(28/11/2011 01:51 PM)Tetris999 Wrote:  Also, an interesting thing to note is that one of the models of being gay is that you're attracted to what women are attracted to, that is manly traits such as: beards, muscles, etc. (I have no clue what women are attracted to to be honest) this is also vice versa!

I think this is one of the fundamental things.
What is considered "gay"?  Being sexually attracted to the same sex, or just merely having a strong relationship with people of the same sex?  If the latter, when does the relationship stop being just 'friends' to 'gay'? (I guess that's a stupid question, since that applies to straight relationships too, but I think the distiction is still important since some people who consider themselves gay may just be friends in someone elses' eyes)

These alternative sexual orientations as well as "non-standard" genders seem to be more of a modern thing - I don't recall hearing much about this sort of stuff if you turn back, say, 50 years (but then, I wasn't alive then, so IDK).  Of course, it's totally possible (as pointed out somewhat in the first post) that the preferences existed in the past, but only have come to light more recently, now that society is relatively more accepting of it.  Even so, I'd still argue that people who may have gone down the gay path may not have even considered the possibility back then.
If this is correct, then I would say that your sexual preference is probably mostly a choice you make (for most cases).  This choice may influenced by factors such as genetics, hormone imbalance or other medical conditions.  Yes, you may get shunned for your choice, but you decide whether you believe it to be worthwhile or not (why does rape occur when there's such a harsh penalty against it?).

As for hate against gays, it's probably society not wanting to accept such a change at present, as mentioned earlier.  However, probably a bigger thing is more the focus on young society; you'll probably grown up with hearing the word 'gay' used to infer negative connotations, eg "this work is gay".  From what I've seen, it's used so much that 'gay' pretty much means 'bad' or 'poo poo'.  Combined with the fact that teens often want a sense of belonging 'with everyone else' or 'being normal', they may have a strong sense of believing that straight is the way to go and will often tease those who don't conform to the norm.
Society changes though - at least from what I've seen with racism, I'm sure this form of sexism will go away eventually.