know your experiences. Do you do weekly dives, charters, etc?

Thanks!

Hoomi · Jun 21, 2011

Huh. I never really thought about a sexual-orientation based scuba club. On those few occasions when I've needed an insta-buddy, I've not thought it relevant to wonder what the potential dive-buddy's habits in the bedroom involve.

I'm sure there are a few divers out there that are so biased against the GLBT community, that they would not want to be on the same boat as a gay person, but my experience so far has been, we're divers, heading out to go diving. So long as you know what you're doing on the dive, I really don't need to know whether you're bumping fuglies with your same gender, the opposite gender, or any mix of both.

I figure the only reason I need to concern myself with anyone else's sexual orientation, is if I plan on getting into a relationship with them. Since I've been in a committed relationship with the same person for 31 years, and fully plan on keeping it going for the rest of our lives, then the only person whose sexual preferences I need to worry about are hers. Beyond that, I think we should treat other people as people, regardless of whether they're straight, gay, male, female, our ethnicity or another ethnicity, etc.

Of course, I've been called a radical before, too...

fisheater · Jun 21, 2011

Well put!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

aquaregia · Jun 21, 2011

Hoomi:
Huh. I never really thought about a sexual-orientation based scuba club. On those few occasions when I've needed an insta-buddy, I've not thought it relevant to wonder what the potential dive-buddy's habits in the bedroom involve.

I'm sure there are a few divers out there that are so biased against the GLBT community, that they would not want to be on the same boat as a gay person, but my experience so far has been, we're divers, heading out to go diving. So long as you know what you're doing on the dive, I really don't need to know whether you're bumping fuglies with your same gender, the opposite gender, or any mix of both.

I figure the only reason I need to concern myself with anyone else's sexual orientation, is if I plan on getting into a relationship with them. Since I've been in a committed relationship with the same person for 31 years, and fully plan on keeping it going for the rest of our lives, then the only person whose sexual preferences I need to worry about are hers. Beyond that, I think we should treat other people as people, regardless of whether they're straight, gay, male, female, our ethnicity or another ethnicity, etc.

Of course, I've been called a radical before, too...

It's sort of strange to hear, I know, but as a GLBTIQ you often feel that you're hiding the core of who you are, regardless of whether or not that's necessary. There's a certain freedom in hanging out with like-minded individuals so you know you don't have to play the pronoun game. It's more the fear of judgement than the likelihood.

DazedAndConfuzed · Jun 21, 2011

I thought that only applied to nudist divers. Wouldn't people with different identities in the LGBTIQAN group not see eye to eye on others' identities?

DandyDon · Jun 22, 2011

I think s/he just wants to hook up & dive.

SteveAD · Jun 22, 2011

Hoomi hit it bang on the head. I have been diving with people of all appearances and sexual orientations. The only thing I care about is their attitude toward diving.

sffrenchman · Jun 22, 2011

While I am glad to see that most of you don't care about the sexual orientation of the people you are diving with, it is not always the case from my personal experience. I belong to a LGBT scuba club (Northern California Rainbow Divers) and it is very pleasant to dive with a group of people for whom sexual orientation is not an issue. We do have a number of gay-fiendly straight people in the club as well. To me it is not as much a question of diving with other LGBTs as diving with people who do not have negative opinions about sexual orientation different from theirs. I am happy to dive with anyone and never hide who I am, and sometimes I end-up with people with strong negative feelings about sexual orientation and it is not fun. I always find it amusing that when anyone talk about LGBT scuba club, people don't understand the need for it but it is OK to have other groups of divers with shared-interest. It is not about exclusion, but it is about being in an environment where I can feel comfortable hugging my partner without eyebrows being raised, or getting "the look".

Cheers

Banyan · Jun 22, 2011

I admit to not really understanding the issue, but I know some women avoid "macho" shops known for customers that treat diving as an extension of their (ahem) manhood. It's quite possible that breeders like me make assumptions that put off someone who identifies as LGBTQ.

In the spirit of being helpful, I will suggest that the OP might have better luck posting to the New England regional forum, rather than the Basic forum.

DaleC · Jun 22, 2011

What's the Q stand for?

LGBTQ Divers?

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