Well sorta tricky situation. Everyone at work gets along. There's a lot of banter. And i love the collegues i work with. However like a typical day at work I'd here the odd offensive joke most of which doesn't bother me. But humour standards get intolerant and ignorant. Im not out to my colleagues so these jokes are never direct. But if i did come out to my collegues i think i wouldnt loose my respect and friendships. It just angers me how normal it is to ridicule others.
You might be surprised. Often, these jokes we create and tell are at least somewhat a byproduct of not spending time around people who are different from us. They can also be a byproduct of the discomfort of not knowing about something; we are typically at least somewhat hardwired to be fearful of things that we don't know about or understand. I'm not suggesting you come out if it doesn't feel comfortable to do so, but I am suggesting that if you were out, most likely, the jokes would stop, and people would change their own perceptions around LGBT people, simply because they have the chance to interact with someone who is openly LGBT. Most of the homophobia out there exists due to that lack of awareness. (That or because the homophobes, usually guys, are closeted poofs.)
I agree with what Chip said. Also a little bit of a sense of humor can go a long way with this. My old roommate and his friend were talking shit about each other's favorite baseball teams and his friend said "the Brewers (my roommate's team) are gay" so in a super stereotypical voice I said "well then I just may have a new favorite team." It let them know that I notice and care when they say those things but without being confrontational
