As a nation, there has long been an indictment against us on the international stage – our seemingly rabid stance against anything that remotely can be linked to same-sex unions, movies and even the proximity to which they can share space.

A typical male will not sit beside another man on a bus, and to further prove how totally extreme we will go to show we are ‘straight’, we have renamed the places we all grew up knowing like Mandeville and Manchester because real men will not discuss anything that mentions ‘man’ in it. It is silly as it is annoying

Being ‘straight’

Still, the perceptions persist, hence more and more young men grow up believing that in order to get comfortable with their sexuality, they have to prove they are straight all the times.

Homophobia is said to be rife, but is it really or is it just an illusion? Are we really as homophobic as a nation as people say? Let’s do the checklist below.

1. If you want to disrespect someone, it is the first or main insult you draw for.

2. If you see two men going about their business and they seem too ‘chummy’, you call up an insult in their direction.

3. You change the TV channel if any show or programming with same-sex situations are being featured without even hearing what it is about.

4. If you suspect or hear that someone is gay, you do not shake their hands.

5. You steer or draw your children away for people who are believed to be gay as if they can ‘catch’ the ‘gayness’.

6. You honestly believe that gay men are out to molest all little boys.

7. You refuse to make your son even touch a doll.

8. In your opinion the word ‘gay’ is negative and cannot represent the old traditional definition of ‘happy’.

9. The sight of a same-sex couple makes you upset.

10. You do not want to be ‘guilty by association’, so you strive to always distance yourself and will not even speak to a known homosexual.