There were plenty of gays and lesbians in Jesus time...
Really? Your evidence for that? I'm not necessarily disputing, I just wonder whether that's factual or an assumption.
I am a 60 year old cis white male ...
So am I.
... raised in a family and society that was misogynist, bigoted, racist against blacks and had many negative preconceived notions about lgtbq folk.
So was I. Not KKK you understand, but what we call 'casual —ism' over here. Dad expected to do the dad thing, mum the mum thing, etc. Bearing in mind my folks were Irish, and suffered their own degree of racism – no Irish, no blacks, no dogs was a common sight in rental accommodation — it's surprising how unconsciously and unwittingly racist people can be. My mum was a childminder for a West Indian family and they were close friends, but looking back from today's moral standpoint, the whole culture was pretty racist. The daughter of that Trinidadian family was my best pal growing up, and listening to her mum bang on about Nigerians was something else! So it goes ...
As I've grown, lived and traveled I've learned it all.to be BS and mostly stemming from unfamiliarity and fear of the unknown.
Well a white cis male is about the most privileged thing on the planet, and travel broadens the mind, as they say.
But many of our generation did not 'live', in the sense they grew up, left school, got a job, and followed in their parent's well-worn path. And many did not 'travel', so the local sociological patterns are laid down unconsciously.
One of my daughters went to university and was staggered by the degree of casual racism, sexism, etc., among her contemporaries. What stood out is that, unlike her, they grew up in small towns and had no experience of 'others', their hometowns were predominantly white. They have all the advantages of a modern education, but they are racist, sexist, etc. Why? Because they've never actually been exposed to anything different.
As a complete aside, most of the UK thinks that London is a different planet. Our friendgroup are gobsmacked to realise that the rest of the country does not share their liberal-left metrocentric views.
I thank G!d I learned to reject those notions of my youth.
Lucky for you ...
(Note none of my experience has made be gay, female or black, I've only learned that none of these are choices...but prejudices are!)
LOL! My big sis thought I'd grow up gay — I'm not an 'alpha male' and didn't suffer too much teenage angst growing up because I grew up with three sisters and was comfortable in the presence of women, and also had learned how to read them and see through their shenanigans as much as my own gender's.
I was 'hit on' quite a lot by predatory males growing up because I looked younger than my years. I remember the day, crossing a road in London that happened to be a hooker hangout, and was propositioned by a woman! Success! I've made it! I'd have high-fived her if I'd thought about it.
But from that I've learned to understand why so many men conflate 'homosexual' and 'paedophile' — it's from such experiences. It never occurs to young men that older men who hit on them might actually be repressed heterosexuals.
Anyway ... all our biographising is by-the-by ...
