On 14 Jul 2017 10:12 am, "Lieven" <levinius@gmx.de> wrote:

On Thu, Jul 13, 2017 at 7:40 PM, Elizabeth Faber wrote:

shared understandings. Lieven relayed to us Maltz's statement about
Klingon culture and language usage. That is how the statement
should be viewed according to the norms of this group. Please keep
within their spirit.

I'm not sure how you interpret her problem, I see that she sees a problem with "heteronormativity" - which is absolutley not the core of the message. If Maltz had said "Klingons have no same-sex marriage" I would understand her anger, but just leaving the list without giving anyone a chance to explain is a quite childish reaction.

The subject of this thread is a very emotional one for some people. When I translated some phrases for Stonewall a few years ago, I thought about asking Marc Okrand but decided against it, because I didn't want to put him in the position of having to proclaim what Klingons thought about same-sex marriage. If you recall the TNG episode "The Outcast", there are Star Trek races who oppose certain combinations of sex/gender relationships. There's no reason why Klingons couldn't be generally opposed to same-sex marriage. After all, Klingons, Romulans, Ferengis, Vulcans, etc., are supposed to have exaggerated versions of Humans values and vices, to be used as a mirror for reflection. Of course, since Klingons are popular with fans, that direction would've been controversial. But the other direction also has the potential to offend other people for various reasons.

Consider the situation with slavery or the death penalty. We know Klingons have those. That's one thing. But it's another to ask Maltz/Marc to elaborate on how Klingons view slavery or the death penalty. Some people are going to naturally react very strongly to those topics. I know some people who can't go near the "Orion slave auctions" they have at some cons, and it's not "childish". It's genuinely painful for them.

De'vID