...

Before reading yaoi and yuri, I was conpeltely ok and open to the idea but I just wasn't as comfortable or wasn't as exposed to these kinds of relationships.

I had a lot of gay friends in middle school before my yaoi/yuri phase kicked in so I don't think reading had much of an affect (〜￣△￣)〜

well, i've always had a neutral feeling towards gays and lesbians, people of the lgbt group. i grew up with parents and family who don't support something like that so in the back of my mind i'm always aware of them, seeing them as "different." nothing negative. but after being introduced to yaoi, which led to me being more open-minded about the topic, i started falling towards the support side instead of just being neutral. now i don't really see them as any different. people just love who they want to love. even if it isn't of the "norm", it's still emotions and bonding between two individuals.

Accepted it ages before reading yaoi. Besides, I don't know of many yaoi which bear any resemblance to gay people I've know. I don't think of them the same way at all, and don't expect them to reflect each other.

One day little perverted me decided to go on youtube on the family laptop. I decided to search "girls making out" ever since that day, little me was never the same

when i was 8-12 i thought gay people were a bit strange for me, because my dad is kinda prejudiced and my mom never talked about it, i grew into a family that have couples woman x man. But when i was 13/14 i had some friends who were gay, so i understood that they are normal too and they have rights as us, since then i've been accustomed to homosexuality. i just started to read yaoi stuffs 2/3 years later (sorry for my english mistakes~~)

This is a pretty interesting question...

Note: Please do not be angry of my statements.... sorry for my jumbling statements and sorry for wrong usage of words..

In all honesty, I think it is pretty safe to say that I separate my fictional insights about LGBT with my personal insights of LGBT in the real world..

Yaoi, shonen-ai... I treat them with respect with other genre like Shoujo, SHonen, etc.
Yaoi gets me because not because the couple is gay but the plot and story line is different than what I am used to read and I got addicted because of the maturity and the different chemistry each main couple of story gives....

Gays in reality (from what I have noticed and met) are so different in the manga so I would not correlate the two...
From what I have encountered (in my place)....
most Gays are just like girls
1.most of them back stab too much if they hate someone and
2.they are mostly the people who is merciless in judging other people and
3.they love material things that most girls really loves to play

they just differ because
1.they are quite the strong one than most girls
2.and sometimes most of them are crossing the line of being appropriate and showing too much in their "for female oriented clothes" but some of them do not bother to wear girl's clothing
3.they are the terrifying ones to be enemies with, they have sharp tongues and physical strength that might take you down....
(all in my observation only)

my point is my perception of LGBT in reality is pretty much a little different than the fictional ones...
Not in "respect them aspect" cause i do respect and defend them if they are criticized in terms of their social standing..
I do mean their actions and acceptance of their relationship is much there I have difference...

In mangas, they are portrayed as beautiful couple but in reality i have never met a real gay couple and they act so differently from the guys that I have read in manga that makes me say, so who am I to judge the real ones effect???

Well, this is just me...

i guess for me yea i accepted afterwards. i grew up in a pretty traditional family and my parents are prejudice against homosexuals. i didn't hate homosexuals when i was younger but i guess becuz of my surroundings i didn't like them very much either. it's kinda like how when kids are young they say eww to everything about romance, that's kinda how i felt about it when i was younger. but not becuz that's how i truly felt about it but becuz everyone else around me was doing it too. thru manga, anime, etc i got to learn more about homosexuals and sexuality in general and now have a more open mind about these things. my first BL book was when i was 12. it's interesting becuz my friends were the same. when i told them i read Yaoi in highschool and explain to them wat it is, they were disgusted at first but now they are fans too LOL

Nothing to be angry about :) Your thoughts are pretty common. I find them very interesting because I don't really know ANYONE that fits the bitchy insufferable queen gay stereotype and it makes my curiosity run wild. I've met plenty of mean and rude people but it doesn't seem to correlate with them being homosexual, so my best guess is that it's a cultural thing maybe? I'm a man and.. ummm well I've been around (*blushes) and the only thing I can tell you that has proven to be true in ALL contexts is that young people with a personality more on the "fiery" side is doomed to lash out and be exceptionally flashy/obnoxious because they feel the need to get in peoples faces when they feel left out of a group. It doesn't even have to be about homophobia, feeling different is enough to generate anxiety and the best thing for a wounded ego is to go full tsundere and they convince themselves of "I don't even care if you like me, BAKA". Yup that's the best I could come up.with. I just laughed at myself.

I'm very lucky to have an open family, with gay/bi etc. family members; (My uncle and my cousin.)

I didn't really understand all the discrimination or hate since I grew up with these people, so I didn't really hate them.

When I started reading yaoi and BL, it was a whole separate thing for me. I mean, yeah, it does involve the LGBTIQ+ community, but it's always just kind of been a genre for me. I can't even read many straight/hetero mangas anymore since BL has taken over my life.

I wouldn't say BL influenced my like and/or dislike towards gay people, since my beliefs have always been in place before I started reading, but that's just me, I guess. (￣∇￣")

I am so happy that someone replies to my reply.. I do really mean my words.. And thank you for your understanding

I am from Philippines, and gays are just there like any rest of gender/s available... Because of Catholic influence (mostly) and some cultural insights of gay men, we are thought that being gay is bad, so on and so forth...
So bringing them down because of cultural influence is pretty common, sadly, and when a gay is mocked by random stranger.. I just reply directly that they are great people and needs to be respected (saying that at least he/she has better life than you, hahaha)...

Well, I have met my gay classmates and acquaintance in college and yeah, I do get what you say about them being too tsundere.... Cause I have this classmate of mine that is sharp tongued but if you say nega about him he lashes out.... and a roommate of mine (lesbian) which if you oppose to her, she ignites you to fight her physically