[user104658]

You're an optimist though Ammi, not an angry ol' cynic like me. I personally don't think people ever really change. Not through conversation and persuasion anyway - major life incidents can change a person but that's something different, and rare.

In general, people's opinions, good and bad, are forged early and simply don't change. For that reason I'd just prefer people to wear their opinions on their sleeves so that I know who to bother investing time in and who to avoid.

I mean yes, you can usually figure out quite quickly what someone is vaguely about, but I can actually think of multiple occasions where I've known someone a while and then been slapped in the face with some nasty racist / homophobic crap that I'd never have guessed would come from them. I'd rather just know up front than have people hide it because they "have to". It's not real acceptance. The prejudice still exists... It's just silent and often then becomes even more insidious.