Northen Ireland, the "hate capital of the West"

[rusty charly]

Northern Ireland is “ the hate capital of the West”, according to new university research, with an astonishing 44% of its citizens proving disturbingly homophobic.

The research from University of Ulster, to be published in economics journal Kyklos, said that Northern Ireland matches Greece in their significant animosity toward gays and immigrants.

Vani Borooah, Professor of Applied Economics of University of Ulster and John Mangan, Professor of Economics at the University of Queensland collaborated in the study, which surveyed 32,000 people across 19 European counties, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.

The Human Rights and Values survey asked respondents what they thought of minority groups – and how they would feel about having members of certain groups as their neighbors.

http://uk.gay.com/headlines/11033

[xchrom]

1. it's sad -- but a combination of rigid church teaching --

both catholic and protestant meeting up with a virtual war zone and the hard economics times that come with that make the outcome rather inevitable.

my hope is that lgbtq youth can get the hell out of there.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

2. I've been to both Ireland's before, and found them to be scarily racist

I went with a group of people that were mixed, white, black, asian. I have NEVER seen racism so up close in my face before in both Northern Ireland and Ireland. Its shocking to see white people hating white people, but both groups hate everyone else who is different from them.

and on edit: I did not find any homophobia when I was there...In fact, I found Northern Ireland to be a much open place then Ireland, especially Dublin.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

3. I backpacked across Ireland a few years ago and I didn't find the homophobia significant.

I wasn't in Northern Ireland, though. I really have no desire to go there. As far as I'm concerned, the Orangemen are an occupying force. It's just apartheid against the Catholics.

[smtpgirl]

5. Was in Central Ireland, Limerick to be exact and I didn't find

any racisim either.

Maybe that is why my Scots-Irish ancestors came to America.

I am a believer of an older/wiser way of life Celt/Pagan

Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Judiasm have all separated peoples, that is why I am cynical of religious beliefs.

[IntravenousDemilo]

4. The Greeks have "significant animosity towards gays"? Whodathunkit?

Especially since they practically invented gayness...

[Dastard Stepchild]

6. My ex is from Ireland...

The Republic of Ireland (not Northern Ireland). She found it incredibly oppressive there. She forbid me from holding her hand or touching her in any way in public. Of course, when she was here in the US, I made it a point of falling all over her just to fluster her. :)

Thankfully, there are few places in my state where someone can feel relatively comfortable in publicly expressing their affections.