Originally a comment by Sackbut on The cuppa accords.
If Muslim homophobia is just a result of never having shared tea with a gay person, that would be even more ridiculous than being homophobic because a non-existent god spoke to a deluded ‘prophet’ back in the days when no one had indoor plumbing…or religious freedom.
Indeed. There are plenty of people, some of whom I’ve known, who make homophobic comments, or make racially insensitive statements, or express sexist views, despite having a family member or close friend or spouse who is a member of the maligned group. Certainly plenty of married men disparage women.
I think part of the issue was well captured by an old Doonsebury comic about Ronald Reagan, in which Reagan was decrying “welfare queens”. An aide described a woman in a difficult situation who needed help, and Reagan said to go find this woman and help her. The aide said it wasn’t a specific woman, but a general class of people, and Reagan went back to complaining about the “welfare queens” again.
That is, there is a difference between how people deal with one individual and how they deal with a whole class of people. It may be possible for this hypothetical Muslim man to sympathize with this one gay man over coffee/tea, but not necessarily to extend that to the general idea of gay men. The “cuppa” only goes so far.