How have you changed in the past 3 years?

[Red]

Nothing against gays, but it doesn't mean I find that much enthusiasm towards all the glorification of how wonderful men are, in a sexual or an otherwise attractive way. Sorry, but I tried. If I have inner gayness somewhere, it must be hidden well and deep within me.

[Yuhaney]

What's wrong with being homophobic?

Personally I don't see anything wrong with it, as long as basic human rights are met.
Meaning, you can have your opinion but that opinion should not affect how one treats another when it comes to individuals interaction with another. I see that there is a difference in between an ideology/feeling/thought and then putting that in action.

@Rött
You don't have to be gay to find same sex "attractive". I can say that some men seem attractive to me, but I still don't feel I'm gay or even bi in any way. Would not have a romantic relationship with any of them. However, one can argue if they agree with what I find attractive or not...

[MrBehemoth]

I'm just asking if you think this 'phenomenon' is increasing at an alarming rate.

There's no need to think in such black and white terms.

The "black/white" aspect is something I find interesting. Seeing sexuality as a boolean variable is a new phenomenon. Allow me to explain...

Homosexuality is not new. You could say it goes way back to, say, the ancient Greeks, but that would be naive. It's way older than that and it's not exclusive to homo sapiens (pun intended). Our closest relatives, benobo chimps, are freely bisexual. It's something that most of, if not all, life on earth does sometimes.

What is new is the dichotomy of "gay" and "straight", including in-between and outside states like "bisexual" or "pansexual" or "asexual".

Take those ancient Greeks, for example. We've all heard that homosexuality was an established part of their society. But the difference is that they didn't think of themselves as straight or gay, they were just people. The words "homosexual", "heterosexual" and "bisexual" didn't actually exist in their language or in their thoughts, they just assumed it was normal for everyone to be capable of being attracted to people of either sex depending on their tastes and preferences at a given time.

Historical issues of religion and legality aside, it wasn't until the 1900s that people stopped thinking of homosexuality as something you do and started to think of it as something you are.

Anyway, getting back on topic, one way that I've changed (over maybe the last 5-10 years) is that I've embraced these ideas. When I was younger I used to see myself as bi, and experienced lots of issues around that. These days I'm happier to think of my sexuality as a point on a spectrum. Everyone is on it somewhere, even if you feel you are close to being exclusively gay or straight, but I believe that this tendency to pigeon-hole and say you are one thing or another thing, is a fairly modern, restrictive and unnecessary idea.

Just sayin.

[Streetboat]

What's wrong with being homophobic?

that's homophobe-phobic!

for the past 3 years ive made so many changes in life that i've come to appreciate the saying 'the only constant in life is change'. time also seems to be slipping by faster than i like to admit. i've learned to stop caring so much whether or not i have something social to be doing at any particular time; being social just costs too much money!