| It is a pretty interesting question to me whether it is rare or common to change the attitudes with which we are raised, especially with regard to today's young people from conservative religious backgrounds who end up at much more liberal colleges.
hs class of '74; raised in an extremely conservative area of the country by parents who absolutely never tolerated anti-homosexal language: a common slang word was "queer" which was only uttered once under their roof. I vividly remember asking in my early teens whether homosexuality was normal because they were so very frightening in their response, which made it clear that even asking the question was inappropriate and insulting. I suspect, thinking back on comments overheard as a child, that there was a closeted relative in the generation proceeding them. A few years ago, a great-aunt in her 90's, absolutely out of the blue, asked me if one of my sons "didn't like girls" and while I was still recovering from my astonishment at the question, patted my knee and looked me straight in the eye and firmly said, "you know, that is quite all right." |