What helped you deal with internalized homofobia?

Accepting friends, trying to analyze WHY I felt that way, LGBT support groups, etc

 

it takes a bit of time, really shifting your mental focus. definitely start with why the reason you are stuck with internalized homophobia, it could be the environment, friends, maybe some ideas that might have gotten drilled into your head but that aren't really true.

For me, I had to look into the idea of masculinity, people putting ideas of what's acceptable and whats not. I talked to a few more LGBT people and there's a lot of different people to talk to, gives you a bit of a different perspective. I realized that if I kept thinking the same way or just the way they saw the world, I wouldn't progress myself as a better person. that's just how I dealt with it, but it does take time to sink in a bit, after a while, it's a weight off the shoulders.

 

i like what creativemind said, "trying to analyze WHY I felt that way" i felt that way because of my Christian upbringing. Never fully believed but now i don't at all, not because of my orientation but because i have other beliefs that make more sense to me. Also, realizing that you are who you are and it's just the way you were born. I didn't choose my orientation so why be ashamed. I'm still not out to anyone but that's because of my family, i love my family and i have a feeling that if they knew then they'd disown me

 

Engaging with the LGBT community: Attending community events, participating in pride parades (and participating in them), attending charity functions, joining LBGT sport leagues and other social groups.

The more exposure I had to others within the LGBT community, the more I was able to work through my internalized homophobia.

Doing so required making myself vulnerable, taking risks and putting myself in situations that I might not have necessarily been comfortable in. The more I exposed myself, the more comfortable I became.

 

For me, I think my internalized homophobia was based on what I perceived society's beliefs to be about homosexuality. I saw it as something that people didn't want to be. As in, if someone questioned your sexuality and said "Are you gay?"... I saw that as an insult more than anything else. Additionally, just being different than the "norm" also caused some internalized homophobia.

I think what everyone else said is true: definitely engage with the LGBT community. I didn't really do that to get over my homophobia, but I did watch a bunch of gay YouTube stars, movies with a homosexual theme, etc.

The best way for me to get over the homophobia was seeing people comfortable in their skin. That may sound weird, but seeing a gay guy talk about how his life changed for the better and how people were accepting really helped me. I kind of had the mindset, "If he can do it, so can I."