Quote Originally Posted by jaina View Post
There seems to be an overwheming idea here that it is. The are many " I'm not homophobic", "I have nothing against", "I personally nave no problem" clauses in many of the posts that also contain anti-gay items and thoughts as a way to side-step and justify the bigoted ideas.

I beleive Battybatbats original question has been answered here with a resounding "yes". Being thought of as gay would be that bad for many here.

Your question is much more to the point, and will get many posts saying its not "bad", but with qualifiers. The general idea here seems to be that it is bad.
As one of the people who's used "qualifiers" in this and other threads, we're all human, we all have our own fears and flaws. I'd like to be able to say that I don't care at all about what other people might think or say about me, either to my face or behind my back, but I do care. I can say that I'm less defensive of being "labelled" than I used to be, but that sense of protecting my personal image in other people's minds is still there.

That's the way I am. If that makes me a bigot in other people's minds then so be it, I'm a bigot. I can't stop people from pinning their labels on me, but I would prefer that they used the right labels for the right reasons rather than the wrong labels for the wrong reasons.

How many people can truely say that they have absolutely no concern about what other people might think or say about them?