Homophobia In Dublin

gaymale.ie

As a guy who moved to Dublin from the country, I'm still shocked by the amount of blatant casual homophobia I encounter. In the four years I've been living here I don’t think I have once spent a day where I have not heard some kind of homo-hating comment on the street, buses, as graffiti, in the office where I work, at the university I went to. Its everywhere and very annoying.

Rev Hellfire

Somehow you seem surprised.
Hope springs eternal I know, but hell seems reluctant to freeze over.

LadyJ

Tbh,I find that,while there is an awful lot of homophobia in Dublin,there is far more stigma attached to being gay down the country.

Aard

LadyJ wrote:

Tbh,I find that,while there is an awful lot of homophobia in Dublin,there is far more stigma attached to being gay down the country.

Seconded. It is easier to come out up here in Dublin, and sometimes due to the size or conservitivity of the village it can be impossible to come out at all.

damien

http://www.sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/standing_out_in_brutal_dublin/

gaymale.ie

Looking back on it now I had a ridiculous idea of how tolerant Dublin is, so shame on Dublin for letting me down. Obviously there is homophobia down the country, but it just seems more knowingly vicious and spiteful here. Also in the country many people are so completly homophobic that even any vague mention of homosexuality even as insult words are beyond the limits of acceptability which in turn is great because you can then live in a pretend bubble where being gay is no problem because your not hearing peoples crap all the time, which is self-deceived I know but a good deal better for my mental health. Although things are starting look up thanks to the invention of the ipod!

UbuntuniX

gaymale.ie wrote:

As a guy who moved to Dublin from the country, I'm still shocked by the amount of blatant casual homophobia I encounter. In the four years I've been living here I don’t think I have once spent a day where I have not heard some kind of homo-hating comment on the street, buses, as graffiti, in the office where I work, at the university I went to. Its everywhere and very annoying.

I may not be gay but I agree.

Something needs to be done...Perhaps a riot? :cool:

carbonkid

Theres going to be homophobia everywhere but i dont think we have it that bad in dublin compared to alot of places. There seems to be a "yea who cares" generation growing up at the moment so they'll be less and less. I even kissed my bf last week during the day near stephens green and nothing was shouted or directed at us.

gaymale.ie wrote:

As a guy who moved to Dublin from the country, I'm still shocked by the amount of blatant casual homophobia I encounter.

Ive visited friends up in likes of mayo and galway and homophobia is alot worse! In some places in very country areas coming out is not an option

antSionnach

Jaaaysus. If you think Dublin is bad what must the rest of the country be like. How many gay bars are there in Dublin. At least a million. I dont feel like I can walk down the street nowahdays but I walk into one.

If you ask me there is a culture within the gay community themselves to shield their relationships and affections, and confine their pda's to either in the George or The Dragon after 11.30 or else spilling (rather drunkenly) out onto the street circa 3am. In my (somewhat in)experience, gay people dont feel comfortable being publicly affectionate.
Is this because of rampant homophobia or is this unintentionally perpetuating homophobia? I think, more often than not, the latter.

Vinnie69

gaymale.ie wrote:

As a guy who moved to Dublin from the country, I'm still shocked by the amount of blatant casual homophobia I encounter. In the four years I've been living here I don’t think I have once spent a day where I have not heard some kind of homo-hating comment on the street, buses, as graffiti, in the office where I work, at the university I went to. Its everywhere and very annoying.

I am sorry that you feel this way about my home town, in my youth when we were ilegal there was always a certain amount of homophobia but not as violent as today seems. Since the population of Dublin has increased I have noticed an increase of intolerance all things different be it homophobia, racial discrimination
or the less well-off. I avoid the City nowadays.;)

UU

I dunno. I'm in Dublin city quite often these days ever since I've joined the youth group BelongTo for LGBT youths. I often hang out with my friends from the group and haven't encountered homophobia once.

Although, I hated the way school was with the words gay, ****, queer, etc. being used in such a negative manner. Actually, I must have drived my class insane as anytime an insult like that was used, I'd bloody well speak out against them!!!

As for the countryside, don't let me even go there! (Of course I will...) Many people down there are so narrow-minded beyond belief! I stayed in a small village with my relations once and I bloody hated it! At the pub, the local fellas would be so prejudice towards because I'm camp and dress camp. They started asking me what is such and such girl like so I just played along but they copped on that I was gay and started saying vicous things to me. :mad: I just started causing absolute havoc! :rolleyes: Also, people there so lick the Catholic Churche's arse and my relations started making a fuss when I refused to go to mass with them.

I much prefer Dublin as people are not so in your face as in the rural parts. Most Dubliners especially of my age have a deeper understanding of gay people. Many of my straight friends have gay friends. They see gay people on TV, in magazines, etc. Most are not tied to homophobic religions. Also, most of those who use ****, queer, etc. are using it unconsiously where they aren't using it as insulting LGBTs. How come I was able to come out to my whole entire class and not a single homophobic insult did I receive but moreso support, tolerance and understanding. There does exist homophobia especially among (I don't mean to sound prejudice) trackie types in which many I've known well are just very narrow-minded people. I used to live among them and they hated not only gays but blacks and travellers. Actually, anyone whos not like them, in their crowd, is a target to them.

To conclude, perhaps my experiences aren't the same as everyone elses but I firmly think that Dublin is a far more tolerant, open and friendlier place which is a melting pot of different races, cultures and sexualities.

Riveta

Not to discredit your experiences in the "country" UU, i'm sure it was atrocious! But look this is a typical response from someone living in the capital! I'm kilkenny and can't say i've had any major difficulties regarding homophobia, sure you'll get the od knacker shouting random abuse at you, but if they didn't say **** it'd just be something else equally as uninteligable i might ad! So don't make gross generalisations about condtions outside the pale! I live in a tiny village just outside the city and the vast majotiy of people know about me and i've had no problems! where were you staying anyways!?

Hmm_Messiah

Aaaaw being gay in Kilkenny.

Shifting the boyfriend in Nero's, or the Venue when it was new and shiny.

Never ever had a problem in Kilkenny either, though one gay mate seemed to get occasional abuse hurdled at him.

I know people talk of "gay friendly pubs" in Kilkenny but not sure wat that means. I would of frequented Breathnachs, Widows, Kytelers etc and the nightclubs, behaving with the "other half" as i would when out with a girl-friend, never a problem - tis a little gay haven.

LadyJ

Imo,Monagahan is possibly the worst part of the country for homophobia. I'm not gay myself but,any time I'm up there,I notice that if there is even a mention of someone who is "different" in any way,the reason people put it down to is that the person is probably gay.

It just seems to be the easiest answer. And they're all (the ones I've met anyway) terrified/repulsed by homosexuality.

Hmm_Messiah

I might be terrified by a monaghan queer myself tbh

UU

Riveta wrote:

Where were you staying anyways!?

Somewhere in Galway actually. Can't remember the name though of the village as it was a while back. Near Ballinasloe anyway. My relations were alright with my homosexuality but it was just local fellas trying to put on this whole macho image. Also, they had a problem with me also because I'm from Dublin. The girls there on the other hand were really nice to me. They thought it was nice to have a gay fella around. Actually, most of the friends I made around there were girls. Funny thing, it seems to me that most girls tend to be more tolerant than most fellas.

Vinnie69

UU wrote:

To conclude, perhaps my experiences aren't the same as everyone elses but I firmly think that Dublin is a far more tolerant, open and friendlier place which is a melting pot of different races, cultures and sexualities.

UU I am glad that your experiences have been good in the City. I agree that Dublin is getting a more tolerant place but the ill-tolerant are becoming more violent. As regarding the suburbs I live in D6 and am accepted in pubs, clubs etc, 99% of the people I know are gay-friendly

Zillah

Hmm_Messiah wrote:

I might be terrified by a monaghan queer myself tbh

I know one! Nice guy. Cute too

LadyJ

In fairness,I think Monaghan could do with an influx of really camp homosexuals. It seems that most of the testosterone in the country has flooded up there.

That's why they all go 'round headbutting each other!

UU

Vinnie69 wrote:

UU I am glad that your experiences have been good in the City. I agree that Dublin is getting a more tolerant place but the ill-tolerant are becoming more violent. As regarding the suburbs I live in D6 and am accepted in pubs, clubs etc, 99% of the people I know are gay-friendly

Well naturally Dublin bears a few dirty pockets of discrimination like many cities do. I live in D16 around the Dundrum / Ballinteer area and I've found different types of people treat me differently. For example, those scumbags or "scumbag wannabes" dislike gays because we're different. Most ordinary teenagers around like those who were in my class are fine but there's just the few idiots around, ya know! Of course, I usually hang around in the city centre with all my friends from BelongTo and never face many problems. This october, I'll be starting college. Many say that being gay in college isn't no hastle especially in Trinity where I hope to go.