Do most straight people disapprove of gay, lesbian or bisexual people?

The answer is no. Most of it seems to be cultural. Were if the place over there is pretty accepting, she'd probably wouldn't react that way. Thing is that even those environment does not prevent those reactions.

 

Re: Do all straight people disapprove of gay, lesbian or bisexual people?

I'm sorry to hear that. :/ I haven't talked to any friends about my sexuality, but I know that if I were to bring it up with one of my best friends, I would probably receive a similar reaction, which sucks. BUT the good news is that not all straight people are like this. I have other (straight) friends and family members who I know would be super supportive. Also, you're not insignificant or worthless, you're GREAT!

 

First of all, I'm so, so sorry to hear about your best friend. Maybe she just needs time to process it. One thing I try to remember when dealing with people's reactions to my coming out is that it took me a long time to accept myself, so others deserve some time to process things and accept me too. That doesn't make it not hurt when someone doesn't take it so well. If she is a good friend, she will come around and she will accept you for who you are, and I hope that is what she does because I know it hurts to have someone act standoffish after you come out to them.

Second, I think that while straight people may not be able to fully understand the things that people who are LGBT go through, that doesn't mean all of them are unaccepting. I fully believed up until about 6 months ago that I was straight, and I supported gay rights then and wasn't homophobic. I also came out to my best friend today who is straight and she took it extremely well and told me not to be worried about her feeling awkward or anything like that. I think while there are some bad apples that make the rest of the bunch look bad, there are a lot of straight people out there who don't disapprove of us. Especially in the younger generation. I have yet to have a bad reaction from any friends. Some of them, I haven't even come out to directly--they just see me post things about being gay on social network sites, and they don't act any differently (these are all straight girls). Anyway I got totally off topic. I think there are a lot of straight people who are ok with who we are. The homophobes just tend to stick out most to us because they suck and they are the loudest about their feelings toward us. The ones who are okay with us usually tend to be quieter, probably because us being LGBT is no big hooplah to them.

 

Hey there, it looks like you're new, and I just want to say welcome! You posted this thread twice, so I am going to ask a staff member to close the other one, and we can just have a good conversation about it here. Sound good?

I'm sorry that you had such a negative experience. No, not all straight people are like this. Not even most straight people. The cultural tide is turning very much in our favor, and that sort of hurtful behavior is becoming the exception rather than the rule.

Best wishes on your journey to self-acceptance.

 

It all depends on culture. In some parts of the world intense homophobia is the norm. Where I live, its not acceptable to say homophobic things in public at all, and if somebody did they'd get lots of dirty looks. That said, I think just about everyone on here has had to deal with people who weren't accepting of their sexuality/gender identity.

The good news is that just about anywhere you go the younger generations are becoming more and more accepting compared to the older generations. Of course, that will vary from person to person. I'm sorry that you seem to have had the misfortune of learning that first hand.

 

I'm straight but I'm not a homophobe. If you treat me with respect and decency I will treat you the same way. My next door neighbors are lesbians and they are really nice people. One of them brings me plant clippings a lot and is very sweet. I know several lesbians and have no issues with them.

I will say that I work with what someone on this site called a lesbian with straight hate. She is so horrible to straight people. So in your face with her sexuality and attitude that it's hard to be around her. But it's not that she's a lesbian. It's that she's a total bitch. No one at work likes her or can be stand to be around her.

I would also say I'm a really quiet person. If I ever met someone who was what the straight community would label "flaming" I probably wouldn't get along with them. Again, not because they're gay but just because I am really quiet about who I am and tend to pick friends who are the same way.

 

Although that doesn't present a problem on the surface, that attitude is pretty harmful a lot of the time; you don't get along with queer people unless they appear straight. Whenever "I don't dislike them because of their sexuality" comes up, I always have to question why, then, did you bring up their sexuality in your dislike if it doesn't actually play a part?

I wouldn't say most straight people are homophobes. But I would say that a majority hold heterosexuality in better regard, in subtle ways.

 

In the United States at least, according to Gallup, in May 2013, 59% of Americans believed gay and lesbian relations are morally acceptable, while 38% believed gay and lesbian relations are morally wrong.




Of course taking into account that a random sample of Americans will include 5-10% LGBT people themselves, the disapproval numbers from straight people will be a bit higher and the approval numbers from straight people will be a bit lower. Although taking into account also the fact that support and approval of LGBT people has been growing so rapidly that the approval numbers probably increased since May of 2013, perhaps the two effects cancel each other out, and that is an accurate reading of straight people.

 

You can't really ask a general question like that, since it highly depends on which part of the world you live in

 

Most of my friend are straight or gay men so I've only lost one friendship over my sexuality and that was because she thought I had a thing for her which I didn't

I live in an army town but I only had one incident with someone not taking the news of my sexuality well which was at a nightclub when I was waiting for a friend to finish smoking the very drunk army guy started hit on me so for a bit I played along and I tried my best to make him very uncomfortable but it soon became apparent that he wasn’t getting the hint so I told him that I was a lesbian and he called me a liar and said I just need a good guy to teach me better luckily for me my friend came back from his smoke and saw that I was in distress and pulled me in to a big hug right in front of the guy the he walked off yell something about f^^king girly ass boyfriends are everywhere as my friend is a very proud gay man we laughed hysterically about the guys assumptions then we told the security guard about the incident

 

Not in my experience. Most people are fine. But of course, I'm aware not everyone else is so lucky.

 

In certain areas in my part of the country, you're certainly looked on with scorn, if not outright hostility. I work at a place run and populated by "good ol' boys" and if you can't live up to their John Wayne-image of who you should be, well, they certainly don't think much of you. Although I desperately need this job because of what it means for my career, it's getting increasingly difficult to have to mingle in this redneck cis-het work culture.

Edited to add that I'm completely in the closet at work, so I see all this behavior from an unfiltered, "stealth" position.

 

I wouldn't say homophobic, but pretty much every straight person I met was heterosexist to some extent, even if they did support gay rights.