Were you previously homophobic before realising your orientation?

No. I thought it was kinda "weird", but I wasn't a raging homophobe.

 

I suppose in little pockets I might have been homophobic, but I've never "feared" gay people, and as far as I can remember I've always been pro-gay marriage. I was all for it when Canada was talking about legalizing it a decade ago. Whether I talked down something being "gay" to appear cool, I suppose I probably have at some point, but I really can't remember any specific instances.

 

No I honestly don't ever remember being homophobic.
There was a period when I was young enough that I really didn't know what 'gay' was.
Even after I learned what it really was, I 'had nothing against them'

 

I wasn't at first. However my family and school took religion (Catholicism) very seriously. I basically became the worst ever. I was fighting in the comment section multiple times a day. Just remember when you come across a raging homophobe in the comments they just might be a repressed 12 year old homosexual.

 

I was raised baptist and so I didn't think it was right in the slightest. I was scared overtime a gay thought crossed my mind but I would dismiss it and keep going. And when I met someone gay or talked about it, it somewhat made me sick to my stomach... I guess cause I thought it was so wrong. But once I moved for college my concept on this changed drastically.

 

I remember once in my junior year of high school, I found the notorious Leviticus 18:22 and put that verse on a poster I had to make for my English III class to show what kind of people we are and what we hold dear. That was really my only homophobic moment, I never thought ill of homosexuals though.

 

Yes. I was raised in a conservative and homophobic environment and didn't really know any gay people personally. Like you, I would get upset/disgusted if something I enjoyed had someone gay in it or had two people of the same sex kissing. Although, it was mainly super conflicting, because I was taught to be disgusted, but I also didn't want to acknowledge how much I enjoyed seeing girls be together at the time hahaha. It was a constant back and forth struggle sometimes, because I had had feelings for other girls since early in my adolescence. Subsequently, I went to a Christian private university for college and that didn't really help in exploring those feelings or challenging my thought process either unfortunately. It wasn't really until I studied abroad and met people from all around the United States, and my friend group was entirely made up not-straight girls coincidentally. There, I was able to accept my feelings and change my mentality on the subject entirely.

I think for those of us who were raised to be homophobic, coming to terms with our sexuality is a very personal struggle rooted in self-loathing. It takes years to completely root it out, I think. I mean, not that the process is necessarily easy for anyone. It's just kind of...ridiculous how just parroting the words around you can lead to a lot of internalized homophobia and subsequent self-loathing. That's just me though.

 

Ugh. I had a really close friend growing up and we were into so many things together. Muppets, Star Wars, art, photography. We were always doing comedy shows and things. And then in junior high it became obvious he was gay. That was around the time we learned what that was. There was no mistaking it from that point. I was so scared people would figure out I was trans by association I stopped hanging out with him. I really, really, really regret that. Anyway, we're cool now and he just married his bf but still how many wasted years did stupid fear, prejudice and self-loathing cause?

 

I was actually bothered by it to a certain degree, yes. I do come from a traditional family, and I grew up with the beliefs they taught me. While they never outright said homosexuality was wrong, my parents did talk about it as if it was extremely weird and unnatural. Which is why I found their easy acceptance of me when I came out to them even stranger...but that's for another time.

Anywho, a few times as a child I would see adults of the same sex kiss. I kept telling myself that they shouldn't be doing that, because it was, as my folks said, "unnatural." And I continued on with this mindset. Problem was, that while I insisted it wasn't right, it didn't actually bother ME. I just kept insisting on the beliefs that I grew up with.

At some point, I KNEW I was attracted to women THAT way, and the fear that there was something wrong with me was just so frightening at the time....I didn't know what to do with myself, and I just got angrier and angrier.

My irrational hate for myself and the lgbt community continued on for at least 3/4 of my high school career. It simmered down as I got older, and once I fell in love for the first time (with a girl of course), it just fizzled out completely. I really had no choice at that point but to accept myself, and really, just learn and grow up.

 

Yeah, I was pretty homophobic. Like, I thought to myself that one dude I saw was gay and wanted to tell it to everybody to make him feel bad in public as if it was some dark secret (I don't actually know if he is gay). This person punched me in the dark once and stole things from me so I was already really mad at him. I also thought if I met a gay person I would have so much fun humiliating them in public. It all seemed to go away within a week or so though once I realized LGBT people are just normal people. And then I realized I was trans a long time later.

 

I used to find the effeminate types funny, but I only saw them on TV. I think I didn't actually meet an openly gay person in real life until I was a teenager.

 

I was very homophobic and completely ignorant of trans-people. I thought trans was equivalent to drag at the time, and that it essentially meant "a special kind of gay."

I have always struggled with self hatred, and when I was in denial of my gender and orientation it was only worse. Now, I'm at peace with being trans but still wrestle with accepting my attraction to men.

Getting to know real people who are LGBT has definitely opened my eyes. It is easy to sit back on one's high horse and say "this is bad" or "that is unnatural" but when the issue is personal, everything suddenly takes on a new light and you begin to actually think things through. I cannot in good conscience debase human beings for loving the same sex. Yet I am ashamed that once, I was a fervent homophobe.

 

I thought it was a bit weird tbh because I had no exposure to it, but I was never outwardly homophobic or had negative thoughts about it otherwise. I had a friend who was lesbian, another who was gay, and by then it was just normal to me.


Regardless of my orientation, I think even if I was straight I would have reacted the same once I became more aware. I also grew up in a sort of homophobic house (not so much that way now - their views have sorta changed) but for some reason I never paid that much attention to it and (thankfully) didn't take any of it in.

 

I was raised in a very religious home and was surrounded by bad voids of homosexuality. I never thought of it as a bad thing, but the thought scared me, and pounded in the back of my head. I felt very rebellious when I started to realize I liked men, and I tried my hardest to keep connection with women.

 

I wasn't really homophobic. I thought everyone should do what they wantee, but I kinda thought it was gross because I didn't know any lgbt+ person personally, at least no outed one, and rarely saw people of the same gender holding hands or kissing. So when they kissed, I thought it was odd and strange. My parents never said it was wrong, but they also never mentioned it, so it wasn't normal for me.
It was only when I started reading "The Mortal Instruments" that I stopped seeing it as weird and started to care about the lgbt+ community myself. It was about then when I became a more tolerant person, leading to me becoming vegetarian and stopping to act on stereotypes.
I'm glad I accepted the community before I figured out my own sexuality because that way I never felt repulsed by myself or like I was doing something wrong.

 

I can't remember being homophobic, maybe that's due to a secular upbringing but generally I think I just never really had an opinion either way.

 

Not excessively. A few misconceptions, but a lot of it was trying to fit in and draw attention away from myself.

 

Nope.

I wasn't really exposed to homophobia (didn't know it existed) until I'd already admitted to myself that I liked girls at least a little. I didn't realize until I was older that some people were for some reason against homosexuality.