Is Ireland now more gay friendly? (LGBT)

jamie124

Hello There,
So I said I would post this as I am quite curious about other people's opinions and point of view etc etc...
Now I have recently turned 18 and I am in my final year of secondary school (thank god!) and I cannot wait to get out.
I am originally from Dublin but am living in Sligo and to be honest , Dublin is way more different than Sligo , I feel more accepted in Dublin (might sound weird I know).
Where I live (which is the countryside and basically in the middle of nowhere) , People seem so harsh about the LGBT community (males particularly) , I am surrounded by homophobes in school (again mostly males) and find it so hard to just be myself here.

I am out to my parents,friends and only SOME family members - eg: Grandparents.
Luckily though, They all seem to be fine with it and it doesn't seem to bother them.
HOWEVER, I live with my Mam and her husband (my stepdad) and he is very homophobic and always makes fun of me - it could be how I walk, how I say things etc etc... But I don't let him away with it anymore but at the same time I have to be really careful because now that I am 18, He can legally kick me out... but my Mam doesn't seem to mind about my sexuality.
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So MAIN point:
Is Ireland really becoming more LGBT Friendly??? Yes I am really happy and grateful of the turnout on the marriage referendum and how same-sex marriage is now legal. BUT do we still have a long way to go? I just feel that we aren't quite there yet..

Thanks in advance x

Ten of Swords

Hi Jamie, yes Ireland is much more LGBT friendly than it was, the extent of improvement depends on what point in time you pick as a reference point, for example I imagine being a gay teen in the 70s or 80s would have been very difficult, picture the open hostility and in all probability nobody to talk to about it and nowhere you could look up information, it would be pretty isolating I think.

Yes there is still a way to go before things fully normalize and there is plenty of covert homophobia around, but far less overt and blatant. Are you out to any of your friends or is anyone in your school out that you know of? Guys display homophobic attitudes more openly if they don't know of any gay/bi people in their social circle, call it a combination of wilful ignorance and picking an easy target, but there have been threads on this forum where people have come out to friends who would have been ardently homophobic but their attitudes certainly softened when they learned they had a gay friend. I cannot find a specific post I was thinking about, I will post a link to it another time if I come across it but it was quite a nice story.

Good on you for not letting your stepdad push you around, I hope your mum sticks up for you. By the way I read your PI thread recently, that's messed up and it sounds like your step dad has a nasty attitude and control issues. I'm glad it worked out in the end

jamie124

Ten of Swords wrote: »

Hi Jamie, yes Ireland is much more LGBT friendly than it was, the extent of improvement depends on what point in time you pick as a reference point, for example I imagine being a gay teen in the 70s or 80s would have been very difficult, picture the open hostility and in all probability nobody to talk to about it and nowhere you could look up information, it would be pretty isolating I think.

Yes there is still a way to go before things fully normalize and there is plenty of covert homophobia around, but far less overt and blatant. Are you out to any of your friends or is anyone in your school out that you know of? Guys display homophobic attitudes more openly if they don't know of any gay/bi people in their social circle, call it a combination of wilful ignorance and picking an easy target, but there have been threads on this forum where people have come out to friends who would have been ardently homophobic but their attitudes certainly softened when they learned they had a gay friend. I cannot find a specific post I was thinking about, I will post a link to it another time if I come across it but it was quite a nice story.

Good on you for not letting your stepdad push you around, I hope your mum sticks up for you. By the way I read your PI thread recently, that's messed up and it sounds like your step dad has a nasty attitude and control issues. I'm glad it worked out in the end

Hi there again!,
Well there are at least 3 other gay guys in my school, one of which is in my yer BUT he absolutely hates me and I mean DESPISES me!! Not even joking! - he always gives me dirty looks, used to spread rumours about me which were completely fake and of course people believed him! All of the girls love him and he friends with I would say every single girl in our year but he gets jealous when he sees them talking to me!??? He's a stupid idiot and thinks he's so fab...

The other two however are in 2nd year I would say but they are definitely gay...

Yes it's tough going now with my stepdad he even asked me this morning if you read my other post on him "WHERE ARE THE CLOTHES THAT YOU HAD ON YOU YESTERDAY???!!!" I completely ignored anyways long story.... I stood up for myself anyways!

Cheers again x