03/06/07 Class

In class today we talked a lot about homosexuality and its acceptance in today’s society. I feel that our class in general is a lot more optimistic about how society views homosexuality than how it is viewed in reality. During my freshman year of college, two of my good friends from high school came out that they were gay. They are twin brothers and I am from a small town, so coming out was like giving a speech to the entire town, because everyone knew it would spread in a matter of days.

To me, finding out did not change my relationship in any way. I actually gained more respect for them and am happy that they no longer feel that they have to hide such a big part of their lives. A lot of my friends reacted the same way as I did. But there were others who told the boys that they were happy for them, but would go behind their backs and talk about them. To them, this was just more gossip to spread and the new topic of numerous conversations.

The most upsetting comment that I heard—and I heard this in more than one conversation—was when people assumed that just because they were gay, that there was a good possibility that they hooked up with each other. I was just appalled when I heard this. My reaction was the same every time. If a male said this, I would ask him if he had a sister and if he did, I would ask if he would want to hook up with her. If it was a female, I would ask the opposite. I would say just because they are homosexual does not mean that they are attracted to their own family members and it is not right to make that assumption.

I understand that we were all only freshman in college and still had a lot of maturity to gain, but if this how my friends and community reacted, I am sure that other people would react the same way. I will say that as a society, we have come a long way in our acceptance of homosexuality than the previous generation, but we still have a lot more room to grow. So I do not completely agree with what many people were saying in class. I do not think our society is fully accepting and I do not think that we should believe that we are or else I think there will be little motivation to become fully accepting.