General Discussion

I was a child of the 80s, graduated high school in 1990. I had some really close gay friends in my mid-western very religious city. I don't think some younger people (or even older) understand what it meant to be gay (or even just have gay friends like me as a straight kid) back then in a lot of places. We were under constant threat of assault wherever we went. Too many instances to count of having full grown men pull over to try to start something with us just for walking down the road or going to the 7-11.

As a straight man with gay friends who he wasn't the least bit ashamed of, I endured constant questions about my "manhood", constant threats of physical assault, and constant fear of getting caught alone in the wrong place. Gay kids and adults were constantly getting jumped and beaten badly and no one seemed to care much to stop it. I'm glad this is more rare now, but it still happens far too frequently.

And the police weren't inclined to take "gay bashing" seriously until well into the 90s.