Homophobic or Open?

I am curious. I wonder if SL is regarded as a friendly and accepting environment to Gays. This is a serious question. I have far MORE gay friends in my real life than I know here - and often there is a kinda "nudge nudge wink wink" attitude to the gay community here which is so out of date in the real world.
Comments please.

Seems about the same environment as RL to me (far as I can tell, we're all anonymous) but then again, I'm in California.

Not too many people really care in California; it's kind of juvenile to worry about such things.


The oddness of SL however continues to astound.

I'd had one friend teasing me (fairly good-naturedly) whom I figured to be either a straight female or a gay male... turned out to be a straight male.

My thought was: If I'm straight and so are you, *why* are you doing this!?

It didn't particularly agitate me or anything either; realise I'm generally drowning in work and have almost no social life left on the grid.

I imagine SL attracts those who are not comfortable in coming out in the real world, either because of fear, or because of their life circumstances (marriage, children, etc) makes the decision less than straight forward. It will also attract those who are simply curious.

As for whether SL is more accepting, well I think it really depends which part of the world you live in.

"nudge nudge wink wink" attitude to the gay community here ???

i'm not sure what "community" you're hanging out in jig.

only a handful of my human friends in sl are straight. and ALL of my male neko friends are gay.

edit: and no one is in the closet here.

I really don't know what you mean. I've never felt like I was on the other side of some kind of patronizing inside joke in SL.

SL is a bunch of servers that reside mostly in San Francisco, let's not forget. And to even begin to enter SL, a person has to sign a form agreeing to the community standards, which includes a promise not to descriminate against gays.

My outlook is probably skewed because I spend most of my time on my own turf. The part of SL that I own has to "nudge nudge wink wink" at straight people, I suppose. Ironically, my gay resort has become more of a haven for straight women. Maybe because they tend to like a universe designed by a gay man, or maybe because they like being away from the type of straight guy who wouldn't want to be there, or maybe both.

I've been in SL for Over three years, and as a lesbian i've found the atmosphere as open, and as Comfortable as it could possibly be. I have run into one or two people who's minds are still stuck in the 40's But on the whole SL is a Place where I feel completely at ease, and i have no fear in stating exactly who, and what i am.

Angel.

There seems to be a lot of lesbians running around so I guess it's pretty open.

I have a large amount of gay friends in RL and have found probably, an equal amount of gay people inworld as well. Seems about the same to me. And equally as open. But that might be because I'm from NY originally, and still live in the general vacinity where it's not a big deal.

And in SL, it certainly has not been any issue; haven't run into people trying to hide their orientation from me, for the most part and actually, people seem way more flexible with their sexuality here, since it's so easy to experiment without consequence to their RL situations.

I have constant requests for gay and lesbian menu driven furnishings etc so i would say there are many in SL and most on the grid are tolerant and not stuck in the 40's.

Oops my bad. I read the OP to be the complete reverse of what it was, and so my reply reflected that misunderstanding. I think SL is very open, not just to homosexuality, but to many other things, too.

Personally, I have never known an openly gay person in RL. I know and am friends with several in SL.

I've met all kinds of people in SL, and any gay/bi/transgender people I've met were totally relaxed about their orientation. I'm bi myself but don't really "advertise" it. Usually.

Give this guy a wooden spoon.

i have found MOST places to be open and accepting, there are however a few that persist in making gays feel not welcomed (putting it nicely)

Congrats for not naming the group or the sim. Biggest sign of maturity I have ever seen you show.

I've lived all around the U.S. including the Southern states and Los Angles and I have to say that SL is much more like Los Angeles. I see very little homophobia that goes on. The only segregation I see is within the gay community itself. Many gays, it seems, choose to live in primarily gay communities and go to primarily gay clubs. That's what I did when I first arrived, but not anymore. In fact, I rarely go to a gay club anymore and don't live in a gay community and have faced no homophobia.

One thing that saddens me most is that one of the most popular gay clubs in SL has one of the most restrictive policies. They have a sign at the entrance that says No Furries, No Women and No Trannies. Having many friends in all three of those categories I could no longer justify going to that club and refuse to go there any longer.

With a few exceptions, SL seems about as homophobic as Greenwich Village.

Most of my SL friends are gay. They're all hot, too. *nudge nudge, wink wink*

/me turns to his boyfriend and asks in astonishment, "There are gay people in SL?!?"

I am not gay/bisexual/transgendered in Second Life but I am open about being who I am to my pixel-ated friends here. My friends accept me.
In real life I don't really hang out in Gay places, I don't do it in SL either its not requirement for me. For me being Gay or whatever is small part of who I am. I am not having sex or romantic relationships 24/7 with everyone so its sort of irrelevant.
Some things I just don't think are any one else's business. I don't go up to strangers in real life or SL and tell every thing about myself but I am not hiding stuff either.
My sex life is pretty much non-existent and irrelevant most of time here.
But I have run into few people occasionally that have some "issues" with Gay people here just like real life. Most of time it's just a non-issue for me.

I just wondered whether, since anyone can be who or what they like in SL, any guys or gals who are 'straight' in real life play gay males/females in SL. All possibilities need to be considered!

I'm not lesbian! Just ask my girlfriend! lol

I have never seen anyone in SL be anything less than welcoming to gay people. I suppose there are people out there who are homophobic and express this in SL, but i personally have never seen it.
Sexual orientation is never a big factor for me. Being straight, i almost always assume people are straight unless told otherwise (wierd isn't it?), but it really doesn't bother me either way.

You know, I toyed with creating a gay male alt (I'm a straight female) because all of my gay male friends always felt I was a gay man trapped in a women's body lol.

I just haven't gotten around to it, or haven't felt a burning need to do so, but probably would enjoy the experience quite a lot. God knows I've had enough experience running around with all of them to probably play it right

BTW, for sure, I'm after Bradley or Avion if I ever do!

This is the metaverse. People/animals/fairytale critters/robots/younameit have sex all the time and nobody cares who does what with who/what. Anyone who's been in SL more than 2 months has already achieved a zen-like state of "meh...whatever."