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What's it like to be Gay where you live?
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Being Gay In Your Home Country
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32 Replies
Reply by xXLil4cLuXx
posted
Im from Argentina, Buenos Aires! Gay marriage is available for us, we can report discrimination and trans people can get their id's changed.
The bad side is my province has the highest rate of hate crimes tho its also the most accepting or progressive so its weird, the rest of the provinces up north are more close minded and im pretty sure hate crimes there go unreported or smth. The ones who have the hardest time are usually poor trans women who do prostitution in order to survive cuz in most cases they've been kicked out by their families, and because of being out unprotected they get attacked way more.
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Reply by Frenkli
posted
To my friend from Argentina I’m guessing Buenos Aires has the most crime towards LGBT because big cities are a melting pot of people you can always find very tolerant people in them and also those who are ultra conservative and bigoted.
In Canada where I live, most people accept LGBT people not just gay but even trans people, here it’s very common to say each other’s pronouns and people have their own facilities like LGBT associations/spaces ,gender neutral washrooms, some jobs being LGBT can be a bonus in some aspects especially in jobs like social work, psychologists where they are needed, etc.. There is still homophobia though once I got a death threat from a random guy on the streetcar because he was hearing me talk about boys to my friend. In middle school some of the guys were really homophobic but other than that I haven’t really experienced anything else, most people know I’m gay and they are fine with it.
In my home country Albania where I was born but no longer live, discrimination towards LGBT is much more powerful. The society is very conservative and patriarchal and men are expected to be macho and being gay is seen as a weakness, some even see it as western imported phenomenon and they consider it alien to the local culture, so I would say my life would be very difficult if I was gay there but I didn’t grow up there so I’m happy. I know people have it very hard there it’s very hard to get a job if you’re openly gay or trans no one will hire you. No one will welcome you as a LGBT person if you find one supportive person consider yourself lucky. In Canada it’s a lot different people are mostly very tolerant here towards anyone not just LGBT.
Reply by maksimylyan
posted
I am from Santiago, Chile. And to be honest, things are not so good in many aspects for LGBTQ+ people. I mean, there is a law against discrimination (created after the murder of a man named Daniel Zamudio), but it's not really enough, cause that is not always respected by people. I personally can go outside and still have the fear of being discriminated (or even k*lled) if I act the way I am or something like that... I guess it may be almost exaggerate in a way to some, but I just want to protect myself, if that makes sense.
However, I know the situation is even worse for trans people, cause sadly it is really usual to misgender and make fun of them. For example, on 2017 Chile won its first Oscar for Best International Feature Film with "Una mujer fantástica", a movie starred by a trans woman. Since then, there's a pretty big group of people treating her very badly, using her deadname and all of that. It is terrible. Plus, most of trans people here are not accepted in every job.
On the marriage side, I mean, you can have a civil union agreement, which is like a contract to legally say that you and your partner are together, but ...it's not marriage.
Anyways. I just hope everything gets better in the future, cause I'm aware that my country is in a better place than others in what LGBTQ+ politics are, but I still want it to be as good as possible. And that goes for every country of the world.
Reply by Didrick
posted
Here in Norway, the majority of the population is pro LGTB, so in other words Norwegians are a very accepting and tolerant people, for the most part. That's not to say homophobia doesn't exist here because it definitely does and we do read stories from time to time of gay people being victim of blind violence stemming from other people's homophobic attitude, which is terrible but what's even more shocking is that although there is a rule against sexual discrimination here in Norway and most people are accepting towards the LGBT+ community, there are times when cases of violence against gay people that get reported to the police are simply dropped, swept under the rug and not being taken seriously enough by the police and that definitely needs to change. But I would still say it's generally safe to be LGBT+ in Norway. Gay marriage was officially legalized here since 2009 and since 2017 we are also able to get married in the Church and have all the same rights as couples in a straight marriage.
Reply by Kinnie
posted
I'm from Latvia and LGBTQ+ rights are...interesting here, to say the least.
It's ranked to be as one of the worst places to be queer in Europe (not as bad as Poland or Hungary tho). Like you cannot even register a domestic partnership here! It's pretty much very hush hush here (mostly because of the boomers from the USSR times) and the homophobes are mostly just all bark no bite...except in April a gay couple was attacked and one of them later died from burn injuries.
In media there's pretty much no representation AT ALL (as far as I'm aware) and the only rep we get is from translated books and even there it's not from explicit books (although in 2011 there was a scandalous book published about trans people).
The good things are that you can transition and exist and every three years we have Europride (including this year). And one of the biggest banks posted about celebrating queer people which was unexpected but good.
Also last year there was a petition about redefining families so that not only same sex parents but also single parents would get protected legally. It got the required signatures rather fast but the government rejected it...three times.
Reply by Xxgary_smithxX
posted
im from America which i think is highlighted a Lot online ... while we have Some rights things could definitely be better. especially since our rights are being debated every day by conservatives in office who really want to take them away from us.
i do acknowledged how privileged i am, because i could be in a country where being gay is strictly outlawed. however i do wish certain aspects were better.
// TW ABUSE
in my state its legal to abuse your partner if theyre gay, for example, which very much scares me as an abuse victim.
Reply by Caseyshow
posted
Reply by majo
posted
Hello, I am from Peru
here in Peru we have a homophobic president and sexual diversity in Peru still faces social and legal discrimination. Homosexual relations have not been subject to any kind of civil or criminal sanction since 1924. Like heterosexual relations, they are legal between consenting persons over the age of 14.
However, an exception for members of the police and armed forces, who could be punished with 60 days to 20 years' imprisonment or dismissed from service, remained in place until 2005 and was declared illegal by the Constitutional Court.
Until the end of the 20th century, sexual diversity was considered a taboo subject in Peruvian society, described as conservative since the times of the Viceroyalty.
Same-sex unions, despite numerous attempts to legalise them, have not yet been officially recognised. The majority of the population expresses rejection of the implementation of civil unions or equal marriage.
Reply by Milla
posted
I am from New Zealand and Argentina! I came out to my entire class as pansexual (not yet as demigirl, we've been in lockdown for quite a while and I figured it out during lockdown) quite easily, no one really minded. New Zealand is pretty supportive of LGBTQ+ we had a no-uniform day during Pride Month this year and my teacher let us all make pride posters and he stuck them to our window so other people could see them. Some people's designs were really cool. I'm not sure if he knows that I'm LGBTQ+. I don't go to Argentina often, mostly every two years, but I know my mum isn't really happy with me being LGBTQ+ so I don't think the rest of our family in Argentina would be too supportive of it either. -Toon
Reply by Ash 🏳️🌈
posted
updated
I'm from the USA so I don't have it bad as most but I am also from the state of Texas specifically a smaller town in the middle of no where (a city is easier)... It sucks. Texas is also currently trying to take away our federal right to marry (and any rights they can get their hands on if they can) since they feel they don't have to listen to anyone above them so there's that...
The most I get is derogatory words said to me as an adult (dyke, the f slur stuff like that), religious zealots preaching hate at me, or cishet males being upset and aggressive (as in mad/stalkerish) that I am not into them and demanding that I be or wanting certain kinds of fantasies *cough* you know the kind from me. You know the usual fetishization and misogyny kind.
So I tend to try to stay on the down low in my daily life about me being a lesbian unless I know the person is a safe person and that's rare here so I mostly keep to myself and lie about myself a lot when asked about my personal life.
However, on one occasion a have been alone and cornered by an upset male at my apartment complex back in university after I found out he stalked my Facebook (when I never gave him my name so idk how he got that info...). He confronted me that he knows I'm not into men at the same time telling me that he liked me too. He demanded an answer right there (Well, what do you say?. Because I wasn't speaking as I was in shock and scared) As if me not being into men isn't already the answer to his own dumb question... What am I suppose to say to that?... I just ducked and ran away quickly back to my apartment. I have had to avoid him by looking out my cracked door or looking through a window before leaving every day until I moved. I don't do Facebook much anymore after that... I also don't go out alone anymore unless my twin is with me. I don't feel safe.
I've been lucky to not get beat up now that I am an adult. I did when I was in school though (physically and verbally) but I held my own pretty well. Still sucked but I made it out luckily. The only thing I mostly worry about as an adult woman is upset entitled males SAing me.
Reply by Axelot
posted
hey! I'm from Madrid, Spain and the situation right here is more or less good. I cannot talk about rural Spain but I've never had a real problem with it. However I must say that I was not out in high school and from my friends and stuff that's mainly where they experienced homophobia, and also I guess I'm kind of straight passing? anyways my mom for example doesn't let me tell my grandmother which is weird lol bc I make music that explicitly talks about it and yup. are there any other lgbts from Spain?
Reply by max <3
posted
Im from England, being lgbt+ it kinda depends where in the country you are. The younger generation is a lot more accepting then elders. Slurs are said like they are just words such as the T slur... and D slur as not many people are educated on why its bad. Even though slurs are noramlised the majority of the country doesnt mind lgbt+
Reply by Saoirse
posted
I’m Canadian, bonjour tous la monde. While it got marginally better in recent years, the province I live has limited support for MOGII rights with the first same sex couple only finishing their 20 year long legal battle in January of 2021. At least there’s a pride parade that’s a 8 hour drive from where I live with a planned one in a nearby town that was going ahead April 2020. I’m known as the village lgbt and as far as I know, the first out person in the town I was born in. But I have a strong support system in my friend group and I know I’m advocating for people after me in the small town in the backwoods.
Reply by Agathon
posted
Also from Australia.
I find Australia to be very binary when it comes to LGBTQ+. I've always found it hard to pin down my sexuality, and nowadays just call myself queer. That has been very hard for people to understand though. I sat through many a drunken night in my 20's telling people that no, I'm not a lesbian. Yes I know I like women, but I'm not a lesbian.
In my teens & early 20's I was very androgynous & pretty asexual so while people loved and accepted me, they found it hard to accept that I am not "just" a lesbian.
Reply by Michelle
posted
updated
I come from Poland, and right now the situation is critical for us here </3
Our goverment is strictly against it, and there is no legalised same-sex marriage. Same with ab0r7i0n.
Unfortunately, the Catholic church has a great input in our politics. Most people that vote for them are old and shouldn't have the right to choose our future, we know better what we want and they only care for themselves. Some even suspected that the voting was rigged.
That's all, I think. Feel free to become my mutuals <3
Reply by aliven0t
posted
Reply by meg <3
posted
I'm in the U.S. Florida to be exact T-T... it's not the greatest but it's not the worst either. Earlier this month the passed a "don't say gay" bill which basically you can't talk about LGBTQ topics in school. Also, where I live, I can be walking to class and get called a slur but honestly it is what it is and I'm not gonna listen to someone who wears Axe body spray.
Reply by t0mi3
posted
Helloo! I am from Sweden. Most people here are pretty accepting and we have good discrimination laws here that protects people in the lgbtq community. Unfortunately there's still a lot of homophobia here and tons of transphobia if u live in a smaller city. You most likely won't get hatecrimed but u might get some stares and face stereotypes and judgements. The school I go to has pride flags everywhere and strive to be a safeplace for lgbtq youth but so many of the students will just shout homophobic stuff anyways.... If u live in the bigger cities you will meet tons of accepting people and no one will pretty much care wether ur lgbtq or not. The lgbtq community here is also pretty big so you will never feel like u are the only gay person here, even in a smaller city.
Reply by hilma %¤#"
posted
mostly 12 year old boys are homophobes here, idk it's kinda okay depending on where u live
Reply by Ajax
posted
I'm from the USA but i live in Texas soo that's just great i live in a big city in Texas with a LOT of church's who don't like the Lgbtq+ community but funny things i'm out in my church so everyone just kinda stays away from me except my friends
Reply by Romy
posted
From Germany, from the political view it's not the best but not the worst either, on the social side I thought it was pretty okay, because I'm honestly to insecure to be on social media apps where people actually know me, but my best friend got in a wlw relationship for the first time and she is very active, now she gets serious threats and it's pretty horrible tbh :(
Reply by johndeez
posted
i live in the philippines. im not rlly out or anything but ive observed how different people treat gay people or the lgbt community in general.
disclaimer: these come from my own observations and perspective so im not gonna speak for all of us in here lol
ive asked my mom what she thinks of gay people and she said the very well known "i dont support them, but i respect them" bs. same with my dad. my grandma said shed never support us if me or my brother came out as anything rlly, but thats just my family.
a certain group of people that comes to mind are some of the teenagers here in my country. ive seen a whole lotta homophobia or transphobia on social media coming from them. i saw a comment under a photo of a gay couple holding a baby once saying what theyre doing is wrong and disgusting, using the bible as an excuse for their statement. speaking of that post, the rest of the comments were of how could they ever have a baby if they were both men. ig they couldnt comprehend the concept of adoption or hiring a surrogate.
another thing, gay/trans ppl arent rlly unrepresented from the media, but for the wrong reasons. im not talking about lgbt films or documentaries, no no no, im talking about rlly stereotypical lgbt people being the butt of the joke. i know this is a big problem because the same people that laugh at these characters are the same people that use "bayot" as an insult. also, i think the word bayot is very transphobic. how could a word mean "a male homosexual" and "a male-to-female transgender person" at the same time??
ngl tho, i have really high hopes for the future ppl thats gonna lead this country one day!! i got introduced to my friend's niece (who is 8) as kuya, which is a term for older boys. she got a bit confused bc im afab and have a high voice for a guy ig?? nontheless she called me kuya the whole time we were playing roblox together, which is rlly cool :) also, majority of the teenagers here seem to be rlly supportive of lgbt people. especially in my school, no one really bats an eye if someone comes out as gay or trans as most of us are already a part of the lgbt community :)
Reply by Starr
posted
updated
I live in australia and... Wow this country is not the best at accepting queer people... (I'll be talking about my observations and perspective)
I'll mainly talk about high school cause i'm 13 and yes high schoolers are BRUTAL WHEN IT COMES TO QUEER PEOPLE (SAME WITH POC)
TWs: Homophobia and r@cisim (I'll mention it)
if you wants a study on how austrlian highschoolers deal with LGBTQ+ related topics and not a perspective heres a website:
Highschoolers in australia LITRALLY SPIT AND YELL SLURS AT YOU FOR BEING QUEER IN THIS PLACE LIKE YOU COULD BE EMO AND NOT EVEN BE QUEER AND STILL BE CALLED THE F SLUR CAUSE AUSSIE KIDS SOMEHOW TIED EMO CULTURE WITH QUEERNESS? Not sure if it actually is but anyways, you can get beaten up at school for it (and obviously have videos of it spread EVERYWHERE for people from diffrent schools to laugh at) and yet teachers do nothing... And when someone beats up a homophobic student the homophobic student almost ALWAYS gets away with it... It's the same with POC. As a POC myself I wanna bring this up aswell as whenever someone gets in a fight for being racist THE RACIST STUDENT GETS AWAY WITH IT. I don't care if violence isn't the answer cause high schoolers and the school themselves make it seem like it is since homophobic and racist teens get away with beating and shaming innocent people for fun and laughs... Queer teens get told to ignore it yet homophobic teens STILL spit and shame them. I've seen so many videos of aussie kids beating up queer kids in this country and most of the schools i see doing this ARE SCHOOLS IM FAMILIAR WITH... And for most it's not just school. Tennagres also go out of they're way to spit at queer kids in public or bully them on social media. My brother is an example of this. You would think he wouldn't be like this since we're POC and he'd understand queer people... but no he quite litrally says the f slur and surrounds himself with homophobic and r@cist people... He made me realise how brutal kids in this country are. I wish queer kids in this country were more accepted in school spaces. Even though gay marragie is legal sadly it doesn't change the fact queer teens are suffering =(
On the brighter side there are still more kids that are educated and accept queerness. Older people aren't really but depending on where you live you either get extremly homophobic people surrounding you or not really. Sadly the few homophobic highschoolers are brutal but theres still hope =)
Reply by Linda
posted
Hi!
I live in Latvia. I'm not sure if gay marriage is legal yet. I'm very lucky that most of the people i've come out to have accepted me, or just made fun of me (not bulling just the annoying stuff).
Reply by xXkf100Xx
posted
its not bad here gay marriage has been legal since 2003 and gay sex has been legal since 1969
Reply by Felicjan
posted
Poland here! About our LGBT rights here, well... It's somewhat confusing.
There is a lot of people who accept everyone from LGBT umbrella, there are some people who don't accept only trans people, and there are people who hate all queer people no matter what. And the funny part is that all these are big part of society.
Same sex couples can't even get registered their relationship, and when it comes to transition, well trans people need to sue their parents first. Also we maybe don't have much representation, but there are some new polish books publishet with main characters who aren't cis or straight.
Either way our government don't really want to give us right, and even some Christians organisations try to make more hatred toward queers. Also our minister of education is interesting character when it comes to political discussions about LGBT. He tried to even stop some holiday created by students called "tęczowy piątek" and it's just on one Friday showing our support for queers like wearing pride flag pin or etc.
Reply by 𐌷ᕦᥥᒋჄ
posted
updated
in England so thats good =)))) but im half Bulgarian so I have to hide being gay there as its not as accepted (especially family) =/
Reply by Z0mb33Gia
posted
Im from Perth٫ Australia and its pretty accepted here but it depends on the people your with. Some people will be accepting and some wont. You have to find the right people. Like if I told my parents I'm pansexual ٫agender ٫ my pronouns she/they/he or that I changed my name... they would probably disown me. So dont be open to someone before knowing if they'll actually be accepting.
Reply by Evalin
posted
I have two home countries. Australia, fine. Russia, rights are terrible. The government allows LGBT people to be murdered with little punnishment and does not allow education or advocacy of LGBT rights.
Reply by xarii
posted
i'm a lesbian from russia! here are some facts about how it is like to be gay or trans here:
1. gender transition in russia has been banned since july 24, 2023
2. on november 30, 2023, oleg nefedov, a judge of the supreme court of russia, declared lgbt community an "extremist organization" and banned the "international lgbt social movement", including the use of lgbt symbols
3. the laws of russia do not recognize same-sex families and state that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. transgender people cannot marry as well since july 2020. on october 14, 2020, a law was introduced that basically avoids the registration of same-sex marriages in russia that have been registered in other countries.
4. there is no explicit ban on the adoption of a child by a homosexual but in same-sex families one of the partners cannot adopt the child of the second partner. transgender people cannot adopt children.
5. the relationship between a child born in a same-sex family and a non-biological parent is not legally recognized. the child is deprived of the right to alimony and has other negative consequences
6. the law banning "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" was signed by putin and entered into force on july 1, 2013. any event or action regarded as an attempt to promote homosexuality, including on the internet, in movies, books, advertising or in public, can result in a fine. foreigners face 15 days of arrest and expulsion from the country
7. the russian constitution guarantees the right to register peaceful associations, but the authorities refuse to register lgbt organizations. public lgbt events do not receive the necessary level of protection and crimes against lgbt activists committed during such events remain unpunished. pretty much all crimes against gay and trans people often remain unpunished
so yeah... you're gonna be fine as long as you stay in the closet, don't speak up about discrimination publicly, accept the lack of legal protection, social support from the government and prohibition of adoption!
Reply by Dennis The Menace
posted
Turkey here! Not too well to be queer in.
- Decriminalised in 1858, Gender reassignment surgery legal since 1988
Though these things are very like enforced upon not to happen. Action wise they are very tedious. LGBT people are not allowed to serve openly in millitary or white collar works. Constitutional protection proposed but never enacted.
Also there is this cultural mindset of ''cultural morals'', If it doesn't touch me, I don't care mindset like hushed, opressed.
Gays are friendly, cute and very lively, Queer activism is strong yet very opressed. It is treated not too well... It's too mediocre.
We have great spa's, hamam's, places for queer friendly activities though!
Reply by GuauGuau
posted
Here in Spain is pretty good, I suppose. I'm still a silly willy potato baby in her 13. I don't know how it will be
But in my high school they make talks about the LGBT+ things, and they come policías to talk about the bullyng and why we have to be tolerant. In my high school they also in the doors of the bathrooms have a paper signs about we have to respect trans people.
The other things, eh, some teenagers once make cry a trans girl and her girlfriend, they dead name her and call her other things. That was because the girlfriend of the girl was the ex of one of them. But all the assholes now they have a part ( or reprimand, or whatever you call them, I don't know, here they are called parts) and they will nto come to the end of year trip this year for that.
Judge for yourself, but at least I can see that adults or people in power are trying to help. But teenagers are something else...
T_T