I believe that the inbuilt fear that a lot of men have about gay people is based on fear.
The common concpetions - all gay men fancy anything in trousers, each gay couple must have a 'man and woman' role-playingpartner, nearly all lesbians are butch and ugly, nearly all gay men are effeminate ... the list goes on.
I have only known one lesbian couple well, and i was fascinated by the relatrionship dynamics which shifted constantly - nothing so stereotyped as a 'man / woman' scenario.
I know no gay men well enough to discuss their relatopnships, but would be interested so to do.
I believe that a hatred and fear of gay men in straight men is usually inherited from fathers - from a time when homosexuality was far less accepted than it is these days.
To be absolutly honest, in response to your question - gay people are different - but only in the sense that an aspect of their life differs from the majority, which leds itself to a raft of problems which are graudally being eradicated as each generation moves on.
I'm afraid that sterotypes exist because of ignorance and / or fear, and will continue so to do, as evidenced by the ferocity of some responses on here.
Next week - do all black men really have big penises? Don't miss the debate!