Gay bashing through the telling of rude jokes, light hearted teasing and really serious teasing and bullying is common among children in Britain. 'Gay' has become a common term of insult amongst young people. 'Gay' is used as an alternative to the insulting words of 'lame' or 'sad'. Boys in my school point at each other, call other boys 'gay' and then laugh.
A positive vote for gay marriage today would send a message out to young people that being gay is not an abnormality. There is a generation of children growing up with many prejudices and institutional bigotry only reinforces their discrimination. History shows that the 'now is not the right time' has always been a convenient approach to withhold human rights from minorities (slavery) to satisfy the interests of the majority.
There is a stereotype of gay men that they are meant to be effeminate. Some gay men are effeminate and there is nothing wrong with that. But amongst boys they want to be strong and macho, and effeminate men subvert that ideal. I think that causes boys to hate gays. I am not sure what can be done about that.
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