How many people here know somebody who is gay?

freshpopcorn

My older brother is gay and I know a good few people from college/school.

eass82

everyone I should imagine

Sunglasses Ron

None. I thought it was only for celebrities.

Osmosis Jones

I know of a gay lad, lives in my town, not actually close to any though. Seems surprisingly uncommon around here.

Too Tough To Die

I know a few. Strange lot.

biko

Afaik there's just one in the village.

kiffer

Seriously? Something like 10 to 20% of the population is gay or bi... if you don't know anyone who's gay then your social group is probably not the sort of place people feel safe enough to be themselves.

MonkstownHoop

Whats a gay?

Too Tough To Die

kiffer wrote: »

Seriously? Something like 10 to 20% of the population is gay or bi... if you don't know anyone who's gay then your social group is probably not the sort of place people feel safe enough to be themselves.

Yeah, but that mostly applies to cities.

minidazzler

I know loads. One of my best female friends is Gay. And have a few dozen more acquaintances.

kiffer

Too Tough To Die wrote: »

Yeah, but that mostly applies to cities.

Not amongst young people who have yet to move away from their homes so thay they don't have to hide.
"Stadtluft macht frei nach Jahr und Tag".

eass82

Too Tough To Die wrote: »

Yeah, but that mostly applies to cities.

Probably better to say that everyone knows someone who is gay, but not everyone knows they know someone who is gay.
Especially down the country.

MadsL

kiffer wrote: »

"Stadtluft macht frei nach Jahr und Tag".

Sorry, I don't drive a Volkswagen.

:pac:

GalwayKiefer

I know a few, what do I win?

DEFTLEFTHAND

From the pub talk tonight I don't think you'd want to be gay where I come from. I've learned that many people will pretend to be all happy and forward thinking but when behind closed doors they'll speak free thoughts. There's a certain type of male who'll never accept other males of that sexual preference.

The Backwards Man

Who gives a fcuk?

Gay, straight, white, black, orange, rich, poor, male, female.

We're all the one sow's pigs at the end of the day.

Galwayguy35

Just one fella that I know of living around here who is gay.

Whenever he is out in the pubs though he only hangs around with women, doesn't mix with the males of the species at all.

Optimalprimerib

If your going to hit the key demographic you need a gay friend.

Rubeter

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

From the pub talk tonight I don't think you'd want to be gay where I come from. I've learned that many people will pretend to be all happy and forward thinking but when behind closed doors they'll speak free thoughts. There's a certain type of male who'll never accept other males of that sexual preference.

Except when they tell the wife they're off to the pub, but sneak on down to the park for a "bit of fun" instead.

Rosy Posy

I'm shocked to think that there's anyone out there who doesn't know anyone who's gay. I mean outside of Russia or parts of Africa where it's basically a crime to come out? What's this 'not in the country' nonsense? I live in rural New Zealand and there is a lesbian couple who are parents of a child in my kids class, a gay married couple live down the road and my oh works with a gay man and woman, that's just off the top of my head. Surely homosexuality exists in rural Ireland too.

freshpopcorn

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

From the pub talk tonight I don't think you'd want to be gay where I come from. I've learned that many people will pretend to be all happy and forward thinking but when behind closed doors they'll speak free thoughts. There's a certain type of male who'll never accept other males of that sexual preference.

This is something that I have experienced quite a bit of with people from my small local town and people I went to college with. Now these guys are not gay and not in the closet. They simply don't like gay men in particular.
I know of a case of a guy on a sports team and he came out a couple of years ago to all the team. The guys told him it was cool and that they didn't care but in actually fact they just said this to keep him happy/not offend him.When hes not around he gets a lot of slagging and he doesn't get invited to parties/nights out that he would have gotten invited to before he came out. The guys ask him on the add night out just to keep him from sussing but the people on the team look at him totally differently now.

This is just something that I have experienced and I don't mean to offend anyone by this.

whatdoicare

Lots of friends I know are gay. My uncle is gay too but for some reason he thinks we don't know..... I dunno why he'd think it'd matter to us, we're not the kind of family who'd be homophobic or talk like we were. We let him think we don't know, I think for him it harks back to a time when it was illegal. Poor guy, we love him to bits.

DEFTLEFTHAND

freshpopcorn wrote: »

This is something that I have experienced quite a bit of with people from my small local town and people I went to college with. Now these guys are not gay and not in the closet. They simply don't like gay men in particular.
I know of a case of a guy on a sports team and he came out a couple of years ago to all the team. The guys told him it was cool and that they didn't care but in actually fact they just said this to keep him happy/not offend him.When hes not around he gets a lot of slagging and he doesn't get invited to parties/nights out that he would have gotten invited to before he came out. The guys ask him on the add night out just to keep him from sussing but the people on the team look at him totally differently now.

This is just something that I have experienced and I don't mean to offend anyone by this.

Fair play for saying it, it still is very much out there. The guy's who I drank with tonight when sober and in public are very tolerant and like to pass themselves off as that. We're all educated too from the same town and went to college together.

Maybe it's just the banter or whatever but when slurs like Fag and Queer are floating around you begin to wonder, it's not just a casual drunken uttering, there was meaning behind it and the jokes which ran while admittingly were humourous were also probably quite inappropriate when you think about it.

Pensivepuca

Myself, my brother, 2friends, my ex's and I volunteered at my cities lgbt centre for a bit so I can say about 45 strangers.

WindSock

I knew a person once who had homosexual tendencies but he's been fixed now.

stoneill

According to my kids, I'm gay, the dinner is gay, each of them is gay, the dog is gay, the car is gay, my shoes are gay, my wife is gay, homework is gay and so on.....

jimgoose

Yes, I know a few gay guys'n'dolls. In my experience they tend to be pleasant, intelligent, well-adjusted people, and fair moxy to them - it couldn't be easy in this backward little outpost. One fella, a hairdresser by trade (used to cut my hair when I lived nearer his place), does have pastel shirt issues right enough, but you get used to that.

MadsL wrote: »

Sorry, I don't drive a Volkswagen...

Oh well-hoofed, Chief!

stoneill wrote: »

According to my kids, I'm gay, the dinner is gay, each of them is gay, the dog is gay, the car is gay, my shoes are gay, my wife is gay, homework is gay and so on.....

You're lucky. Apparently my car is Gay, but me and my house are Random. Go figure...

camel jockey

I voted no, then remembered one of the senior executives in my company is gay. Apologies for skewing your poll results OP.

corktina

who cares? they are just people.

(there are only two types of people....good and bad....orientation, colour, race ,religion, gender, age etc etc don't come into it in my book.)

carlmango11

How the hell do 13% of the nation not know a gay person!? Is this a country thing? I know countless gay men and women and have done almost as long as I can remember.

jarvis

What a stupid pointless thread.

oldyouth

I voted Yes to friends etc because 3 or 4 people came to mind immediately. While reading the rest of the thread I found myself thinking 'oh yeah, then there's X, he is gay also'. Within 5 minutes, another 5/6 people came to mind, so it leads me to think that we all must know a good few gay people but it's not a predominant feature in our minds when we interact with them

camel jockey

I assume people are answering based on people who are openly gay i.e. acknowledge they are gay as opposed to people you suspect are guy.

crazygeryy

i knew someone who was gay but we prayed it out of him.hes straight now.

corktina

carlmango11 wrote: »

How the hell do 13% of the nation not know a gay person!? Is this a country thing? I know countless gay men and women and have done almost as long as I can remember.

Irish Gaydar not enabled....it's to cut down the VRT I think.

computer44

Never got that impression. Coming out was the best thing I did. But there is lots of closets especially with married men. How do they live with their conscience.

computer44

Are you serious. Thats the kind of attitude that puts young men to suicide. And I will report that. That is abuse.

Ted_YNWA

Know a few people who are.

There still is a section of people who think there is something wrong with being gay.

Few comments above saying "we fixed him" , "we prayed it out of him" and the likes.

Live & let live I say, if Cecil likes taking in up the ..... , so be it as long as he is happy.

Know of a girl who is a lesbian, but is afraid to come out to her parents.

computer44

I am gay and a woman.

Had to tell my family.

The issue was getting to me.

But I could no longer tell a lie.

dirtyden

kiffer wrote: »

Seriously? Something like 10 to 20% of the population is gay or bi... if you don't know anyone who's gay then your social group is probably not the sort of place people feel safe enough to be themselves.

Is that scientific? I don't believe it as anywhere near 20%

corktina

computer44 wrote: »

I am gay and a woman.

Had to tell my family.

The issue was getting to me.

But I could no longer tell a lie.

I can see how big a hurdle that would be in someone's life...I'd like to think that, if I were the Parent in that situation, I would be loving and supportive. How did they take it?

Mysteriouschic

I know quite a lot nearly all the guys I'm friends with are gay I don't mind though.

kjl

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

I know of a gay lad, lives in my town, not actually close to any though. Seems surprisingly uncommon around here.

so is he the only gay in the village?

Annasopra

Too Tough To Die wrote: »

Yeah, but that mostly applies to cities.

Thats changing - there are lgbt groups in Mayo, Donegal, Longford, Leitrim, Cavan, Tipperary, Wicklow, Wexford

Lux23

Lots but I do live in Dublin.

dodderangler

carlmango11 wrote: »

How the hell do 13% of the nation not know a gay person!?

So the whole nation is on boards????

AtomicHorror

dirtyden wrote: »

Is that scientific? I don't believe it as anywhere near 20%

Depending on the study, and how you define homosexuality, the figures range up to about 35%. There seems to be a reasonable proportion of people who wouldn't consider themselves to be gay but have had a small number of homosexual experiences. And of course if you do your study in Iran, or did it in Italy in the 1930s, the answer would be a very indignant 0%.

My favourite studies were the ones which showed that homophobic people were more likely to have an arousal response to gay porn.

scudo2

All the women I try to chat up tell me they are gay!!!!

AtomicHorror

scudo2 wrote: »

All the women I try to chat up tell me they are gay!!!!

Without knowing your gender, I can't tell if this is a happy comment or a sad one.

Grayson

AtomicHorror wrote: »

Depending on the study, and how you define homosexuality, the figures range up to about 35%. There seems to be a reasonable proportion of people who wouldn't consider themselves to be gay but have had a small number of homosexual experiences. And of course if you do your study in Iran, or did it in Italy in the 1930s, the answer would be a very indignant 0%.

My favourite studies were the ones which showed that homophobic people were more likely to have an arousal response to gay porn.

To be fair the way porn interacts on the brain is strange. One of the ways it causes a reaction is based on how extreme it is. If you watch soft porn without ever having seen it, then you would probably feel aroused. If you've seen loads of soft porn, your brain doesn't react to it as much. However at that point if you're shown hardcore porn, your brain will react.

basically it's the relative extremeness of the porn that contributes to the reaction so a homophobe would probably be slightly aroused by gay porn even though they are completely straight. Which has got to be damn confusing for them.

But either way, everyone in ireland knows a gay person, even if they don't know they are gay. And the same could be said about ireland 50 years ago.

kylith

I know people who are gay, but no-one that I hang around with is gay, that I know of. This is because I don't hang around with many people rather than that I have any problem with gay people.