40% Of Americans Suffer From Something Called "Homophobia"

Prejudice is something that goes back as far as history does. The people of today like to flatter themselves and say that we, unlike our forefathers, now know that it is wrong, and we like to say that we’ve fixed the problem by making multiple anti-prejudice laws and such. But there are more types of prejudice than just that of race or gender. Discrimination against a person’s sexuality is a huge problem today. Nearly 40% of American’s today suffer from something called “Homophobia”. [...]

Homophobia is often considered an acceptable prejudice. I know kids, even adults that I simply pass on the street using words like “fag” and “homo”, even if it’s just to be a light- hearted insult. Winking jokes about being gay are still a common element found on television and in movies today. Probably the most to point quote about homophobia I’ve found was from Dr. Leon Hoffman. Hoffman simply classified homophobia as “a ‘family values’ prejudice.” And with the way people are brought up now-a-days, its true. [...]

But as I see it, homohphobia not only consists of hate, I think a lot of it has to do with fear, and lack of understanding. What does that mean? Basically, what people don’t know scares them. Since a majority of people in the world through the ages have been brought up learning that the only way to have a relationship is between a man and a woman, anything else is just wrong, weird, and unnatural. So naturally people are against it. My only hope is that someday, we’ll get over our prejudices, immaturity, our ignorance... and realize that we need to accept people just the way people are. (source)