I think he raises an interesting point. A very close family member of mine is gay, and in any other scenario I will say something if someone is being homophobic. However, as David's article alludes to, at the game it's generally met just with a disbelieving shake of my head. Deep down I feel like I should make a stand for my sister, but another part of me thinks is it really worth kicking off every week?! I hate myself for it, but I imagine even she wouldn't really want that.
I sit (stand) in 111 and it's rife there. Opposition players, and our own, are flippantly dismissed as "faggots" if they lose a challenge. Literally anyone wearing pink in the away end is met with a chorus of "Who's the faggot in the pink?". It's a painfully shit and unfunny chant, and depressing to hear but, paradoxically, it's not sung with quite the same vitriol as certain other songs.
Not that this suggests any great liberalism amongst those singing it; the jist is that homosexuality is a diss, an insult, rather than the source of hatred or loathing. Is that progression? I dunno.
Not that I can talk; the same issue in the stands exists here on Bluemoon, inevitably, and has been dealt with in the same weak manner I mentioned. I've been accused in the past of turning a blind eye to homophobia on here (this being Bluemoon, I've also been accused of being "pro-gay", whatever that means).
The problem, on the forum at least, is distinguishing between those who are genuinely homophobic (who are invariably banned) and those who either flippantly or supposedly "post ironically" use "gay" or "faggot" as an insult. Either way, it's shit and should stop.
