AIBU for being uncomfortable with my gay coworker's comments

[MyPinkPeer]

I have a coworker who ive known for over a year now, he happens to be gay and ive no issue with that. It rarely comes up besides when he mentions his partner but I treat straight coworkers mentioning their partners in the same way.

The other day we were all talking about sad cases (yes we do have the time and space to chit chat at work within reason), someone mentioned that poor three year old boy. Someone else mentioned another case about a missing teenage girl, and the coworker I mentioned before decided to mention a case about a 9 year old girl who was violated by a transgender woman, as well as the baby who happened to have been adopted/ fostered by a gay couple and was killed. I didnt know about the former case at first but I knew about baby preston and never even thought to make it political, I remember crying when I first read about the case

My coworker then spent a bit over 10 minutes talking about discrimination and how it'll be used to paint every lgbt person with the same brush. He did seem genuinely upset and when someone said "those poor children" he acknowledged it briefly but went back to talking about how it'll be used to fuel anti lgbt sentiments, and even mentioned about case with the 9 year old child, 'if that woman had already transitioned then she shouldn't be in a male prison, they'll use this to strip rights away bit by bit.' He did then say 'of course no-one should go off Scott free for something like that' but his focus very much was not on the children.

Aibu to feel uncomfortable. Again ive ZERO issue with him being gay. This just struck me as inappropriate. I have a gay family member too, and his first reaction to the case with the baby Preston was 'how evil, that's why people still consider the death penalty in some places.' I do understand that my coworker is more involved in the lgbt scene than my family member and he does know trans people personally, but it just felt like a strange thing to focus on. Especially when as terrible And sad as the other cases that were brought up were, they weren't about rape

I would avoid these conversations at work. How grim.

I think he’s viewing it through the lens of the issues that are important to him. Of course he cares about the welfare of children but as a gay man I understand his anxiety (as in, he is a gay man, not me).

If and when he has children I am certain his tune will change. If you ask any number of LGBTQ people what they think of those cases their answers will likely be more focused on the children. But I understand the anxiety around whether this would make it harder for LGBTQ people to adopt. However, we sadly have to accept that evil is everywhere and I have no doubt that statistically the risks with straight or gay couples adopting are the same. What isn’t acceptable is the apparent lack of background checks on one of the dads who I believe had a history of dodgy behaviour.

There were multiple threads on mumsnet about why gay men shouldn't adopt after that story. As an LGBT parent, I felt sick reading them. As a mum of a baby boy, I was sobbing over what happened to that baby. It can be both.