I think we all have a responsibility to welcome diverse people of all walks of life into our lives and communities. It can start with pinball but it cannot end there.

Tolerance isn't enough- acceptance, encouragement, and understanding are needed. If that simple statement causes you discomfort, I encourage introspection.

Are you sure we listened to the same one?

As a fairly large male construction worker with a boyfriend and a basement full of pinball machines at home, I really think using my sexuality, and the sexuality of some random imaginary bar-goer to prove tolerance is very, very strange. I also think it's the kind of example that people make when they're either incapable of self-reflection, or they don't think it likely that someone who fits their hypothetical example would be standing around in the room while an example is being made of them.

My presence in this forum, in the pinball community, or at an arcade, should not be considered hyperbolic nor exceptional. And yet here it seems to be, which seems a touch on the nose.

Yeah, I just limp-wristed my way into this shitshow just to make you uncomfortable. Just here to sparkle up the joint.

No, I came back to say that I don't appreciate being used as a prop, to jack up a flawed hypothetical that is ridiculous at best and offensive at worst. I have never once on Pinside mentioned the way I swing until someone badly tried to use that as an example of why folks like me should feel included and it was actually a fairly shockingly open illustration of why folks who are in any way different (visibly or not) than the regular crowd tend to shy away.

The fact that I can't even reply and say "Hey, I don't think that's cool to be talked about that way" without being told that I'm waving it around is ridiculous, but not entirely unpredictable. It wouldn't be the first time that someone's said it.

SMDH. The ignorance is absolutely appalling.

Am I supposed to apologize for not coddling someone who has said something genuinely ignorant? Good grief.

Why would you, or any other normal person, think that that incredibly ridiculous situation would or could occur? In what universe would you think that would not only support your position, but make it seem reasonable? Am I supposed to only look at the first paragraph and ignore the screed below it?

Print out your post, go take a short walk to a quiet place where you're alone, and read it out loud. Maybe a couple of times. Then walk back home spending some time reflecting on the words that you've just heard yourself say.

If any of those posters were truly indifferent to someone's skin colour, sexuality, gender, religion, whatever- they wouldn't need to create a hypothetical argument or fanciful situation unprompted. We just want to play pinball too, but being used as a prop argument in a discussion about the reasons why communities lack diversity is one of the reasons why people don't chime in. You don't hear it, because on the *extremely rare* occasion that we show up and say "Hey, that's kind of a weird thing to say" we get told alternately that we're dick waving or that we're flaunting it. Both have occurred in this thread. Both have occurred in IRL as well, so it's not like anyone is making a novel argument here.

That's the simple point I'm trying to make.

Just play fucking pinball.