Would you say the majority of people are people are still homophobic?

Way too many are. Like I said in another thread, hate hurts. No matter who it comes from or how far of a minority they are, hate hurts.

 

Depends on where specifically we are talking about.


I think it will take awhile to get rid of implicit homophobia/heteronormativy, in any case - much like implicit racism is still clearly present in today's society, even if explicit racism has greatly decreased in use.

 

I do think so, yes. Some people and areas are a lot more forward about it than others. I know a few people who I used to see every day and they acted like they didn't care. But whenever I brought up the subject specifically, I could tell they felt a little uncomfortable.

 

This, exactly. I think everyone, gays/lesbians/bisexuals included, carries some homophobic tendencies. And that doesn't mean everyone's just a sadistic asshole who wants the LGBT community to suffer (though that is the case for some), it just means that homophobia/heterosexism is so ingrained into our culture that we don't recognize a lot of it as homophobia/heterosexism.

 

It depends what part of the world. Western and northern europe, and Canada certainly not. The US... well, it's closer, but I suspect the homophobes are still in a minority. Other places aren't too bad either; australia and new zealand, parts of south america, parts of southern europe. But most of the rest of the world is still pretty bad.

 

Yes, maybe not to the extreme, but a lot of people still think it's wrong. Just cause they don't go looking for gay people to beat them up, doesn't mean their opinions are not homophobic.

 

I don't think I've ever personally been the recipient of direct homophobia.
For the most part, I think Australia is very accepting.
I didn't experience any homophobia in the UK, Western Europe or West Coast USA either.

That said, I recently saw a (not sure how reliable) piece of information that stated it is illegal to be gay in 42 of the 53 commonwealth countries.
That's not to say that all the people in those countries are homophobic.

It seems that the most homophobic people are the ones in power / in government.

 

In the UK the majority of people are not homophobic and are actually mostly anti-homophobic.

 

I think that as far as people who are significantly homophobic--I'm not counting people who assume people are straight until told otherwise etc.--I don't think they are a majority in the US. And frankly I think the number of people who are homophobic in the face of an actual gay person that they know is actually a rather small minority. Before you say that it has to do with living in a major city, I've lived quite a few places. I'm from Utah and my partner is from Oklahoma and both of us have encountered only one or two instances of blatant homophobia and both of us have been out for over twenty years.

 

Not where I am

 

Most people are not outwardly homophobic. But a lot of people are still internally homophobic, or at least very uncomfortable with it. I'd like to say that people just don't understand, but a lot of them just don't bother to try, which is even worse in my opinion.

People assume Canada is much more tolerant and accepting, but that's where I live and I still face a lot of these issues. Laws only change things on paper, they can't change people's minds that easily.

It's just an unfortunate side affect of a heteronormative culture I guess.

 

It depends on the country I guess

 

I would say just of hand that about 40%ish of people are still homophobic. That is mainly due to older generations of people. Our generation is a lot more accepting.

 

In general? Of course.
As for specific jurisdictions? It's complicated.

I currently live in Florida and I experience homophobic comments on a daily basis to the point it's quite overwhelming. But of course, there are plenty of individuals in Florida who accept the LGBTQ+ community except, I come across them rarely. But I do believe the amount of homophobes in a particular area correlates with the environment/culture. The south in my opinion has way more homophobes than say San Francisco or Seattle. But that doesn't mean all people of certain cultures and religions hate the LGBTQ+ community, that isn't true, I've met a few Christian LGBTQ+ allies.

But I definitely do see progress across the United States regarding acceptance of LGBTQ+ and I see even more acceptance in the future, it's only a matter of time...

But like racism, homophobia I feel will never go away.

 

Well probably not as bad as it used to be. But some people are uneducated and don't mean to slur or whatever. Even my roomate calls hanging with her gay friend ''girl time''. And I'm like umm He is a guy with a preference for straight or at least ''masculine'' guys at that.... I don't think you guys are having ''girl time'' how about friend time? And my roomie is very comfortable when I mention hot guys, but not comfortable when I mention girls. And when I came out to her, she said she wouldn't get dressed in front of me anymore. Which that kinda hurt... I was like ummm I don't even think of you sexually at all. You are my friend and that is it. Oh and same girl told me she could never date a bi guy cause she is affraid she would catch sometime... to which I replied my bi bf and I use protection... yeah I just think there is a lot of ignorance in the world... and maybe a bit of fear towards something different than the ''norm''

 

I don't think a lot of gay people hear it because they are obviously gay and people are more respectful than that.

I get mistaken for straight basically with everyone I know, and a lot of people will make homophobic comments than pretend to be nice to the gay people they have to interact with. I've heard a lot of people say crap about my openly gay boss, but joke around and smile at him when he's around.

He has no idea that these people are two-facing him.

So ya, I don't think the majority, but still a significant amount, and the majority of people will say something homophobic with no problem if they are around what they think are straight people.

Just like I hear white people say racist shit all the time, but claim not to be racist.

The world sucks, I live in Canada, and the fact that so many straight people will say homophobic shit but claim to be ok with it is astonishing.

Most of the stuff I hear isn't extreme, but more along the lines of, it's gross, creepy, weird, unnatural....etc, never having really to do with religion, just general disapproval. They think that gay people are allowed to live, and marry and all, but they just don't want them interacting with them often, or they think there is something about modern culture or even sometimes food that makes us gay.

That is the mindset of a lot of people in this country, and you'd have to be not-obviously gay to see it. And I think the majority of gay people are pretty obvious, not stereotypical, but obvious. I knew my boss was gay the first time I heard him speak.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is a homophobe, I knew it before he even got elected, I could tell from his demeanor, he's too blue collar.

Also Hate-speech isn't really legal in Canada, so people don't express their racism or homophobia out loud in public as much as they do in the U.S, but it's pretty comparable on a percentage wise how many people are uncomfortable with it at least.

A lot of people think that homosexuality is no different than sexual perversions like beastiality or pedophilia.

The younger generation is mainly creeped out by it.

All of this experience has made me very untrusting of people. I socialize....etc, but do not develop friendships or feel comfortable around people because I know how they feel.

Even one of my best friends told me that being gay was gross, and two years later, finds out I'm gay and is fine with it, but I'll still always remember that. I never spread hatred towards any group of people in my life, minus Italian-Canadians; but that's based on like 70% negative experiences with them and I know they aren't actually bad. Other than that I haven't complained about a single group of people, haven't ever said anything bad about a group of immigrants, sexual minority, and all other minorities.

So it will be hard for me to find other people like that anyway, because basically everyone I know has either a homophobic or racist bone in their body; besides my family which is most likely why I am the way I am.

AS well, my area is heavily populated by immigrants, who come from countries that are homophobic themselves so they bring this mindset with them. I remember a Russian immigrant when I delivered furniture in TOronto saying to me that " This city is full of gay people", and basically anytime around Pride, some new citizen would be complaining to me about this if I mentioned we were held up because of the parade.

So Canada is almost going backwards because our immigrant population is on the rise, and they are the main ones who bring homophobic attitudes. Most 2nd or third generation Canadians don't really care about gay people, it's the ones with foreign parents, grandparents, or are foreign themselves that care. And they are the majority of Canada now, I'm one of them.