As an older guy who was just finishing high school at the time of the Stonewall riots, I'd say, "Of <i>course</i> there has been a huge change in attitudes towards homosexuality." But you can't say that <i>America as a whole</i> is now open-minded. It's just that so many more individuals are open minded that it shifts the whole attitude of society. I have to say that the change happened because we gay people came out of our closets—and it took a lot of courage. But it is much harder to talk about faggots, queers (I still think of that word as about the equivalent of "nigger" even if some people think it's cool), dykes and fairies when you are going to have to face someone who is willing to say, "I'm here, I'm queer, get used to it."<br><br>Really, that's what did it. In the old days, straight people actually believed that they had never met any homosexuals (though they suspected that the church organist might be…) But, in fact, a lot of straight people really are pretty nice. Once they met gay people who were out in the open, they could see that we weren't monsters, so opinions began to change. Here is a little story that illustrates this change:<br><br>I was at a mall recently here in Boston and I was irritated by a salesperson who asked me as I walked by his booth whether I was married. "No," I responded, "I'm gay."<br>

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This guy didn't bat an eye and responded, "So what? This is Massachusetts. You can be married!"<br>

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I felt a bit shocked. Even though I have been to several gay weddings, for some reason the full reality hadn't sunk in until that moment. Holy shit! it really is considered to be normal! And I know that this change happened because we who were kids in the 1960s just said, "Enough is enough!"<br>

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By the way, I see the same kind of transformation in the amazing "Arab Spring", where kids in Egypt and Tunesia managed to bring down oppressive governments without becoming violent themselves. There have been a series of changes from Gandhi to Martin Luther King, to Harvey Milk, to the present. Wow! It's slow, but maybe there really is progress. So, me, I am feeling happy and optimistic in many ways and really kind of proud of the younger generation.

Well, I know that it's a slow progress. It's like a same concept as equal/civil rights for African American back in 1950's to 1960's. But, the equal/civil rights movement for African American still continues today, since it is a slow progress to help the people to understand that African Americans are equal human as whte people. Honestly, there are discriminaton against bascially everything, such as homosexuality, disability, race, religion, and gender in America, and also over the world. My girlfriend is deaf, which is a disability. She was discriminated before. To make a long story short, when she was in 5th grade, she was having a difficulty time with her math skills, and she didn't really have a teacher for the deaf (it's not the same as interpreter. basically, teacher for the deaf go to her classes, sit in the back of the classroom and take notes as the students listen to the teacher/taking the notes, and then review the concepts or go over schoolworks/homeworks during her resource room period.). So, she was suggested to be in special education math, which I think is ridiculous. The chairperson of special education disagree wtih my girlfriend's mom about letting her stay in the mainstream math. This chairperson of special education is so baised because she think my girlfriend was a special education need, and that most deaf people are. She didn't realized how smart my girlfriend is, and that she should been in all mainstream classes. All deaf people aren't special education students just because they are deaf and didn't understand everything, all they need was to learn in little bit different way. But, no one have answer my question- are churches or temples in America are now becoming open minded towards homosexuality and accept it? I want to know the answer. Do you think in later years, America will progress to be more open minded towards homosexuality? Thanks!