Flatmate Update

I realise I haven't updated you all on this front. As you know, I asked my previous flatmate L to leave. I enjoyed having the whole place to myself for an entire month. And then I found another flatmate. We will call her M. She's the same age and works full-time. Unlike L who was a uni student. She's been in Sydney for about two years less than me and is originally from a European country. This time, having learnt from my previous mistake, I made it a point to ask all the questions the first time I met her: how clean she is, how many visitors does she expect to have, her daily routine. And I also asserted my expectations: I want a flatmate that helps with the cleaning and I would prefer not having too many visitors all the time.

Plus, I had a friend over when she visited so that two of us could have an opinion.

Anyway, she sounded all right and moved in about three weeks ago. And so far, so good. She pays rent on time, is clean, is quiet, doesn't have guests over like L did, doesn't have a boyfriend and is friendly. But there's just one small thing. She's homophobic. 

I suspected it the first time we watched Masterchef where one of the contestants was gay and sterotypically flamboyant. She made a comment along the lines of "I don't understand gay men...they want to be women but we don't act like that". In my head, I went uh-oh. But I chose to ignore it. But she seemed to keep targetting this guy and was very happy when he was sent off. Anyway, like I said, I chose to ignore it. And then today, we heard on the news that the Greens are for gay marriage in Australia. And she said, "Damn, I don't see why they should do that..." And I couldn't keep quiet. I am all for gay marriage and I said so. In a nice way. So she knows where I stand.

I'm ok for her to have her views as long as it doesn't impact on her behaviour. I have a couple of close friends who are lesbians. And as long as she doesn't behave weirdly around them, she can have her views.

Although, I still wonder: why? Why are people anti-homosexuality? It's just another way of being. It's just that they are attracted to the same sex. It doesn't make them any different. They don't hurt anyone. So why discriminate?

Anyway, will have to wait and see how this pans out. Like I said, every other way, she is meeting my criteria and as long as she doesn't act on her homophobia, I don't have an issue. I wonder though whether she knows any homosexual individuals personally to know that they are not different from her or me. They go to work, they go grocery shopping, they go out to dinner and the movies, they read, they watch telly, they pay their taxes, they love their pets, they care about their partner. 

Until next time,

Cheers!!!