perceptions
In the last 12 months alone, nine per cent of lesbian, gay and bisexual people experienced a hate crime or incident. This includes 14 per cent of gay men and 11 per cent of lesbians, with rates dropping to six per cent of bisexual men and four per cent of bisexual women. The differences between those who identify as gay or lesbian and those as bisexual may, in part, be due to many bisexual people reporting that their sexual orientation is less easily identified.
Because I don’t look like people’s perception of a stereotypical lesbian, I tend not to get targeted – plus I am always very careful of how I behave e.g. not holding hands with a partner, making sure that any gay magazines/other items aren’t visible to others, etc. It is more difficult for friends who are perceived as being lesbians or live with a partner (so it’s more difficult to hide it from the neighbours).
I am a femme looking, straight looking woman who is gay. I ‘pass’ is the short hand way of looking at it, therefore I don’t get a lot of attention; my butch girlfriends get harassed far more than I.
Very interesting.
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