Were you homophobic before you were LGBT+?

Major homophobe, one of the worst kind with no compassion or empathy... total bitch but mainly because deep down I was very bitter that I really wanted to be with someone but couldn't get out of the situation i m in nor could i find someone I could be close to
Im very sad I was that person after I made peace with who I am, theres no need for people like that whether I am straight, bi or gay. It's a lonely world when you re battling this issue in you and having angry homophobic people around.

 

I only pretended to be because I thought that's how I was supposed to feel. Truthfully, I really didn't mind at all. And now, here I am! XD

 

I grew up in a situation where I had homosexuals all around me. An uncle of mine (Not an actual uncle but a family friend who lived with us) was gay and when I was about 4 or 5 he died of AIDS. Not a good start to my experience with homosexuals. I also went to many parties with my parents that, looking back, were filled to the brim with less than straight activities. This was all before I started school and my perspective of homosexuals was that you die of AIDS.

Then I went to school, when I went to preschool Australia had only decriminalised homosexuality a decade ago at that point and had just banned gay marriage. Suffice it to say the attitudes towards homosexuals weren't too good. It became quite normal for "Gay" to be used as an insult. Not my finest hour but that was how it went at the time.

It wasn't until year 8 that this attitude was challenged by my teacher for that year. She was a gem of a teacher and I have nothing but praise for her and her teaching ability.

Then fast forward again to figuring out and having the "oh sh*t" moment quite recently. I think I was somewhat homophobic beforehand, I think there needs to be a bit more education, not just for gay people or trans people but for people that it's easy to hate, even unintentionally.

 

No, I was never homophobic.

Truly, I was around 4 years old and I thought it would be awesome if my mom dated a woman. Obviously, that never happened because she's straight, but still. I also thought many characters in shows were gay.

I somehow identified with gay people, even if I couldn't figure out why at the time. Now I know that it's because I'm a boy, so of course a gay relationship sounds relatable to me.

 

No I never thought anything was wrong with being gay but I remember when I first figured it out I really didn't want to be gay.

 

Well, no one in my family told me that being gay is a sin and all that but I knew they weren't fine with it until one day when I decided to write a diary (which I put my crush's name(a guy) and my name together with a heart between it) was found and read by my second oldest Brother(third child of the family) and he scolded me and told me that I can't like a guy cuz that's a sin and all that. And I used to think that being gay wasn't natural.

But last night, he told me that he's gay and told me a reason why he scolded me for that diary. The reason was actually because he didn't want me to face all the hardships of being gay and that he wasn't ready to accept himself being gay. But I'm very glad that I have someone that is gay too in my homophobic family.

I just recently found out that most of the locals of the younger generation in my country are now being more open about their sexuality and being accepting of the LGBT. And I can already see that we're gonna have a LGBT community of our own.

 

I've generally never been bigoted towards anyone under the LGBT banner and have usually been supportive to indifferent (obviously nowadays I'm very supportive).

 

Yep, not massively, but I was reasonably homophobic. Also sexist, and even slightly racist (as a child). My area wasn't exactly what you'd call tolerant growing up. It genuinely disgusts me that I used to be that way, but Ive grown up since then and learned to think for myself.

 

I don't think I was ever homophobic to that extent because even though my family went to church when I was little, we never practiced or talked about bashing the gay community. I was rather curious and didn't see why everyone else made a big deal about it till I started discovering myself, then came out, and THEN found out why people bashed people like us.

This was a very interesting topic, and I give you that.

 

Maybe, but that might have just been because I was bullied for being gay before I even knew I was gay. Honestly, if I didn't end up gay, I probably would be homophobic, sadly.

 

Pft. Please. I grew up in a conservative Baptist household in the Midwest; how could I not be homophobic as a child. But the odd thing was, I was never quite as homophobic as the older people, like my mother, grandfather, pastor, etcetera. I was against gay marriage, averted my eyes when I saw quote-unquote "faggy" things, but never held the "gay people are a disease, they're going to hell, they chose that", view.

Granted, I was still attracted to guys when I was young, I just didn't know it, so.

 

Nope. Always supported the community.

 

Not one bit. I wasn't for it, but I certainly wasn't against it either.

 

Most of my family was (and still is) staunchly opposed to LGBT+ people and their rights. I was raised to be very religious and felt suffocated by it all by the time I was 10. By the time I became a teenager, I thought they were all full of shit.

 

well.....
i'm not going to talk about it i was pretty much a bitch ! T-T

 

noooo , i was not c:

 

Nope. So I guess you could say i'm a late bloomer or I just have a low libedo, but I didn't really have any romantic or sexual feelings until recently. I was pro LGBT rights before I even knew what it was, and before I knew I was a member of the LGBT community.

In 6th grade I went to a Catholic school and called a kid gay. I thought it just meant that they were dumb as I heard it being used as an insult before. My mom and dad told me what being gay meant and I instantly though "then why would anyone care if you called them gay. Who cares if they're gay". This was before I knew about the homophobic views of the Catholic church. It's true, you're not born homophobic, you're taught homophobia.

 

Nope. I'm proud to say that I never had that issue despite being a major religious nut in the past. >_<

 

As for sexual orientation, definitely not. I've never thought that liking persons of the same sex could be wrong. I grew up in a traditional christian family, but I started to think with my own head soon... I also supported gay rights when I could, on Internet discussions or school.

As for gender identity, I never judged anyone, back when I had no precise idea on the matter. Sometimes I've heard the common hateful comments, but I never trusted them.
When I met the first actual trans, I wanted to be a friend and asked him lot of questions to understand...

 

Yep. Both of my parents are very conservative, not to mention religious to the point that my mom has said she believes LGBT+ people may be possessed. No, I'm not making that up. She has a blog where she's written several posts calling the rise in public support of LGBT+ rights a sign of "moral decay."

Sadly, I agreed with her for years. I even wrote an opinion piece for my high school paper detailing my thoughts, and I'd argue the morality of homosexuality with anyone who brought it up. To say I'm ashamed of my behavior now would be an understatement. I know that, given the environment I was raised in (one where disagreement was punished with verbal abuse) I didn't really have much of a chance to grow up tolerant. I was taught that homosexuality was a choice, straight was the only "natural" orientation, and that being trans was a mental illness; looking back, I see that I believed it so strongly in part to convince myself it wasn't all a load of crap. I'd have thoughts along the lines of Well, maybe it's not a sin, maybe it IS natural, maybe it's okay, and I'd push those aside because I was afraid of disagreeing and being wrong.

Once I allowed myself to seriously consider thoughts contrary to what I'd been taught, the realization that I wasn't straight came pretty quickly.