This amazing short explains what homophobia feels like in 2018
(Photo: BBC The Social)
An emotive video short sums up how it feels to be out in public with your partner and what homophobia looks like in 2018.
A four-minute-long BBC video has tugged at heartstrings and shown the world what homophobia still feels like in 2018, challenging the idea held by some that LGBT+ people aren’t discriminated against in the modern day or in cities.
Made by BBC’s ‘The Social’, a project for up-and-coming creative talent in Scotland, ‘Time for Love’ is a short poem that focuses on the moment a man decides whether or not to kiss his partner goodbye in a Glasgow park.
The video has since gone viral after it was shared on Facebook by the main BBC One account, which has nearly three million subscribers.
(Photo: BBC The Social)
The moment will be familiar to many LGBTQ people, as you weigh up whether or not to show affection to your partner in a public space for fear of the reaction you may get from passers-by.
Many people have argued that homophobia hasn’t disappeared, it’s merely in stealth mode. Just because people are less likely to use homophobic slurs openly doesn’t mean that homophobia has disappeared — as many LGBT people can tell you.
The poet calls himself a “walking meal for the mouths of normality” as he details the stares and comments he could face from strangers who see him and his partner as ‘abnormal’.
The poet hits out at strangers who think that being gay is abnormal while not being ‘normal’ themselves, including a heterosexual couple, a parent with her children and an older man.
“Normality is a crowd-sourced fantasy,” the poet says.
(Photo: BBC The Social)
The poet then goes on to criticise those who use their faith as an excuse for homophobia, and the impact that can have on religious and non-religious LGBT people alike.
“I should be holding a hand, but I’m holding shame instead,” he says.
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The video continues and shows a parent with her children, who aggressively tells the poet: “I’ve got nothing against gays, but do you have to do it in front of my kids?”
As the irate parent walks away, the poet powerfully says: “they never do stay long enough to look you in the eyes.”
(Photo: BBC The Social)
As the short ends, the poet makes a decision whether or not to kiss his partner, in a beautiful and stirring finale.
The video shows a brilliant message of the reality of being openly gay in 2018, or as the poet puts it: “why is a goodbye kiss no walk in the park.”
Many of the comments on the video were supportive, with several people calling the short “beautiful” and “moving”.
Sadly, others were less complimentary, with many people missing the point of the emotive short entirely, saying that while they ‘supported’ gay people, they wouldn’t want to see two men kissing.
We’ve still got a long way to go.
Watch the short on BBC iPlayer below
