Due to the laws of the 1930s, Jonathan and Graham are forced to hide their true relationship. How has our world changed or not changed since then regarding acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community?
There are more people that accept these relationships but in 2026 we still have a long way to go.
Interesting! I wonder if the answer would be dependent on who was asked this question. Personally, in my world people do accept human differences and praise them. Wouldn’t it be boring if all of us were exactly alike! I appreciate people being devoted to each other no matter the sexual inclination. To others sexual preference has become a political/religious issue when it should be personal choice.
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We are little more open minded except for the barbarians at the gates who are afraid of their own sexuality. As I read and figured out their relationship, all I could do was think of what England did to Alan Turing, a man who helped save Europe from Hitler.
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The fight against homophobia has gone on for many years and when the AIDS epidemic hit, the hate factor rose exponentially. Sometime after that legislation kicked in to protect and show public acceptance. Unfortunately, since 2016 we have been on a dangerous very slippery slope with blatant open statements being made by high ranking public officials. Couple that with all the rest of the overt actions against rights, and the immediate future appears ominous. I know people who are moving to Canada, some to other countries, to flee the insanity.
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I think the world has changed tremendously. This community is now widely accepted by many people. I initially was thinking while reading why don’t they come out of the closet and had to remind myself what year it was in the book.
I agree with Lorraine. I live in a “red” state, and open hatred has blossomed since 2016. It is a battle good and kind people wage every day, people who can leave do and those who cannot suffer the consequences and do what they can. Hatred and evil wear many cloaks.
The world has changed but still has a long way to go.
Since 2016 there is more openness but negative people started spewing their opinions loudly to everyone. I think the key may be to address the religious issue and see if there is a way to interpret an acceptance of this group.
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I have one niece who is a lesbian and one who is trans. I worry deeply about them because i think that although American society is more open to these ways of loving oneself, but they’re are those who wish harm on the folks.
Kat
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The world is trying to change in many ways, including efforts to accept a variety of sexual orientation. But prohibitions go back thousands of years in most cultures, for example in Biblical teachings. Many other aspects of human relationships are also undergoing re-evaluation, such as the attitude that women are inherently inferior to men, that some races are better than others, even persecution of religious differences. It appears to me that humans are inherently prejudiced against any non-dominant orientation.
That said, the attitude favoring freedoms is both positive and remarkable. People are attempting to be more accepting of differences, but the old prejudices remain even while hidden. We have a way to go.
That is an interesting question. I think that much has changed since the 30’s but yet a lot has stayed the same. There will always be people who are more accepting but the those who still view it as wrong have in my opinion increased.
Our world has changed dramatically since the 1930s. Today, Jonathan and Graham would not have to hide their relationship. In fact, they could even get married (in the USA–not sure about other countries). It was interesting to me that Lucy and Frank were able to accept the truth about their friends’ homosexual liaison. It would have been more typical of the 1930s for Lucy and Frank to be shocked and/or dismayed.
I think the world has changed in that people don’t have to hide their relationships now for the most part, but acceptance is another story entirely. People are more accepting than they used to be, but there are still many people who are not accepting.
I believe that people in 2026 are much more open minded and tolerant of those in the LGBTQIA+ community than the people living in the 1930’s, but acceptance is still not as widespread as it should be. In fact, in some segments of the 2026 population we seem to be moving backwards instead of forward.