[MCake]

I know a few homophobes who turned out to be gay - specifically, gays who hated themselves, and that's sad. I agree with what you're saying, though.

Whatever their orientation, there is one thing most (if not all) homophobes have in common: ignorance.

I think hatred stems from plain ignorance - like you said, not from fear (a typical excuse). It's very easy to be misinformed and thus make blanket statements based on blind prejudice. It's also inexcusable.

Nobody is perfect, of course, but (in)tolerance is an important issue; I think we all have a personal responsibility to take an informed stand. I doubt anyone will suffer due to my ignorance of... the process of remineralisation of deep sea water by Bacterioplankton. But people die every day as a direct consequence of ignorance, in the form of racism, homophobia, misogyny etc - and *that's* inexcusable.

Originally Posted by Bamboozle

Ah...I'm fired up. I'm moving forward as best I can. I love having the attitude of "f*ck 'em if they hate me". It feels good.

I like the tone of your post, Bam. Anger is very healthy and useful when expressed properly. Many people have barked at me for saying that, but so be it. Anger is so misunderstood; it is a valid and natural emotion that society -friends, therapists, gurus, parents, etc- tries to sugarcoat or disregard. We are usually told to swallow our anger because it's dangerous, unhelpful and uncivilised... a lesser, childish emotion that must be repressed.

Whatever.

The Chinese (whom I trust more than Freud) have a very simple definition of depression: unexpressed anger. IME, that's very accurate. Whenever I'm depressed, no amount of TLC, gentle words, or fake smiles help... but allowing myself to get angry -and turning that anger into drive and determination- usually gets me right back on track.