Its a sad fact but you are not going to change very many adults or the way they view things. You cannot enlighten bigots. You cannot change prejudice. You cannot make people who are homophobic take on a new insight and become new people. Most people are the products of how they were raised. And you simply cannot teach an old dog new tricks. So how can we prevent and fight homophobia? Well, it needs to start with a new generation.

The fight must be started in your home. It must start with your children. You cannot raise your children to be racist or bigots. You cannot raise them to be homophobic. You must teach them acceptance of everyone and everything. It doesn't matter what color your skin is or what you do behind closed doors with a person that you love and care about. You cannot judge a person by their lifestyle choices but you judge them by their heart. If they are good people then it doesn't matter what color they are or if they choose to share their life with a same sex partner. This is what you teach your children and then tomorrow life will change.

We cannot change the past and we cannot even really change the present. Most adults are stuck in a rut and unwilling or unable to truly change their viewpoints. The viewpoints they had were formed by their parents to them in childhood. We have seen some change take effect as mainstream American begins to change and become more accepting. My parents raised me to accept everyone regardless of their sexual choices or their race. I applaud my parents for this. I think it has given me a very liberal viewpoint. I'm also lucky enough to live in a very liberal state who doesn't stereotype people but is very accepting and very western thinking. So all of this had had strong influence on my viewpoints. But my husband was raised in the Midwest and the south by very bigoted and racist parents and he is, unfortunately, a product of who raised him. I have tried to talk to him about his viewpoints but I have come to accept that he is who he is and he will not easily change. Alright he has come a long ways. He has met some of my friends who are homosexual and they have enlightened him and made him far less prejudice then he used to be. I was surprised and shocked him he actually become close friends with one of them and has maintained that friendship in an accepting way for some time now. So perhaps some people can change with time and patience and simply education. So we have agreed to raise our children to not be racist or prejudice and judge mental . I'm hoping that their generation will truly change mainstream America all the way and we will not have to see the hate that my generation has witnessed. So that is our fight to change the way the future goes. It starts with our children.

Learn more about this author, Kim Sharpe.
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