Homosexuality - Have your views changed?

[phixy]

I can admit that I have not at all been an atheist especially long. Only a few months, but even when I was an agnostic, I had more or less the same views I have today. They might have become more clear and concrete, but they have changed very little during my life. The first conversation I can remember that was about homosexuality, to bring one good example was when I was very little. Maybe 7-8 years old. We started talking about homosexuality for some reason which I can not remember, but I remember that I said, "Homosexuality is natural. The reason I remember this so clearly is that I remember that my family reacted very hard about this and were quick to say that it was far from it. Now their views have changed, but that's what they said then.

I remember what I was thinking exactly when they attacked me with being wrong. Whatever argument they added up, and whatever arguments anyone else has thrown at me has had the same effect. None. I've just never understood. As long as I can remember I have never felt differently about homosexuality. The first time I saw it, therefore, two men kissing each other, was special, but so is everything the first time. I was not disgusted or felt any kind of discomfort, I'm was just a bit surprised and then I thought: Yeah! F*** yeah! Rock on!

The first discussion I'm had about this was when I'm was 10 years old, with a classmate. The thing about her was that she believed everything her mother said. And then I really want emphasize: Everything .. Her mother told her that homosexuality was a mental illness blahblahblah the usual one that we hear every day .. I broke contact with her when I'm was 12 and realized it was not possible to talk with this person ..

I live in a very liberal country (Sweden) where no one really cares, but often say: It's your life, I don't give a f ***. And I'm lucky! What I was wondering about is if you had an opinion you did not have before? Or what's it like where you live. I have no knowledge about this, except in the most extreme cases, so I'm would appreciate if you could tell me about your experiences about this. Thank you very much!

 

[Andiferous]

I'm not going to label myself as homosexual because, well, I like the opposite sex. But one day when I was about fourteen I discovered by accident that my sister was a lesbian, our two roomies (friends) were staying with us because they were gay and kicked out of their house, and all the cute guys I'd been mooning after were gay too, and it occured to me I might be running in the wrong dating social circle. Hehe.

Anyway, they went to clubs to meet folks since - well, you didn't want to wear a badge or button to make yourself a target in general. They were terrified about the fag bangings (no offense, that was the term) and took precautions all the time. I'd hear stories of this person being beaten or that one. It was the way it was. It was life, and that's why their community was so close and protective.

I'm so glad it's different, so that's something positive, as a lowly 'heterosexual' opinion.

 

[phixy]

It kind of makes me feel a bit proud of myself (I know I shouldn't in this case, but still) that I've never had any negative feelings towards homosexuality. Ever. Makes me feel like a good person. Kind of awesome :3

 

[Andiferous]

Oh lol, I definitely had a problem with it. it wasn't the way things were supposed to work, and I didn't know much else about that stuff or love and whatnot. Besides, she had posters of unicorns, clark gable and jim morrison ALL over he bedroom, and only one little thing with Kate bush on it. She had a four year crush on our roomie (the gay one) and he finally agreed to date her (seemed romantic really) and two weeks into their relationship the both announced they were gay together.

At first I thought perhaps they'd go to hell and we'd go with them; and that was interrupted by brief moments of contemplation about how I could play it and make money on the talk show circut, and a couple hours later I realised I never really thought of my sister sexually in any way anyway and no one could pay me to imagine her naked. Our relationship was totally the same either way so, why did it matter? Besides it totally made me look good lol. I should probably judge a lesbian by someone cute and not a blood relative.

The next day I got into a huge class fight about aids and finished all the gay bashing about sending all gay men to die on a desert island to eliminate aids, or sex with monkeys and wow, immoral things that are so ironic, Caused lots of nervous chuckling, by telling them that any three percent or three people in there were gay, so think about what they say before they trap themselves.

When I got home I wrote and article and asked my sister if it could be published in the top secret gay newspaper (of which my sister had been secretly working for forever), I found this out yesterday too. They published me, heh, the first heterosexual to make it in as far as I know.

It really slapped me though, I wasn't such an open minded kid... just a totally naive one. I get it though.

 

[kenandkids]

I was raised in an "Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve" household. It didn't last beyond my first few interactions with gay people. I may not always have been the most vocal supporter, but that has changed in recent years. Now I'm a letter writing, marching, money contributing activist. That is my change.

 

[Andiferous]

I think maybe family members have a really hard time about outting of family members because - I really don't feel a need to apologise for this - but thinking of my sister as a sexual being and accepting the idea she had sex was really icky, and doubly uncomfortable lol. Maybe she could have come out more gracefully, less self-righteously, and telling us without make us picture her eww. That's totally normal. I eww thinking of dad too, and he's even a guy. The gross out factor is a big part of getting around the idea of sexual preference.

So it's a kind of persecution, but siblings tend to do that to each other anyway, and I won't apologise for eww.

It's not easy to hear about someone's sexual preferences and feel like you'd be discriminatory if you don't accept ewww.

 

[Inferno]

I wouldn't exactly say that I was a raging homophobe, but I had my reservations towards homosexual people. I then changed that to "only homosexual men are bad", because
1) I liked lesbian porn
2) I had a few bisexual girl friends.
That was back when I was 12-16.

When I started thinking more and getting more and more into biology, I realized that I was being an idiot. Now, one of my best friends is gay and quite a few of my friends are homosexual or bi.

My grandmother basically raised me and she was very much against homosexuals too. In fact, I got into an argument with her not too long ago because she said that homosexual couples shouldn't be allowed to adopt kids. That really got me going and I raged for a few minutes.

 

[phixy]

I changed my mums views on homosexuals adobting in like 5 seconds. Asked if she thought that homosexuals should be allowed to adopt, she said no, then I asked: But if one day I realize I'm gay, then, would you not want me to be allowed to adopt, then? Then she got quiet and changed his mind. It was pretty fun. My mother has never been homophobic in any way .. She has just never understood it and I simply do not believe she could see it the same way. Some people seem to be that way. Strange ..

It must be hard to walk around with so much irritation and anger. Especially over something that don't affect their lives more than they allow it to do.

 

[Prolescum]

I've never been against the gays because it makes no sense; everyone is equal in my eyes.

I don't pat myself on the back for it though, it's natural to feel this way.

 

[phixy]

I've never been against the gays because it makes no sense; everyone is equal in my eyes.

I don't pat myself on the back for it though, it's natural to feel this way.

Think it's ok to be proud of it. Sometimes it's very easy to be poisoned by others.

 

[Prolescum]

I've never been against the gays because it makes no sense; everyone is equal in my eyes.

I don't pat myself on the back for it though, it's natural to feel this way.

Think it's ok to be proud of it. Sometimes it's very easy to be poisoned by others.

Pride is one of our worst qualities if you ask me. Which you didn't...

I'd even go as far as to say that pride is the poison much of the time.

 

[borrofburi]

Eh. Yes. I was fundy-ish, "hate the sin love the sinner", but it's so hard to interact with people who you know are embracing something so awful. And of course gay marriage is out, because that would be enabling the sinners in their sinning... Except that I actually didn't care about gay marriage either way (despite what my fundy-ism was saying); and the gay guy I knew, I don't think it had anything to do with his being gay, we just had nothing in common and I found him a little annoying. I remember what my fundy teachings said, but I really don't remember how I acted really. I do remember I would say "that's gay", but mostly in ignorance (though if you had caught me when I was at my peak fundy-ness I probably would have said that it's a perfectly justifiable insult).

Of course without the impetus of religion, I stopped caring pretty quickly. Then of course I started caring again on the other side, because I didn't see why that religious bullshit should allow/compel discrimination in our secular government.

Now there's indications my sister might be gay. Now I have a double date with some gay guys on saturday (one of which I've never met, the other of which is a friend of my girlfriend (we'd be better friends but we don't have much in common)).

 

[lrkun]

I can admit that I have not at all been an atheist especially long. Only a few months, but even when I was an agnostic, I had more or less the same views I have today. They might have become more clear and concrete, but they have changed very little during my life. The first conversation I can remember that was about homosexuality, to bring one good example was when I was very little. Maybe 7-8 years old. We started talking about homosexuality for some reason which I can not remember, but I remember that I said, "Homosexuality is natural. The reason I remember this so clearly is that I remember that my family reacted very hard about this and were quick to say that it was far from it. Now their views have changed, but that's what they said then.

I remember what I was thinking exactly when they attacked me with being wrong. Whatever argument they added up, and whatever arguments anyone else has thrown at me has had the same effect. None. I've just never understood. As long as I can remember I have never felt differently about homosexuality. The first time I saw it, therefore, two men kissing each other, was special, but so is everything the first time. I was not disgusted or felt any kind of discomfort, I'm was just a bit surprised and then I thought: Yeah! F*** yeah! Rock on!

The first discussion I'm had about this was when I'm was 10 years old, with a classmate. The thing about her was that she believed everything her mother said. And then I really want emphasize: Everything .. Her mother told her that homosexuality was a mental illness blahblahblah the usual one that we hear every day .. I broke contact with her when I'm was 12 and realized it was not possible to talk with this person ..

I live in a very liberal country (Sweden) where no one really cares, but often say: It's your life, I don't give a f ***. And I'm lucky! What I was wondering about is if you had an opinion you did not have before? Or what's it like where you live. I have no knowledge about this, except in the most extreme cases, so I'm would appreciate if you could tell me about your experiences about this. Thank you very much!

The issue as I understood from that which you wrote is whether my views regarding homosexuality changed after I became an atheist.

I submit that it hasn't since I've always accepted as an unspoken belief that one has the right to choose whether one is gay or not and since gay genes do exist as discovered by science and therefore natural.

Being an asexual I cannot, therefore, claim to be an authority on the matter since sexuality never became an issue in my life.

Whether you accept, reject, hate, love, or feel nothing about the idea, nevertheless, is purely a matter of choice and opinion. And therefore entirely up to you.

Meaning, personally I don't mind homosexuals and I think it's okay to be different from everybody else atleast it difffers from the majority.

 

[televator]

It was kind of a strange thing for me... I grew up kinda homophobic, but it wasn't an obsession and I had no opinion on homosexuality directly linked to religious belief. So I could say I was a bigot at times though. However, I started becoming okay with homosexuality since before becoming an atheist.

BTW, is that you eating a cigarette in that avatar?

 

[Laurens]

Nope, as far as I can remember I've always enjoyed watching lesbians get it on...

 

[he_who_is_nobody]

I have to admit that when I was a child I thought homosexuality was wrong, purely for religious reasons. I was raised catholic and went to catholic school until the fourth grade.

It really was not until middle school, when I first started to doubt my faith and became a skeptic that I started questioning things like why I did not like homosexuals. Well still in middle school I started to have discussions on the Ethernet about atheism and other subjects, and in those discussions I realized that my dislike of gays was very irrational, thus I gave it up.

I grew up in a small town and I did not meet anyone that was (openly) gay until college. However, I remember for my Junior and Senior year of high school, I would argue with the other students about how homosexuals should be allowed to marry and adopt children (the election between Kerry vs. Bush was happening, which is why those discussions would come up). Since I was in high school and in a small town, everyone thought that I was gay because I was openly supporting gay rights (I guess no one had ever done that before). I never liked high school anyways, so this did not bother me to much.

When I was in college, I met many gay people, including my boss at the SUB (I hated that dick head) and one of my best friends who was my roommate for two semesters.

So yeah, my opinion of homosexuality changed when I became an atheist.

 

[phixy]

It was kind of a strange thing for me... I grew up kinda homophobic, but it wasn't an obsession and I had no opinion on homosexuality directly linked to religious belief. So I could say I was a bigot at times though. However, I started becoming okay with homosexuality since before becoming an atheist.

BTW, is that you eating a cigarette in that avatar?

Neeh, just biting on the filter XD

 

[Caractacus]

I grew up as a homosexual with a homophobic dad. I thought it was something sick and wrong and therefore I was sick and wrong and I hated that part of myself. After many futile attempts at trying to find women attractive and to change that part of myself I kinda started ignoring it. Then after discovering the internet, and meeting a lot of delightful gay people on the internet, I learned that I wasn't sick or wrong, I learned to stop hating myself for it and I learned to be proud of it.

I came out a few months ago and since then my dad has been very quiet about it. I thought his mind had changed until I overheard him insulting me for it behind my back. I guess you could say he's now a closet-homophobe. I think he's overcompensating for it by being more racist.

 

[phixy]

I grew up as a homosexual with a homophobic dad. I thought it was something sick and wrong and therefore I was sick and wrong and I hated that part of myself. After many futile attempts at trying to find women attractive and to change that part of myself I kinda started ignoring it. Then after discovering the internet, and meeting a lot of delightful gay people on the internet, I learned that I wasn't sick or wrong, I learned to stop hating myself for it and I learned to be proud of it.

I came out a few months ago and since then my dad has been very quiet about it. I thought his mind had changed until I overheard him insulting me for it behind my back. I guess you could say he's now a closet-homophobe. I think he's overcompensating for it by being more racist.

That's really sad. Can't even pretend to know how I would feel if my parents did that. How is it to see him?
Does he avoid the subject or what's the deal? Love your avatar btw X3

 

[kenandkids]

Love your avatar btw X3

Ya, that really is the most adorable thing I've seen in ages!