It's definitely going to be a higher percentage, though. There's an increasingly large amount of users on Grindr and other dating/hook up apps where men are gay but have a girlfriend and everything has to be super discreet and they can't even send a picture of themself without worrying that they'll be "outed".

It's so sad.

The stats were taken from those who identified themselves as Gay.

Hmmm having relations outside a relationship they are already in? Not something I agree with.
Yes I agree its sad, sad that they have apparently committed to a girlfriend who is being cheated on, while their living a lie. They could also be at risk of passing on HIV to their innocent trusting girlfriends.
Very unfair.
In cases such as these, my sympathy lies not with the Gay person, but with the girlfriends they are lying to & putting at risk.

That was Jan Moir the useless cow. Which on second thought isn't fair to cows because they give us meat and dairy products. She's just useless full stop.

Whatever the truth of the above, genuine "phobias and isms" certainly do exist and can't be excused.

What do you mean by "act excessively"?

You will find it whether you look for it or not!


Well, being gay is not just about what you do in your bedroom.

Yes and there always will be I'm afraid. There's always going to be people who don't like 'different'. Whether that be sexuality, race, political views etc.

If half the population was made to wear a red shirt, and the other half blue, they'd be kicking lumps out of each other within a week. Sad but true. Humans are very tribal.

This is true.

A lot of people don't like people different to themselves.

I am gay, aged 38, and in the UK and very luckily I have never experienced anything but very mild homophobia, and nothing at all for years. Even then it was a "poof" comment kind of thing to which I responded "well observed" and carried on walking.

The UK generally is accepting and tolerant, and in recent years we have made great strides towards acceptance and equality for LGBT+ people. Even 20 years ago gay marriage would have been almost unthinkable, a pipe dream at best. Now we're probably one of the best places to live in the world if you are gay in terms of how you are treated both by society and in law.

You can legislate for equality, and against discrimination, but you cannot stop how people themselves think and feel so you will never get rid of homophobia completely, nor racism or sexism.

While there will always be homophobes I think as a society we have never been more accepting of homosexuality.👍
What the future holds though with some incoming cultures expanding and their bigoted attitudes to homosexuality I wouldn't want to think about if I was gay.😳

Of course they can.

If you really wanted to have an internal discourse about it to reach your conclusion you could do that, but most people know themselves and their opinions and can formulate their feelings in an instant about most things in life.

There is still a lot of homophobia about but things have got a lot better than they were.

I am still amazed though that religions are not called out more on their homophobia.

I'd still say there was an issue with homophobia even if we have improved vastly over the years.
People still have a problem with LGBT people being in soaps and other TV shows. I actually saw a rant of a post on a local FB group the other night from a woman who didn't like the gay kiss in Emmerdale as it was 7.10pm and she didn't want her grandchildren to be upset at what they saw.

Now she didn't say kissing in general, she singled out the fact that is was a gay couple kissing.
I was quite impressed that a lot of members of the group called her out. I'd say 95% of people were criticising her. The majority of people had a gay relation though so it would obviously anger them. There were a few who didn't have gay relations who had the sense to criticise this woman too.

Personally, I'd question why she was allowing her grandkids (aged 4-5) to watch soaps, given the violent story lines and drug use etc.
Yet out of everything, it was a simple kiss between two men that she had an issue with.

Social media is interesting. I have seen A LOT of homophobia on there. I've been called everything you can imagine by homophobes. I stand my ground though.

It's tiring having to justify relationships to people or the fact that we are on TV. It's always "why do gays have to shove it in our faces?" just because we are on TV. You don't hear LGBT people complaining about straight people shoving their sexuality in our faces.

What a great article. Very thought-provoking.

That's interesting. When I've been groped, I've been enraged and indignant. Is that because I'm straight and/or a woman, or because I'm a stroppy mare?

I came to the conclusion a few years ago that although I'm not homophobic I am campist, not as in the most camp, but find camp people (hetero or homosexual) really grating & annoying. A gay guy I knew a few years ago was the same, hated all the campness.

I think that there is also an argument that whilst there are a lot of people that are still aggressively homophobic, a lot of other people are simply not accustomed to seeing gay couples in their daily lives (or not realising that people walking around are couples and not just friends) & don't know how to interact* when confronted* by it.
As time move on we're all going to become more used to & become more aware the LGBT community, it will be a self fulfilling destination. People become more accepting of the LGBT community which allows the more wary within the community to become more visible, which in turn allows the wider community to become more familiar with the LGBT community etc etc.
This will however take time. We're only 2 generations past the date that same sex activity was legalised in the UK. Attitudes that were around at that time would have stayed with a lot of the generation, although softening through time. These are picked up by their children and again soften & progress over time. I today's society attitudes seem to change far more quickly, possibly through mobility of the public and now through social media but also through mass media on TV & Film.
Even those not directly exposed* to homosexual relationships in their daily lives are having it normalised through seeing these human interactions on soap operas, in movies & in print


*words that might be taken the wrong way but I'm struggling to articulate without them. please assume they infer no negative connotations

lol

Not sure why you find that so amusing! Care to explain?

Two of my children who attended different schools each described a tutor as being Gay.

"My art teacher Miss Smith is Gay" said one. He was correct, this teacher had informed the class, but I or he knew nothing about the private lives of the other staff.

Should the children had just known Miss Smith as Miss Smith, their art teacher? Or was it necessary that they should be informed that Miss Smith was Gay??

Not meant to offend, or in the way you may think.

An explanation? There could be a clue in my post regarding my children and their former teachers.

I couldn't care less what anyone does or which gender they are.
What I mean is, when meeting anyone, is it always necessary to be informed, that person is Gay sometimes five minutes after being introduced?

I have found this to be the case in many instances.
Example :A few months ago: "This is my son Jason" Me: "Pleased to meet you Jason". A few minutes after, "Jason is Gay". Why do I need to know this information?

Me too, as it encourages hatred.

But, how can they be prevented from quoting or teaching others, what their religious book may say?

You don't, but I don't think this kind of thing happens all that often! Even when it is mentioned, it probably comes about through mentioning the gender of their partner rather than what they do in their bedroom.

Surely this very much depends what sub-section of society you're talking about.
Broadly speaking the UK is very tolerant towards homosexuality, especially compared to most other places in the world. In my experience, most people couldn't care less if someone is gay.

But obviously there's going to be variation depending on where you are and what people you're associating with. For example, students are usually very accepting of LGBT issues. In fact, I'd say that a university is probably an incredibly uncomfortable environment for you to be in if you're a homophobe.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, more conservative and religious communities are probably going to be much less accepting of gay people. There are a fair few of these in Northern Ireland.

Homophobia is an integral part of a particular religion that over a billion people practise, so I would say generally there is a lot of homophobia still about.

ok, lets forget about the bedroom

I think it happens a lot.

I have witnessed many times, people describe a person as "the Gay one".
Or, "my nephew who is Gay", rather than my nephew is a graduate. "My friend who,s Gay". "The Gay shop assistant". "My neighbour is Gay" rather than, my neighbour is an accountant.
I have met numerous Gay people over the years, but rarely their partners.
I would prefer to be told, "the tall one" or "my friend who has a good sense of humour"
Gay people themselves have also informed me quite quickly, that they are Gay.
I would prefer to know them by their name/as a person, rather than as Gay. .

I always reply when told this in reference to someone, "why do I need to know they are Gay"?

There are also billions more who arent religious, but are still racist or homophobic.

It is also still illegal to be homosexual in some countries. 76 countries to be precise...

https://76crimes.com/76-countries-wh...ty-is-illegal/