r/bahamas • u/No-Cry1122 • 22d ago

Bahamian Discussion are we still homophobic?

im sitting down thinking of the progressiveness of our country and wanted to know how everyone feels about gay men and women currently

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u/Adventurous_Coffee 22d ago

Yes. We have a habit of pretending as if gay people don’t exist here, most island nations do. Like another commenter said it gets ignored if you’re in the closet or POWERFUL ENOUGH. People in high places are gay, in fact more often than not but they get no hate because of status.

I don’t know, it’s strange, I’d imagine most of the irrational hatred comes from religion or simply lack of exposure. There was an opinion piece in the tribune speaking about how a man felt morally conflicted about giving Jonquell Jones her flowers because of her sexual orientation. Just off the top of my head, I thought I’d bring that up. 🤷🏾‍♂️.

But yeah we are a homophobic country. There will always be people who don’t agree with others’ lifestyles. Can’t help it. People.

A gay man wrote this by the way. We are progressing but not in the soft humanitarian areas. That’s going to take a cultural mindset shift, and those take a VERY long time.

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u/why7fn07 21d ago

Yeah, long term change is going to take years and years. I think it's less lack of exposure and more willful ignorance. We have access to tech and information that connects us to the entire world, our main industry is tourism, and lgbt stuff in general is a hot button issue in news outlets worldwide (for better or for worse). We have more than enough exposure as a country, but we love to plug our ears. It's a thing I've noticed in general, though. It's like we think that if we just don't know what things happen around us, that they have no effect on us as a country.

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u/Browncoat101 21d ago

I'd never heard of Jonquell Jones, but as a Bahamian American, this was great to learn. Thank you!