Men holding hands in the Street

[girlfriend44]

Saw two men walking along hand in hand earlier and I admired their bravery and thought hope nobody starts on them.
Have seen women before but not men?
Do you think they were brave. Would you be scared for them if they were your sons?
Brave men. Perhaps it's something we will see more of in the future?

It depends on their location, somewhere like Brighton it wouldn't be a big deal, but there are some places it is. There are knobs who will use a same sex couple holding hands as a reason to be aggressive and violent and I'm sure LGBT+ people are more painfully aware of that than I am, so, yes, I think they're brave.

@Nellodee · Today 20:09
It’s a lot more brave in Grimsby than it is in Brighton. I hope it becomes more normalised in the future, all across the country.

^^This

In my shitty little homophobic racist Brexity little town that would indeed be very brave. The UK has a long way to go yet.

Men and women in same sex relationships expressing affection for each other still get abuse and beaten up. I do see it where I live, of course it’s normal to show affection…but there’s lots of places where it its still a brave thing to do because you can get abuse.

Men have been doing this (not everywhere, TBF) since at least the 70s.

And getting abuse and beaten up for it since then, too….

It depends on the area I suppose, based on what PP's have said. I had a girlfriend once and we were holding hands. This was about 8 years ago maybe. Some men yelled comments at us out of their car. This was in Birmingham City Centre in the afternoon.

Some of these comments 🙄

It's not homophobic to notice two men holding hands.
It's disingenuous (or a bit thick) to be stunned that some areas of the UK are more gay-friendly than others.

It IS often an act of bravery for two men to hold hands in many areas/cities/countries/whatever. The pp who are tripping over themselves with the mirthful 'is it the 1980's?' tittering are missing the point and not paying attention.

Yep. We show zero affection in public and we’re careful that my son doesn’t hold both our hands at the same time. Sometimes people just shout things, other times they throw things, spit or become violent. I play for an inclusive rugby team, we’ve now been banned from walking to home matches in our kit as so many players were being subjected to homophobic abuse and violence.

Good god that's an outdated opinion! My BILs aren't brave for existing in public like any other couple and they'd be mortified at someone thinking as much

Totally agree. Whilst it’s 2022 and shouldn’t be a big thing it most definitely still is for some people. I’ve never seen two men holding hands where I live. I’ve no idea what the reaction would be but I’m 100% sure someone would shout something. I was asking my young teens about this the other day and asking them what the attitudes/reactions are like at school now compared to when I was at school. Both said everyone acts cool with it on the surface but those kids still get a lot of stick and get called names.

This

people live in a bubble and don’t see a number of things are still frowned upon/discriminated/hate crimes are on the rise etc, and that’s not just in countries where it is actually illegal and punishable by death. Just the other day there was a thread on here started by a mother who had admittedly mistreated her own son because he was gay, whose own father had disowned him and that plus bullies in school had driven him
to suicide attempts.
bet those going OH EVERYTHING IS OK YOU’RE WRONG have not spoken to a gay person in a long time, if ever, if you think everything is roses

Yes also this!

Why is the OP the problem? I have only once before seen two men holding hands where I live and I live in a large city. The OP noticed it because it was unusual for where she lives. I didn't see anything homophobic in her post.

Many of the posters on thread remind me of the sort of people who say ‘I don’t see colour’. They think they’re being really non-racist, but all they’re doing is completely denying the lived experience of many people

This, absolutely.

Out of curiosity what country are you living in? Just wondering if that makes a difference

@girlfriend44 were you hoping for a bunch of negative replies?

My group of gay friends are the kindest, most compassionate, most empathetic people I’ve ever known. I couldn’t care less if they walk down the street holding hands, which is completely innocent. They aren’t bothering anyone, except homophobes.

I get the very strong strong impression that your comments were disingenuous. I truly, truly hope they weren’t.

This isn’t even an issue - except back in the ‘80s, like a pp said. Why would you bring it up? It’s certainly not abnormal except to people who find it abnormal. I suggest you make some LGBTQ friends just to see how incredibly kind and generous of spirit they are. They’re extraordinary.
Their kindness and ability to accept others as they are would shock the people who don’t have the honour of knowing them. I was humbled when I first met them — I treasure them now because they’ve taught me so much about love and acceptance and strength and “live and let live.” My life would be less bright without them.

It's nice to hear that lots of posters live in places where gay people walk around holding hands without facing abuse. However, it's very easy to find examples of homophobic attacks in the UK today. And the numbers are rising. Please let's not pretend that this isn't the reality for so many people.

Thank you

Not sure where you live OP but I'm in the very definition of a backwater and I see gay couples holding hands reasonably regularly.

This is so sad.

@IDreamOfTheMoors gers the award for Best Virtue Signal Of The Thread

What's with all the sarcastic comments towards the op?
"Do you live in the 1950's"
" You're part of the problem"
"It's normal"
Did you really not read what was wrote???
The ignorant I'm alright Jack attitude is fucking disgraceful 😤

Being gay in 2022 should be widely accepted and unnoticed but strangely enough its not.
Homophobics are still very much alive and spreading hate...

To say otherwise is wholly dangerous, ignorant and damm right wrong...

All those who have replied in a sarcastic, snappy way, do you truly believe there is not a higher risk of abuse towards gay people then towards straight ones walking down the street holding hands?

Having read a bit more of the thread I'd like to add that while I'm in a backwater in terms of being diverse, it's crushingly middle-class so probably considerably fewer lumbering under-educated homophobic Neanderthals around than in other places (or they've at least got the social awareness not to be overt / vocal about it)

@IDreamOfTheMoors - you’ve completely missed the point of the thread with your next-level virtue signally.

The OP isn’t condemning the couple. She’s saying they’re brave to do it.

And they are.

So many people on here clearly don’t have the first clue of other people’s lived reality.