I'd have to say between #2 and #3, but more leaning towards number #2.
It varies on so many different aspects of the situation...
it's hard to give one solid answer.
I've been through threatening homophobic experiences,
as well as accepting, nonchalant attitudes being out and about,
when I, or perhaps people I'm with, have been perceived as "gay".
It's a tough call,
to just pick either or.
There are environments and situations,
in my hometown,
where you'd be playing with fire,
when it comes to being perceived,
or found out, as homosexual,
but then, there are times where you don't have to sweat it.
![[-]](https://gayspeak.com/images/duende_v3_local/collapse.png)
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dryw Wrote:I've only really had one occasion of extreme discrimination and that was at Chicago airport when an emigration officer shouted at me to get back in line as my husband was not classed as family and we couldn't approach the passport desk together.
is that extreme discrimination ?
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I guess Albuquerque would be in option 3. I've certainly had no problems here, but it does also have a very old-school Catholic community which likes to stick to tradition. There's a lot of recognition for homosexuality here and a highly liberal area of the city as well. Enough people are pretty understanding and/or don't really care, but there's also a lot that goes unspoken. I guess it's pretty well balanced, but there's room for improvement. That being said, I'm not sure how open I'd be in my specific neighborhood. I'll just keep that behind closed doors until I get to another part of the city.
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Hard to tell actually. Norway has this criminal penalty law for any kind of agression towards LGBT community, but I'm not sure does it really work in real life.
I think that there are no country in the world that would be completely nr 5. Haters are everywhere, but I think Norway could be nr 4, pretty liberal.
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The environment as a whole would be a 3. Inside "my" household (parents and other family members) a 4. Some other places, like where I play football.. a 2. Still, two of my friends are in my football team, and they couldn't care less. But it's best I don't tell most of the others, even though I can stand up for myself. I'd hate to ruin my nights out playing ball.
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I live in an engineering school campus and here, it's between 3 and 4.
Most people don't care, are pro gay-marriage, turn into ridiculous homophobia, and were shocked by what happened in France before the gay marriage was allowed.
Even if some are homophobe because of their education.
Around there (in Marseilles suburbs), i wouldn't kiss a man on the street cause there is some violence. Even if I don't know if there's homophobia, I would not try. I think it's 2, 2.5
At my parents', it's in a very conservative/catholic suburbs of Paris. Nearby, cinemas censure movies when there are 2 men kissing. I would also say 2, 2.5
But in Paris, in most places, none cares. I say 4.
The younger generation is probably globally more open minded about that question.
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I feel like there's quite a jump between 2 and 3 
My town would probably be a 2.5. One of my exes was attacked once in high school, but besides that all people ever really get - myself included - is a lot of verbal abuse, and the occasional pebble/snowball/bit of rubbish thrown at us. Definitely not great, but there's a lot worse out there. The adults in general seem pretty acceptant - one of my bosses fired me within a day of finding out about my sexuality, but I like to think that was a one-off. In general it's more my generation and below that seem to have the issues.
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Edward Wrote:Hard to tell actually. Norway has this criminal penalty law for any kind of agression towards LGBT community, but I'm not sure does it really work in real life.
Yeah, that's the thing with Serbia as well. We came to a point where we established anti-discrimination law and law against hate-based crimes, but they are definitely not applied as they should be.
However, Norway is completely different story. Way less homophobic, more tolerant and peaceful.
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I would say it slides up and down between 2 and 3.
My present next door neighbours know I'm gay but then they're the sort of people who exchange greetings when we see each other out and about. I would have thought twice about letting the previous people know but then the only pleasantry I'd have exchanged with them would have been, "Go thow to hell and tell the devil I sent thee!"
Where I used to live in 1999 was a bit more troublesome.
There were a group of lads who would shout homophobic abuse at me in the street, throw stones and bits of assorted masonry they found lying on the pavement. This would be accompanied by raised arm nazi salutes, shouts of Heil Hitler and Sieg Heil and threats to break in to my home and cause criminal damage. This went on for six months but immediately after each and every incident I made a note in a small note book; date, time, place, those involved and who said or did what. They had no idea I was making these notes or keeping a diary.
In English law these notes could and where able to be accepted in to evidence and known as "Contemporaneous Notes" that is, notes made at the time or as soon after the time of the incident as is reasonably practicable.
The last straw was when one guy sent a half house brick bouncing across the street at me. I was able to see it happen and stop before it hit me. A passer by also saw what happened and when aproched agreed that I could take her name and address to pass on to the police.
I walked in to my local police station and made a complaint. The police where great, I cannot fault how they handled the situation. They took a statement and took the relevant pages from my note book/diary as evidence. The lady who agreed to give me her details confirmed what she saw to the police but she was too afraid to go on record for fear of retaliation.
One amusing thing that happened was the police officer taking my statement paused to give me information about the Merseyside Lesbian and Gay Community Forum (Police Liaison Initiative). I didn't have the heart to cut him short but when he finished telling me about the scheme I smiled and said, "Yes, I'm a member of the Working Group".
The main ring leader was arrested and charged with Harassment. Harassment contrary to s.1 of the Protection From Harassment Act 1997, a law which makes it illegal to "Pursue a course of conduct which [the purpostrater] knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of another".
The law goes on to say that the person whose course of conduct is in question ought to know his behaviour amounts to harassment of another if another person in possession of the same information as the person pursuing the course of conduct thinks that his behaviour amounts to harassment of another.
This piece of legislation was originally brought in in response to the Jill Dando case when a BBC TV presenter was shot and killed on her doorstep. A man who had been stalking her was later convicted of her murder but freed on appeal after it was revealed that the police engaged in an entrapment operation to snare him. The real killer has never been found.
The case went to court and the ring leader was convicted after pleading Not Guilty. He elected not to give evidence or to make a statement on his own behalf from the dock. He was fined £100 and made subject to a twelve month restraining order which prevented him from approaching or contacting me either directly or by someone acting on his behalf. A breech of such an order would have been seen as contempt of court which can attract a custodial sentence.
Contempt of court, now there's a joke!
This guy ws allowed to sit in the Well of the court on the benches usually reserved for lawyers and other "Officers of the Court" probation officers, clerks to the justices (this was a Magistrates Court - a Court of First Instance where all criminal cases begin. The really serious cases are sent to the Crown Court especially because a Magistrates Court may not have sufficient sentencing powers).
My apologies for over labouring certain points here but I have to remember that there are users who are not from the UK and therefore not familiar with some of the nuances of the English legal system.
I have never been able to understand why he was afforded such a privilege. He should have been sat in the dock (Area of seating set aside especially for defendants in criminal cases). His solicitor objected to my presence in court - a public building during the Pleas and Directions hearings (Simple hearings for the purposes of setting out how, when and where the case will be heard and for other administrative purposes). I went along to the court to make sure that no funny business was taking place between the prosecution and defence - I wanted this guy to explain his actions, just try, TRY to justify what he had been doing for six months, not allowed to have his charges substituted for a less serious one without me knowing.
At one such hearing before the Magistrates came in to court, the guys solicitor turned from where he stood in the well of the court to face me only meters away in the public gallery and actually tried to stare me out! He locked on to my eyes with his and actually attempted to intimidate me! That's the only way I can describe what he did and how it made me feel. I'm made of sterner stuff, however and the staring contest (like two Tomcats before they engage in battle) was cut short when the Justices came in to court.
Justices - this is a term applied to non-professional magistrates known as Justices of the Peace. They sit in a panel, usually of threes and are advised on points of law by the Cleark to the Justices who sits in front of the J.P's in a black robe (no wig). THis court official will be a Solicitor or Barrister of ten years standing, as will a professional magistrate who sits alone and is known as a Stipendiary Magistrate. So no need to be advised on procedure and sentencing powers.
It was actually the Cleark to the Justices wo responded to the defence solicitor when he objected to my presence in court by telling what he should already and actually, I am sure, already knew. I had every right to be there! He said his client felt intimidated by my presence!
His client wasn't so intimidated by my presence in the foyer of the court whilst we were all waiting for the case to be called. He and his mates continued their harassing behaviour by following me and some of my friends who had come to support me around the court building. So close had they got to us that they were able to repeat part of our earlier conversation.
It's pretty rare now that British courts are staffed by police officers whose job it is to keep order in the precincts of the court building and take defendants in to custody if so sentenced or to search people on their way in to the building.
This work is now done by private security firms, usually G4S (Group 4 Security) the same firm that failed to adequately staff the London Olympics last year. Now a days as you walk in to court you pass a security barrier with a metal detector and a private security contractor who will wave a metel detecting wand over you as you come out of the arch or if the arch is set off by zip fasteners and such. The private contractors have little idea of their legal powers or are too aware of the limitations of their legal powers and don't want to get in to trouble with someones lawyer for challenging unacceptable behaviour - yes, it goes on in court too!
The CPS (Crown Prosecution Service - body in England and Wales who advise the police on evidential matters and decide on and take on criminal prosecutions) lawyer left half the pages of my diary twelve miles away in the office in Liverpool. Had the magistrates not been advised by the cleark that they could continue with photocopies, the case would have collapsed.
The guys lawyer did his best to make me feel it was all my fault for being gay, even suggesting that my "Flamboyance" had been the trouble. Er, I am not flamboyant and even if I was THAT should not excuse having a half brick thrown at me in the street.
Flamboyance... another term for a middle class gay man living in a predominantly working-class area.
Things are getting better for us, but I feel it will take many more experiences like my own to change things for the better.
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Ah well.
I'm not looking for awards or accolades.
I cope because I have to!
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