Homophobia

Opinions

-"I think that those who can't accept others because they have a different lifestyle are ridiculous. When you come from a small town where only a small amount of people are accepted in the "society" you can see homophobia first hand. People tend to avoid those who live differently and you can see the idea of loving men to men or women to women upsets them. However, I say, live the way you want!"

-"I hate when people just assume that a girl is gay/straight based on her lifestyle. There are plenty of straight tomboys and gay girly girls. I think people should just stop assuming things and leave girls alone about they way they choose to live."

-"I was one of 3 girls on a male dominated hockey league. I was never worried about people making assumptions about my sexuality because I was comfortable with who I was. I was more concerned with having a good time than with what people were saying about me."

-"As an athlete, I come into contact with and fulfill many stereotypes that many people consider to be indicative of lesbians. I believe this assumption to be completely ignorant and I wish I could understand. Just because women are powerful and strong, people immediately associate that with the machismo that accompanies the stereotypical male, so apparently lady athletes are men?- I don't think so. Lately I think that female athletes are encouraged to have more of a feminine side. Many companies like Nike have made strides to make equipment more "girly", taking the focus away from the "brutishness" that the female athlete conveys. Female athletes strive, as all athletes, to be the best at what they do, but they are in turn slapped with labels like Venus and Serena Williams, Billie Jean King, and countless others. I don't think that homophobia should have a place in this world, let alone on the field."

-"Sports are very defeminizing in many ways, I believe. I go to a school that is labeled a "jock school" where there are a lot of lesbians who play sports or like girls who play sports. A lot of people dress in sweats and loose baggy clothes, very defeminizing. I switched my major from Physical Education (where you have to wear sweatpants every day because you have activity classes) to Business because I did not like the defeminizing view that was put upon people who were in the major or who were Physical Education teachers. I hated being labeled a "phys ed" major which meant you were probably a lesbian."