I got this idea after reading another thread. I know this won't prove anything as this is relatively a small community, but I was just curious

I think they're both as (globally) widespread - although I'd say that racism affects a greater number of people.

Hmm. In the U.S., I'd say both are fairly widespread, but overt racism is frowned upon in a way that overt homophobia isn't.

e.g., on the thread, there were a number of people posting a variation on "I don't hate them, but they flaunt it/why should they have rights/lesbians are cool but men holding hands grosses me out", and I can't see anyone saying "I don't hate blacks, I just don't think they should be allowed to go to school with my kids/find their hair really gross/whatever" without getting (rightly) shouted down.

I have never been to the US so I have somewhat of a limited perspective... but tell me, are homosexuals likely to become victims of profiling in the same way that blacks are likely to be victims of racial profiling by police?

As pointed out in that opinion piece on the other thread - gays are routinely denied rights everyone else (regardless of race) enjoys under the bill of rights.

Certainly I would say that gays experience institutional discrimination. Simple example - there is no immigration option for gay marriage.

Mel_and_Daniel,

Interesting poll - I wonder the extent to which people are either both or neither?

Yodrak

Only a black homosexual person can answer this question...

I voted equally widespread.

mawilson,

I thought it would take a WASP homosexual .....

Yodrak

Racism--which is certainly much harder to hide from (the fact that homosexuals talk of "coming out of the closet"--tell me which closet an African-American or Asian-American can hide in?).

Racism.

I don't think you can define prevalence of hate by how easily its targets can hide themselves from it.

I think there is less homophobia in the UK than in the USA.

that's cause britain is closer to france

ditto

There's probably less racism in the UK as well.

Whenever something different coming along people get crazy...so i said both

i think that the two usually go hand in hand, in other words, in my experience, people who hold racist views generally also hold similar views when it comes to homosexuals...

as far as institutional discrimination, its hard to say because the discrimination occurs in different ways...i guess they tend to balance out to be equal though

i think it depends where you live. i think the more religious and traditional areas of the country have more homophobia. in nyc no one bats an eye when they see two men kissing or holding hands.

i think people tend to be more vocal about their homophobia, whereas most people aren't even aware of their own racism.

I'd have to say racism since it's usually easier to detect who is of another race. Just going by skin tone alone, we can isolate Hispanic Americans and African Americans; using distinct features, we can tell who is Asian American as well. The waters tend to get a little murky when we start looking at Jewish Americans (for instance) since anyone can potentially be Jewish through conversion; however, there is a birth line of Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews (which was traditionally passed down through the mother). But once again, it's difficult to tell who is Jewish, since barring blatant stereotypes, there are very few visual cues. In addition, Judaism is a religion, so it's very possible to argue that being Jewish is not so much a racial attribute as it is a religious one.

Whatever the case (in regards to Jews), the fact remains that racism, by and large, is far easier to locate due to pronounced features. Such is not the case with homosexuality and therefore, homophobia. Anyone of any race, religion, or culture could potentially be homosexual. Whether they wish to admit it (to themselves or others) is another case entirely, but it could still happen. Since homosexuality is much more easily hidden from view, I'd have to assume that homophobia (at least any such overt form) occurs less than racism.

Just for clarification, I don't believe homosexuality should be hidden from teenagers and adults, even though it very easily could be done. The reason I emphasize "teenagers and adults" is because I think children (specifically young children) should not be purposefully exposed to sexuality in any form, whether it's homo or hetero. Let kids be kids and enjoy their childhood. They'll have plenty of time to explore their sexuality and worry about "grownup" issues later.

What do you mean by "exposed"? My brother (6) and my sister (8) have always been around a lot of gay people, including committed couples, and they don't seem to think anything of it. their understanding seems to be that some people, like my dad and stepmom, marry the opposite sex and some people, like my dad's best friend, marry the same sex. they have no concept of "gay" or "straight." probably it will be a shock to them when they grow up and realize how much some people hate homosexuals, but really, it's something that SHOULD be shocking, IMO.

I don't like the context of "widespread" so I won't vote.

I wrote "purposefully exposed," which means something a bit different than merely "exposed." What I'm getting at is young children don't need to have sexuality of any kind thrust in their faces. If they see hetereosexual and homosexual couples (and ask questions), then that's fine. But that's different from shoving the concept of sexuality in their faces or lesson plans at school.

As I said before, let kids be kids. Why burden them with adult issues?

Unfortunately,they are equally widespread.

Nah,people in the UK are just as racist as we are in the USA.