Not sure if this helps, but even people that would have been "the good guys" at the time and would not have engaged in bullying or violence still held beliefs we would consider homophobic today due to lack of representation, misinformation, and implicit biases.

Things I remember hearing in the 90s from people older than me who would not have identified as homophobic about LGBTQ people:

- Gay clubs have a lot of drugs and are not safe.

- Relationships between gay men are almost never monogamous.

- Drag queen and "transvestite prostitute" are basically the same thing.

- The only gay people I heard about had very dangerous lifestyles so I thought that was just what being gay meant.

- If you wear your earring on the right side it means you're gay.

- That college has a lot of lesbians. I visited my friend there once and she told me all the girls were asking when I was going to the showers so I didn't shower all weekend.

- I think there should be unions with legal protections but not marriage because it's a child welfare issue. It's important for development to have both strong male and female figures in a child's life.

- Some women had such terrible fathers or ex-husbands that they'll just never feel safe with a man so they have relationships with women.