After screening, I was told I had been shortlisted for an interview with the manager. As I walked in to an interview room, the manager stood up and walked from

After screening, I was told I had been shortlisted for an interview with the manager. As I walked in to an interview room, the manager stood up and walked from his desk to greet me with an extended hand. I shook it, and he remarked, "Nice to meet you - oh, you have a good firm grip". Then he placed his right hand over my left shoulder and looked up and down, studying me, and squeezed my shoulder and commented, "You have good sense of style - you look really smart today!". I was thrilled at having made a good first impression. The interview was going really well, with the manager making positive remarks about my resume as he quizzed me on it. Finally he said, "I noticed you sometimes hesitate and pause when you speak. You'll need to improve that as it can convey that you lack confidence. Ok, let's try this - I am going to give you a topic and I want you to speak about it confidently. So pretend that a colleague in your team has come out as gay, and HR has deputed you to speak to your team about it. What would you say in your short speech? (Note that homosexuality was illegal in my country at that point of time, and nobody really talked about it - more like we indians "neutrally" ignored it.) I was taken aback a bit and paused for sometimes to gather my thoughts, and after wracking my brain for what seemed like a long time, I suddenly remembered an article on homosexuality that described how it had even been observed in some animals too, like monkeys, and sociologists / psychologists thus were of the opinion that treating it as some "deviant" behaviour particular to humans was wrong. I figured starting by citing that would make me sound smarter and knowledgeable and began my speech - "All of us already know about the different spectrum of human sexuality. Psychologist have noticed and studied monkeys too have shown homosexual behaviours, so it is ..." And as I was saying this, I noticed his face darkened, and he got up and stormed out of the interview room before I could complete. I didn't understand what had gone wrong. Someone else came in for a technical interview and that went well. Later I got an email that I hadn't qualified. I followed up with HR, and one of them was kind enough to call me back and tell me that the manager thought I was a homophobic person and thus not a good fit for his team and the company. Turns out he was openly gay, and I had unknowingly offended him by comparing gay people to monkeys and animals. Lesson learned - best to talk as little as possible on disruptive topics like religion, politics and sexuality even if you are asked about it. (I don't blame the manager for being sensitive about what I said - he was bold for his time and it must have been stressful for him).