Mateen’s hostility toward seeing two men show affection played out in an extreme way, but in the US, it’s emblematic of a barrier the LGBTQ community faces. Even with support for marriage equality reaching record highs at 55 percent, there’s still an “ick” factor that comes when seeing two people — specifically, two men — show affection.
A study published in the American Sociological Review in 2014 showed heterosexual people are willing to support formal rights for same-sex couples, such as inheritance rights, hospital visitation access, and marriage equality. But when it comes to seeing same-sex couples kiss and hold hands in public, straight men (and to a lesser extent, straight women) think LGBTQ people should curb the public display of affection. [...]
Still, it’s not just straight people who balk when two men show their love. Gay male participants in the study were “significantly less approving of the gay couple kissing on the cheek and French kissing, compared to the heterosexual couple” doing the same things in public, the journal article reads.
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