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OT - What/'who' made you non-homophobic?

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FuzzyChanny:
Well, according to my best friend (who is gay and therefore an expert) I AM homophobic...

amh:
Jude, thanks for re-posting this thread!  It's the first time in months that I got a pang for the old IMDb (not that I don't love it here, but those were special days)!  It's fun to re-read the old posts and people's new ones, too.

I never saw your question until now:

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Amh625, you say you had very liberal parents and upbringing. What was their reason to put you in a Catholic school? Not that it_s wrong, of course, but I find the combination interesting [I_m probably being offensive, asking this.. sorry, but I don_t know how to phrase it better].
****

No offense at all.  I don't come from a strict Catholic family - my Dad's side is Catholic, and my mom is agnostic.  But we lived within the city limits where the public schools are pretty rough - plus parochial school was somewhat more affordable back then than it is now. 

I don't much embrace any organized religion today, and disagree with many of the Catholic church's policies.  But in a strange way it's still a part of who I am, having been "institutionalized" by it until I went to college, and still having close childhood friends to this day who consider themselves true Catholics.   But if the basic message of the church is that man is good and God loves you and if you're nice to people you'll go to heaven, that's a decent way to live if you ask me.  You know?   :)

P.S. My three close friends from high school and college who eventually game out as gay were all raised Catholic too!  And one of them feels pretty strongly about his religion, and is angry at the church at the same time because of its policies toward those "like him".  He's real conflicted - as if there's not enough to be conflicted about in life, one has to be conflicted about the way they choose to worship their God, something that should be personal and peaceful.  It's too bad.

tiawahcowboy:
Speaking of lifestyles . . .  I will post a little parable here based on people's actual experiences. I first heard the word "parable" when listening to Bible stories.

Two young men, Rick and Rob, were room mates after college and they had known each other almost all of their lives.

When at home growing up they had gone to the same church with their families. They had been involved in the very same church activities growing up, in college and after they lived together in a 2-bedroom home.

They had dated the same girls or girls who were friends with each other since they were teenagers. Because of what their churches had taught, they were still virgins sexually.

Both of of them seemed to have experienced the same things spiritually.

After they had lived together for a while, Rob realized that he had just been playing a game about his sexual orientation and he realized that he was not heterosexual nor bisexual. He enjoyed friendships with women but there was no sexual feelings toward them at all. He had even prayed and asked God to change him and he really believed that he had enough faith that it would happen. But, he had an epiphany with God about his sexual orientation and he just realized that he had been created that way and God loved him just the way that he was.

He had done research on what it meant to be gay and Christian and found many testimonies written by guys who had similar religious backgrounds and personal experienced.

So, one day Rob decided that he would tell Rick that he realized that he should just accept his homosexual orientation as normal for himself.

When he told Rick that he was gay, Rick replied, "I don't approve of your lifestyle!"

Rob said, "My lifestyle? Other than the fact that I am not attracted toward women, my lifestyle has always been just like yours. I haven't done anything differently than you have, Rick."

j.U.d.E.:
Bump..

So much to read! Thank you for posting! I'll read/reply later at home.

Fuzzy?!

~ j U d E

Sheyne:

Hmm.. I guess the fact that my mother is secretly homophobic (despite her declarations that she's not, she IS) and my brother is - sadly for Ray - deeply and overtly homophobic and the fact that most times I will do ANYTHING do go against the grain, ( ;D... who, moi??)  I always liked gay company, especially gay guys. They were my boyfriends, without the sex, y'know? We'd "date", go to movies, dinner, clubbing, watch vids at home with popcorn and snuggle under the blankets together. We'd hug, we'd groom each other, point out blokes with a suggestive eyebrow raise, nudge nudge etc. They were also like girlfriends with far more money and far better fashion sense.

A lot of gay people I knew early in my working life here in Brisbane were victims of a society struggling to accept homosexuals: some would come to work with cut lips and black eyes; some would get bitter and defensive and reject the world; some would "act out" and be all "queeny" as though to say "bugger the lot of you, I'm gonna be gay and HOW!" etc.

Mostly, I just view them as people. If we click, we click. If we don't, we don't hang out. Its that simple. And I don't ask them to justify their choices, I just accept them. It seems silly to judge somebody by who they're attracted to, really, doesn't it?  :-\

Oh and I'm also not homophobic cause my first crush in my life was on a woman. You could say its in my blood, or sompin.

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