General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Did you hate, fear or dislike gay people at one time? [View all]RobinA
(10,071 posts)about it.
I'm 57. My parents were professional friends with several men who were gay way back in the day and they did not make an issue of it either way. Probably because they knew, but the guys weren't officially out as it probably would have hurt them professionaly back in the '60's. My grandfather's brother was also gay, and again, it was open knowledge among the "grown-ups," but he was supported and as far as I can tell it was just a fact of life.
In college in the '70's I was annoyed by some lesbians who recruited by telling girls that life as a lesbian was so much more drama-free than life with men. No broken hearts, etc. This annoyed me because these girls were major drama queens (hypocrites) with chairs thrown out windows, fist fights, screaming in dorm hallways, etc. They tried to recruit my friend and she ended up with a broken arm and broken glasses. So much for less drama. My friend they were recruiting went to one of their parties one time and invited me to come along. I went out of curiosity and threw the whole place for a loop. What was I doing there, blah, blah, blah. Not too much tolerance there. They did have better beer than your average frat party and the music was good, but no cute guys to stare at.
After college I went into retail, where gay is a dime a dozen. I gotta say that the NYC retail scene in the '80's was a bit over the top for me, but that was more a personal taste thing. I think the only negative judgement I ever think concerning gay is, "Jeez, can we turn it down a bit?" when in the presence of someone who is really putting on the flamboyance. But then, I think that about anyone who's really in-your-face with their personality.
So fear, hate, dislike, no. To me it was just never that big a deal, although I do understand why it's a big deal to the actual gay individual. I should add that I am not a theist, so I never learned to connect sex with morality except when it involves hurting other people.