As you didn't specify male or female queers I'd thought I'd try and answer your question. Firstly, whoever 'they' are have their figures a bit out. In my experience it's more like 1 in 7. In my profile I didn't put that I'm queer, I didn't think it was relevant on a site I joined so I could chat about footy and F1. I'd joined a thread on atheists last week and had been told by TFWNN that I was going to hell so I asked what did he think would happen to me as I'm gay and you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Apparently, I'm going to hell twice over!! That's why a lot of queers don't put themselves out there, don't forget Islam thinks we should be killed, the Catholics that we're unnatural etc, all because of our sexuality. I have laughed out loud at some of the comments posted on these boards, I don't see it as homophobic if it's said without hate, although most of the comments are about gay men, not women. Most people act differently when they find out someone's gay. In the main it's obvious when someone's queer, (in the flesh) online it's not. That anonymity allows people to be judged by the comments they make, nothing else. That could be why none of the other 899 have come out.
Queer's a word all of my mates use about ourselves, it was always thrown as an insult so to take it's power away, we started using it ourselves in the 70's.
seems like some words are ok for some, others are not. the gay people at my school never liked being called queer.
True, what some find acceptable some don't. I also think that age has a lot to do with it, older people like me don't mind it at all, and I include men and women in that, whilst the younger generation seem to.
It's not the words like gay, queer that are the problems. It's what precedes or follows them that's the problem.
We're getting off topic here. The OP asked why people like me hadn't made ourselves known and how we felt about homophobic stuff on this board. As yet, I haven't read any posts that really answer that question. At the end of the day, I've never seen name calling a problem, words have never broken any of my bones, fists and feet have.
I'm gay. I think the reason perhaps people don't talk about being gay or note it on their profiles as really it's immaterial and, as you can see, makes for a very dull and predictable thread indeed.
I don't mind the homophobic stuff on the forum. I have both male and female gay friends and they don't mind me having a laugh about it either.
I think most men who go to football are secretly a little bit gay, the whole point of going is that they get to leave their wife or girlfriend at home, and they get to hang out with other men, and when their team scores a goal they get to hug and kiss other men, and then next time they do sex on their wife they think about the man they kissed at football, this is not my opinion, I read it in a book, and there's nothing wrong with it, people should just be honest, that's why people become hooligans, so they can roll around on top of fans of other clubs, most hooligans are gay but scared to admit it.
