So said Oscar Wilde during his trial in 1895. Of course, he’s right. A book is fiction, it’s not real. It’s no indication of the real life intent or lifestyle of either the reader or the author.
Except that it is.
There’s been enough talk in the media this month about people wanting to round us gays up, put us in camps, beat us straight, take our rights away and otherwise treat us worse than animals. That’s not what this post is about. Instead, I want to think about the casual, everyday homophobia ingrained in our culture. Behaviour people don’t even realise is homophobic. Behaviour by people who, if you called them homophobes, would argue vehemently they are pro-gay and support equal rights.