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 Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 7:27 pm
Came across this article, and thought I'd share:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/05/17/eu-homophobia-survey.html
"Released Friday, the largest ever EU survey of hate crime and discrimination targeting members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in the 27-nation bloc and Croatia showed many of them live in fear and conceal their sexual identity.
Two-thirds of the 93,000 people who filled in the anonymous online questionnaire said they were afraid of holding hands in public with a same-sex partner — the figure rose to 75 per cent for gay and bisexual men."
I think it would be interesting to see the results broken down further by country.
Although the survey targeted the EU, I pose this question to everyone: How safe do you guys feel in your country, and in your community? Would you feel comfortable holding hands with someone of the same sex, or do you think you'd face hostility?
Are you surprised by the survey results, or is it pretty much what you'd have expected?
What countries or regions do you perceive as being safe or safer for LGBT folks? What regions do you perceive as being the most hostile?
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Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 10:09 pm
I would say mostly safe...simply because you never feel 100% safe. There will always be those few bigots who ruin it for everyone.
But personally...I have never had anything happen to me just cause I happened to be holding hands/hugging/kissing etc a female (though this may be just because I am a female as I do know some of my male friends would not be as quick to claim they are safe sweatdrop )
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Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 8:21 am
Although I am not exactly open, or closed for that matter, I feel I can still answer this. The other day I showed a presentation in one my classes that included a rather masculine picture of me, explaining how I hate my hair and I plan on getting it cut. Immediately, even though only one person in that class knew I am a lesbian, people began chattering and gossiping to the point where my teacher had to yell at them to shut up.
This being said, I don't exactly feel unsafe, but at the same time I do worry a lot more about verbal abuse than anything over the top... but I don't really know. I live in a small conservative farm town.
I'm glad I'm moving away in just a couple more months. Hello college!
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Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 9:14 am
I'm a bit of a carefree individual who, all too often, expects the good of human nature to surpass any ill-will. So for that I feel very safe.
I have faced adversity when I was younger in my high school community but rather quickly an air of respect sort of swept over any negativity.
In college I haven't at all had to deal with poor remarks or harmful intent.
With that said, I believe the North Eastern U.S. is one of the most liberal and accepting areas of the LGBT lifestyle, as well as the West Coast.
I understand that a lot of Western Europe, from many of my friends and contacts, in countries such as France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, and Sweden tend to be "safer" and more accepting. Some other countries like Vietnam, Thailand, India, Singapore, and New Zealand are fairly accepting and progressive from what I know.
Let's not be naive here, though. No matter what region you hail from they're will always be people who some sort of hatred or distaste for the LGBT lifestyle but some are bit more reserved in their opinions than others.
I know that some of the most unsafe regions are much of Africa, mainly the heart of Africa and underdeveloped regions, the Middle East where sodomy is a crime punishable by death in some countries (although that's not exclusively an LGBT issue), Latin America and Russia.
Personally, I believe a lot of the issue of being safe as a member of the LGBT community comes from an individual's ability to assimilate. A lot of the more showy aspects of the movement receive some of the harshest treatment and I do think that the LGBT movement has done a lot to marginalize itself in more recent years.
Self-acceptance is often the precursor to being accepted by one's peers. You can't see yourself as an LGBT individual and expect that others won't look at you that same way. First and foremost you're an individual with a defined character and set of interests and talents. You define those things, they don't define you. It's fine to be a homosexual or heterosexual or etc but to have your sexuality and sexual orientation, something relatively remote and minuscule in your life, define your entire being, well frankly it's a bit ridiculous.
WOW. Tangent much?
I don't even know how to wrap this up...
Whomp. The end.
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Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 12:25 pm
Der Fluch des Pharao I'm a bit of a carefree individual who, all too often, expects the good of human nature to surpass any ill-will. So for that I feel very safe.
Self-acceptance is often the precursor to being accepted by one's peers. You can't see yourself as an LGBT individual and expect that others won't look at you that same way. First and foremost you're an individual with a defined character and set of interests and talents. You define those things, they don't define you. It's fine to be a homosexual or heterosexual or etc but to have your sexuality and sexual orientation, something relatively remote and minuscule in your life, define your entire being, well frankly it's a bit ridiculous.
I tend to be like that too, but sometimes I get to meet people I don't feel safe about being open on that matter (mostly those who show signs of being right extremists). That's a really good point. I recently met some old classmates of mine who asked me about my old relationship with a girl I was with. Being open and self-confident about my newfound sexual orientation met very positive reactions, I even feel kinda more welcome to them than before. Concerning this thread's topic, I feel mostly safe where I live (Germany). There are situations where you may feel discriminated or places where you won't feel welcome, but it's not like you regularly have to face violent homophobe extremists.
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Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 12:40 pm
I don't feel very safe in my area, honestly. I live in a bad neighborhood in a big city where one girl was raped, according to the police reports, because she was lesbian. So kinda explains that. The police are supposed to crack down on it, but there's still a lot of anti-gay feelings. I'm out to many friends and family members, but not to the school in general for those reasons.
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Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 4:48 pm
Taeryyn How safe do you guys feel in your country, and in your community? Would you feel comfortable holding hands with someone of the same sex, or do you think you'd face hostility? My partner and I occasionally hold hands, but never for long :/ while we feel safer in some places, we feel particularly unsafe in others. I feel relatively safe in my community, but... at the same time, as a bisexual guy with a male partner, I can also get pretty scared sometimes. Straight friends tell me its paranoia, but, but there's been enough verbal abuse for me to be worried about people going further and attacking us. Quote: Are you surprised by the survey results, or is it pretty much what you'd have expected? It was pretty much expected :/ Quote: What countries or regions do you perceive as being safe or safer for LGBT folks? What regions do you perceive as being the most hostile? I expect poorer, less educated, more religious communities to be less tolerant - also places with a strong conservative tradition :/ so the middle east, and Africa, many parts of Europe (much of which is very religious and conservative, and can have massive disparities between the wealthy and poor) - parts of America for the same reasons... I think places like England, Canada, New Zealand and Australia would be fairly tolerant
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Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 4:52 pm
I feel some what safe in my country, but it's my family that puts the fear in me to express myself
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Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 7:05 pm
I feel quite safe being open in my community, although there are some parts of town where (especially at certain times of the day) I would be a little less comfortable, say, holding hands with a partner. I'm not sure if that's just me being paranoid, but there are a few areas with multiple dive bars, where the clientele is mostly 30+ blue collar guys.
In general, I feel my country (Canada) is relatively safe, but I'm sure it varies depending on the community. My hometown was isolated and rural, but I would feel 100% comfortable there.
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Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 9:34 pm
mostly safe i guess. some people i would never come out to for my own safety but thats really rare. i live in a gay friendly area for the most part. but im still around the bible belt part of the east coast
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Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 9:44 pm
I grew up in the poor part of the biggest city in one of the conservative states in the US and I now go to college in the second biggest city in that same state and live downtown, so um, demographically, my location is, well, interesting. I wasn't open until I came to college and at first me and my girlfriend were afraid to hold hands in public because my state is overall conservative and religious, but so far the worst we've gotten is making a guy feel uncomfortable on the bus (he moved two seats over as soon as he had the chance after he noticed us holding hands) and being yelled at by drunk college/frat boys in cars. We were quite pleasantly surprised at not getting harassed. My high school was liberal so that was fine. I wasn't really active in my neighborhood so I definitely didn't get harassed there, though saying I'm lesbian/have a girlfriend was not enough to deter the guys that hit on me, so in that way, I didn't feel safe, but that's more to do with sexism than homophobia. So overall, I feel mostly safe and am quite surprised at that.
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Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 10:42 pm
I'm not exactly sure of how I'd feel. I mean I've seen a girl/girl couple in my school and they were doing PDA stuff and no one really looked or noticed. So maybe no one saw or maybe no one really cared, but one of the girls are in one of my classes and her friends know about her sexuality. They talked all about in class and no one really cared. I feel just a tiny bit safe in my school but I'm not sure how it would be in public.
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Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 8:15 pm
I feel guarded in things I say and do, and I feel extremely uncomfortable if the way that I dress might "give me away" as being lesbian. So I don't live very openly to strangers wearing rainbows and fitting stereotypes, but when I would hold my then-girlfriend's hand in public, I felt every stare and sideways glance, every double-take, whisper (they often debated openly if my girlfriend was a boy or girl)... I felt alright with her because she was a tomboy and perhaps made me feel safe knowing that she at least could punch well (lol) and she had a knife at all times. But I was definitely weary of dangerous places and situations, especially at night or if we were not in a public area. Since I'm not with anybody at the moment, I don't really have open affection that a stranger could hate.
As of right now I don't think I would come out in a workplace environment or on a resume.
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 12:39 pm
I dont really feel that safe ... Only a couple friends know
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Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 4:45 pm
I came out to al my friends and family about a year ago and most excepted me [a lot already guessed haha]...but I was surprised how many didn't want anything to do with me after!
especially at my church ..I was told that I could come there anymore because they didn't support me... [what did they say...oh yes] that I was going against god ! [I wanted to slap the pastor ...he new me since I was born! how does me coming out change who I am!
ugh some people are so stupid!
so I guess it more who i'm dealing with!
i'm Christine btw ...how is everyone doing?
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