I feel very strongly about this.
Bottom line, not being a Johnlocker does not make one homophobic.
Using that as the base, I can now move on to a wider discussion...
I take 'homophobia' as meaning anti-gay, somehow feeling gays are lesser citizens and their relationships should be banned.
All of which is obviously totally unacceptable to me personally and should be to every right minded person.
Now people may not like seeing gay relationships in literature or in film/TV.
That might be a personal choice thing.
But I would question, if they felt straight relationships are ok...it makes more sense to me to not like either.
From Andrew's recent Paris interview, I was really struck by him saying that nobody's sexuality should be a source of titillation for anybody else...and I was curious to how forum members felt about that.
There is also the question of whether or not you see characters as being most like you...
But that smacks of being dependent upon your own identity being very clear and of course for a lot of us, it isn't!
However, I still feel I can say I don't automatically see Sherlock and John as having the same sexual identity and conducting the same relationships as myself.
My view is comprised of how I view Canon, what I see on screen and what all of the team have said.

Last edited by besleybean (June 8, 2016 8:27 am)

Ivy wrote:

I'm still not over Ianto that relationship was so lovely.

It was indeed. I have no idea how the viewers reacted to that at the time, because I only watched "Torchwood" years later. But I don't consider it a twist (and I'm just mentioning this because it was mentioned in the article), because I think there were hints given right from the beginning that Ianto and Jack were attracted to one another. Anyway, the 'explanation' Ianto is giving to his sister about why he's in love with Jack will always be one of the best moments on televsion ever. 
 

Sorry, late to the party. Excellent idea for a thread, ukaunz. This was overdue, not just with regard to homophobia but to fan culture in general. 
 

I agree with your post #3 besley.

I think if a person refuses to watch a show or read literature purely because there are queer characters, that is cultural homophobia. Generally, this causes no harm to anybody as it is their personal choice, but it is what it is.

What Andrew said in the Paris interview struck something with me too. For many personal reasons I have not enjoyed reading slash fanfic lately, and if I'm very honest with myself, Andrew pinpointed one of the reasons, and I feel uncomfortable with what that says about me. I make no judgements about anyone else, it's just how I feel about myself right now, and they are complicated feelings that are all tied up with other parts of my private life. Too much information for this thread, perhaps.

General thoughts.

I have found in real life that most reasons given for disliking gays can be boiled down to one of two things.  It's either, My God Says It's Wrong or I Think It's Gross, or some combination of the two.  During the fight for marriage equality when I would ask people to give me a reason against it that didn't involve religion or personal taste, no one could.

Sadly, a lot of people also still view sexuality as a choice or a condition that can be "cured" rather than something innate.  In this day and age there are still many who refuse to believe you are "born that way."

Oh, it makes me so angry.

I can remember when my daughter came out, I was telling a certain friend. Their first response was, what are you going to do about it? Really, I thought. What am I going to do about it. Well, I'll just keep doing what I've been doing all along. Feed her, clothe her, shelter her and love her. The person may have meant no harm but it irritated me.
 

Last edited by tonnaree (June 8, 2016 1:10 pm)

I think the reasons I talked about for homophobia in real life also apply to someone that is homophobic about the characters in their entertainment.

Then you are lucky.

It's a bit embarrassing because I thought I saw all of that Q&A. But what did Andrew say exactly?

 

Could you explain the meaning of tittilation to me? My dictionary  gives me different meaning that cannot all be right...