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In sociology class today, we discussed the Pope and religion and its effects in the United States, in addition to gays and their ability to be accepted or accept themselves as part of the Catholic religion. There is one guy in class, a white jew, who I know to be gay though he has never said it outright in class. There is another guy in class, BJ, who is a black, large football player with an annoying habit of perpetually hitting on me. In class guy #1 spoke about religion, Catholicism, homosexuality (never talking about himself), etc. Then BJ made a comment during class that he didn't think gays could be considered actual Catholics because they didn't adhere to the doctrines of the religion, but they could say they adapted their practices and traditions. This struck my professor and some of us as a little odd, but no one paid much attention to it. After class, I walked out of Sever Hall and he pulled on my arm and said hi, asking how I was and such. Then he said, "Is that dude in the front row gay?" I said yes, and he said "Yeah that made me really uncomfortable." I assumed he meant that he felt bad about talking about gays in such a way during class. He asked, "Where are you from again?" I responded New York, and he asked "Do they accept them there and whatever?" I said a general yes, and he nonchalantly replied, "I can't stand them. I'm from the south -- we HATE faggots!" While I fell into a silent state of utter shock, he added, "well I guess you can't say that here or whatever" and continued to say how he said it just wasn't cool, no one likes gays in the south, and it was a huge culture shock to come up here. I didn't know what to say. Never, ever in my life has anyone ever told me to my face that they were homophobic. But it wasn't even in those terms. He explicitly said, "We hate faggots!" I am still in disbelief over what happened earlier, and as much as I wanted to slap him in the face with all my might and scream, I couldn't. I just said "see you later" and walked away. It makes me sick to my stomach to even think about how someone could be so bigoted, so myopic, so stupid. Some of the people I cherish most in my life are gay, and that makes it not only offensive, but personal as well. I have nothing more to say. I am simply dumbfounded and furious.