Glad we’re on the same page because I found this interesting. I do think it’s getting much better especially with younger people. Even in the places I’ve been in Oklahoma, it’s more tolerant than you think. Still not great but not hellish.
And I appreciate the consideration for my experience, it’s not perfect. One of my parents is largely accepting but not fully supportive and the other is unsupportive and the relationship is tenuous. I do agree it’s getting better and somewhat quickly, but I’ve had to deal with a lot more crap coming out than what I expected to. It’s opened my eyes to what other minorities have to deal with, the micro-aggressions are very real. Even just having a parent call my partner my “friend” is a huge offense that they don’t really recognize.
Anyways that may be more than you asked for but it’s really hard to get a picture of the intolerance without directly experiencing it and I didn’t understand that beforehand.
Even just having a parent call my partner my “friend” is a huge offense that they don’t really recognize.
Yeah, I can totally understand that. Saying “partner” or “SO” shouldn’t be an issue at all, it doesn’t even require them to acknowledge your partner as your spouse, it only requires recognizing the special relationship you two share.
I’m hopeful that most of this type of thing comes from a place of ignorance instead of malice. But yeah, I don’t have first-hand experience, the closest I have is an immigrant spouse, but the main conflict we have is neighbors “not understanding” them when they talk (my spouse’s accent is very minor, and when we met, I thought they grew up here). That doesn’t hold a candle to what other minorities go through day-to-day.
