Reply #6: I don't see why people are surprised about this. . . [View All]

. . . many Americans I meet expect that Europe (including "liberal" places like France) is a bastion of gay-affirming tolerance and acceptance.

It's not.

I've seen homophobia in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK which would curl your hair. Europe's tolerant in the big cities -- just like in the USA -- and not too tolerant in the country. It just happens to be a bit more urban than America.

Not too long ago, there was a horrendous hate crime in France where they splashed gas on an openly gay man and set him alight -- he burned to death. And the governments of the UK, France, Germany, Italy and others have all gone on the record opposing gays in the military (until the ECJ forced them to change that policy) and have all arrested religious and political people who have held gay marriages. In Britain under the CP laws, a priest who conducts a ceremony as part of your civil partnership has committed a criminal offence and can be fined 5,000 pounds and sent to prison.

The idea that Europe is a progressive bastion simply isn't true. It's a bit ahead of the USA when things are averaged out, but only because it's more urban.

(edited to fix typo)