what is so horrible about homosexuals, sociery fears so much?
483423
there is nothing wrong with homosexuals, but because of ignorance due to religion people will continue to fear and discriminate against them
806998
bigotry and intolerance of all kinds is wrong!  people often fear what they don't understand, but some of those people choose not to educate themselves, and then that fear will fester into irrational hatred.  and that's what starts wars!  that's what tears apart families, denies and takes away equal/civil rights,  gets people fired from jobs for no legitimate reason, leads to violence/bashing!  whether it's because of sexual orientation, race, religion, culture....it's evil!  and bigots who raise their children to hate....to me, that is child abuse, because you are socially retarding your child.\nI am in a loving, monogamous, committed relationship...and I can't get married.  if the bigots/right-wingers/bible-thumpers/"fundies" have their way....churches and government will keep trying to dictate what goes on in everyones bedroom.   what 2 consenting, unrelated adults do in private is their own business, and no one else's!
1183689
Homophobia is a fear/belief really, much easier changed than sexuality.  I've known people in my life that were very homophobic but changed their views after getting to know a few gay people.   I guess that's the secret, the closest there is to a cure, letting people with those attitudes get to know as people instead of remaining a faceless avatar to them.   As a gay male as much as I would love for everyone to universally accept us, we don't have the right to tell someone what they can or can't believe.  When dealing with a people like this it's ok to be assertive, but I refuse to gve them even an iota of power over me by letting their words hurt me.
521722
Great question. I've never had a problem, but then again, I'm gay. The flak that I've been the recipient or observer of over the years in the form of hate speech and homophobia never confronts your question directly. Most often, "homosexual" gets morphed into "child molester," the substitution being made and accepted without question. On that error hangs a history of violence and inequality.\n\nOther complaints seem to surround the idea of gayness being "in bad taste." Some people seem to have such a visceral reaction to the idea of a same-sex couple that they actually experience the distaste as a problem.\n\nFinally, the bizarre stance that the military takes on the issue - centering on the idea of inviolable "cohesiveness" in the ranks & the schizoid "don't ask, don't tell" policy - indicates that the problem, if there is one, exists only in the small-minded. Accomodating prejudice to make a bigot feel comfortable is against every ethical principle I ever learned.
1009978
Because currently, it is a very taboo subject.\nPeople are scared of the unknown and things they don't understand, so to cover up for their ignorance they mock and disrespect gays.\n\nPeople can be real dumb sometimes.
781634
We're like everyone else.  Some do feel that way and dwell on it.  Then there are those at the opposite end of the scale you see in the Parades, the "in your face, i'm here and i'm queer and i'm not going away to make you feel comfortable," kind.  I'm somewhere in the middle.  I want people to know because its who I am and if they hate gays, I want them to despise me.  (I don't, but I want them to have a FACE to see, when they think queer).  The more people that comes out, the better it is, why?  Because we're in almost everyones families and if they had to confront that we're good, everyday people with problems just like them, they may have to rethink WHY they hate us.\n\nSo, let them fear, discriminate and persecute me.  I can dish it out as well as take it.\n\nI'm not saying this "flippantly" or having fun with it.  I was "fag bashed" and robbed.  The RN quit counting stitches at 60 in my face and head (which they had to shave).  But I was okay and that was what mattered to me.  They didn't know me, so it didn't bother me.
267322
I was brought up to be accepting of everyone, so in a college Anthropology class I was mystified by any kind of "ism" (racism, sexism, etc.)  I asked my instructor to explain this to me, and I was so impressed by his answer it has stayed with me for years:\n\nIn our ancient past, there was SURVIVAL VALUE in being wary and cautious of anyone who was "different" from one's own tribe.  Example: in your tribe, waving the right hand means "hello, friend".  You met humans from another tribe, to whom that means "I'm going to kill you!"  So you waved. And they tried to kill you!  So you learned that any time you meet someone from a tribe not your own, you cannot count on anything meaning the same as it does to you!\n\nAlso, consider this:  homosexuals cannot reproduce "naturally".  So if the goal was survival of our species (which it was back then, before overpopulation), anyone who engaged in homosexual behavior "threatened" the species goal.\n\nFast forward to today.  Homophobia exists because our society is very uneven in how it grows and develops.  We have grown to the point where gays and lesbians cannot be legally discriminated against.  Yet humans have the same "hard-wiring" we have always had, which says different=bad.  And non-reproduction=bad.  We know we don't really NEED more humans on the Earth, yet our programming tells us to reproduce.  And there are still some religions who promote and reward cranking out lots of kids, and/or punish those who artificially limit their reproduction.\n\nOr different=scary.\n\nReligious conservatives are scared, in general.  They are a good example of ethno- religio- and every other- centrism.  (-centrism loosely defined is "mine is better than yours", i.e., ethnocentrism is "my ethnic group is better than yours", etc.)\n\nSo in answer to your question, the answer is "Yes.  Religious (and other) conservatives DO need a minority (or "other") to beat up on.  It makes them feel safer, more in control, more "right" (no pun intended) to do so.\n\nThat was a pretty verbose answer.  The short version is:\n\nPhobia = irrational fear.  Once upon a time, the fear of anyone different was rational.  In modern times, it isn't.  Our social conscience evolution has not keep up.
877850
Yes, I've read them.  The gays and pro-fags will just deny them though.  Or when all else fails, they'll just call you a hater homophobe.  Like anyone's afraid of a gay!  (Sorry homophobes, you know what I mean)
407127
I think the GAYS r the worse, but the IRISH sort of give me the creeps. The reason 4 this is that the men r wearing kilts(skirts) with nothing under it 2 cover it up.
986977
I agree - I'm straight and I know people have opinions and that's fine but I think homophobic people are really scared of who they are.
1046152
My best friend is gay, and he gets tourmented and bullied, and people who don't even know him shout things at him in the street. He is the most charming, lovely guy I know, and he has been in a committed relationship with his boyfriend for the last ten years! \n\nIf I am with him, and people challenge him, I get so angry. Why should he be denied the right to live his life the way he wants? He's not doing anyone any harm. I always, always stand up to homophobic people. I got beaten up once because I was defending a 'faggot'. \n\nPeople are ignorant and stupid and it makes my blood boil. I will fight homophobia, and anyone be damned who dares challenge me on it!
897202
I looked at the answers so far to this question and was rather stunned to see how many people still think being gay is any kind of problem.\n\nLighten up, folks! You're meeting gay people every day, and getting on fine with them. Maybe your lawyer is gay, or your accountant, or the girl who serves you at KFC, or the guy you talk to at the Council office. You don't know they're gay, and it makes no difference to you. They're just ordinary people!\n\nAnd to those of you who are scared of gay people because you think they're going to try to get off with you........have you looked in the mirror lately? What makes you think you're so irresisitable?\n\nI'm middle-aged, straight, married, mother of 4 straight young adults, so have no axe to grind here. \n\nI'm just shocked that this question still needs to be asked in this day and age.
108444
About half of the guys I know are homophobic. One of my homophobic friends would say stuff like, “I don’t have a problem with gay guys. I just don’t want them … around me,” and “Gay guys just wanna plunder my a*s.” It’s so common for hetero guys to think that all gay guys wanna do is rape hetero guys. By definition, a phobia is an irrational fear. What’s to be afraid of? Their scathing humor aside, homosexual men are the most harmless things on Earth. Have you ever heard of a gay murderer? Or a gay thief? Maybe I haven’t been around long enough, but I’ve never heard of a criminally deviant homo dude (although I do know some pretty ghetto dyke hooligans). My point is I think most homophobic guys can’t explain why they’re scared of gay guys.\n\n\nWhat I think the reason is:\n\nThe penis is the intrusive genital. Men brandish their penii with a subconscious feeling of superiority over women. And the idea that a man will use that power against his own kind repulses hetero men. Hetero guys like an*l sex (with a female), not because it feels better, but because it shows ownership of the woman he’s sodomizing. The notion that they may be owned in the same way scares them.\n\nThis is not necessarily fact. Just my take on the matter. Hey, I’m not man-hating. I’m just homo-defending.\n\nGuys, you should take it up the a*s every once in a while. Your g-spot is located next to your prostate, accessible only through the butth*le. I’m not suggesting having your butt plugged by another guy. If you’re not down for that, let your girlfriend hit it with a d*ldo. Don’t knock it ‘til you try it. Or are you afraid you might like it? =P
1054667
People just have to understand that 10% of people are gay.\nIt's the same as a certain percentage of the population have blue eyes.\nHomophobics are scared that being gay may become compulsory; probably because homophobes believe that  heterosexuality should be compulsory.
1127698
repressed religious hypocrital nazis and liars .....\n\nthey are afraid of everything..........\n\nexcept war and censorship..\n\nwhat a shame that we live in such a pitifully idiotic country..
436709
yup - as a teenager I was fairly homophobic if I'm honest, I was trained as a dancer and felt branded as 'gay'.  however by about 20 years I'd seen enough scientific evidence and met several gay men in the profession to change my mind.  It's not their fault, it's in their genetic make-up, they have to live with that too, it's not a choice they make.  However, I still wish they wouldn't be so stroppy!! it's a characteristic I've come to laugh at from time to time, you can stop them from a mile away just from the disturbance!  I don't envy them at all, glad I'm straight, got married and had kids.  There are worse people in the world (like religious folk in cults, like Christianity etc)...
983067
I cannot get over the stupidity of those of you who answer thinking that the question is comparing gays to animals.  The writer is merely pointing out that natures considers homosexuality as normal. Animals having that instinct canot be blamed on intellectual choice or mental illness the way antigayists try to portray.  So please if you want to answer the question, try understanding it first.\n\nThat said, most antigayists are homophobic, which really means they are fearful and fear means "what can happen to me? How can thishurt me?  Subconsciously the fear is they themselves may be gay if they allowed themselves to accept it in others.  Why fear that? because then they believe they may be ostracized by their friends, familiy and neighbors and perhaps by their GOD.    Animals, which include humans, by the way....mammal.......there is no intellect. Man is the only mammal withy extensive intellect and reasoning.  If we take that away, tere would be no fear and no ostracism.  There would merely be survival. It is clear that despite homosexual behavior in animals, that is not a concommitant of their extinction ior being endangered , the continue to survive.  In this analysis antigayism is fear based and there is no good reason for it to be wrong.