Why is homophobia so rampant?

I just took a look at the early election results and the anti-gay marriage amendment for our state is going to pass in a landslide. This really disheartens me. Why can't people put themselves in each other's shoes? I can't imagine how much anguish young gays have to deal with growing up in a society that hates them. I know a lot of them try to suppress it as result, and that leads nowhere good.

I suppose I should be grateful for the progress that we've made as a society. Alan Turing, the brilliant mathematician who was instrumental in breaking German enigma codes in WWII, was forced by the British government to take injections to "cure" his gayness, which for some reason caused him to grow breasts. He ended up committing suicide. At least we have made some progress since then.

We've also made progress on our racism, although it is still an ugly and pervasive force. Often it acts subconsciously, but I've also encountered it in the raw, unfiltered form. Just like gays, young blacks have to contend with the fact that society treats them as though they are inferior. One study found that black kids younger than a certain age preferred playing with black dolls, but after reaching that age, they began to prefer to play with white dolls. They are, at a very deep level, internalizing the idea that they are inferior.

Harold Ford, in Tennessee, would be the first Black Senator from the south since reconstruction. I hope he wins, just for that reason. My understanding is that after the civile war, a huge influx of black politicians poured into Congress from the south, perhaps matching in precentage the actual percentage of blacks in the population. (Far unlike today.) However, the white oligarchy was not about to let this continue, and from what I remember, proceeded to gerrymander the blacks out of power. It's absolutely disgusting. There's no way to get around it.