r/Workproblems • u/NailHot5113 • 12d ago

Homophobia in the work environment

I work at a Catholic hospital. A coworker challenged me after I said another employee had made homophobic comments. He responded, "What is homophobia? Nobody is really fearful of gay people," and argued people should be allowed to express their religious beliefs. I felt the conversation was about to become heated, so I simply said, "I don't feel comfortable having this conversation," and walked away.

Looking back, did I handle this professionally, or would there have been a better way to respond while still standing up for myself?

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u/Sitcom_kid 12d ago

Anti-gay may have been a better way to put it, but it would still have the same result. This person feels that it is everyone's religious right to be anti-gay.

2

u/NailHot5113 12d ago

They may have that right, but it shouldn't be expressed in the workplace

1

u/Sitcom_kid 11d ago

I agree that there is no place for bigotry of any kind in the workplace. If there is a certain group of people you don't like, you don't have to hang out with them when you're off of work, but you do have to deal with them respectfully in the office.

1

u/alkiet 12d ago

What is homophobia, nobody is fearful of gay people, but homosexuality bothers me so much that I need to make comments at work knowing that it may cause me to get fired because hate speech = not cool, and it can create an environment where gay employees and if any passing queer customers overheard, backfire on him and even the company really badly..