The Cuases, Effects, and Prevention of Homophobia in America Essay Example for Free

The Cuases, Effects, and Prevention of Homophobia in America Essay Homophobia is an immense issue in todays society, but especially in America. The completely irrational prejudices against the community of this country is on the rise. This is due to a number of causes of which we as the American people have the ability to change. We must closely exam the causes and the effects of homophobia in America to completely understand why and where this is still occurring in modern day society and how it may be further prevented. Homosexuality has existed as long as humanity itself, and with homosexuality always seems homophobia, or the completely extreme and irrational fear or aversion to homosexuality and homosexual people, is sure to exist. This prejudice against homosexuals has been in one way or another shown to exist in almost every culture and society, although some cultures have come to coexist with the gay community in harmony, others how ever still have much work to do in the stride for equal rights and lack of discrimination for the gay population in their countries. Of these countries most are found in the Middle Eastern regions, in places like Africa, Egypt, and Iran homosexuality is a felony, and in many cases will have one either imprisoned or killed. It is in a way expected that these countries would oppose homosexuality so strongly, due to their strong Islamic traditions. But a country that it would not seem irrational to think would be more open to the gay population is the United States of America, but this is not true. Homosexuals might not be stoned to death in the streets of America, but they also don’t have the options of freedom and rights those in Europe have either. According to statistics, nearly half of America still has a strong opposition or hatred toward this community, as a country America needs to realize how absurd this completely irrational prejudice is and how much of a waste of it really is. As a country we should fight to stop homophobia in its tracks. Homophobia has really existed, but when did it really start occurring in the U. S.? The term homophobia was coined in 1967 by Wainwright Churchill in his study on the habits and lifestyles of gay men in America. Ever since then, it seems the term has stuck, even if it is used in the wrong context. The term left the scene of American society for around 20 years or so, but resurfaced much, much stronger with the global AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, gays across the globe were targets of severe and irrational beliefs that AIDS was a â€Å"gay mans disease†. Such beliefs of course are highly illogical, but that does not stop them from spreading like the disease its’ self. This stereotype can still be seen in todays supposidly more liberal modern society. Such stereotypes fuel the continued occurrence of homophobia, especially in the U. S. , which in return keeps the continues cycle of hate and prejudice going. The issues that stem from homophobia are numerous and far and in-between, but many are huge and obvious issues that America as a whole could change if its’ people really wanted to. Of the many prejudices against the gay population, it stands no more obvious anywhere else than in equal rights, rights that all Americans deserve. The discrimination of housing, employment, and equal marriage rights, all must be stopped. America is singling out a â€Å"minority† with in it’s borders, and that is wrong, the â€Å"land of the free† is showing a severe hypocritical, and bigoted side that no one should ever see occur. What is really the core cause of all the negative energy toward Americas gay community? Of the many things that cause homophobia in America, government would not be expected, but it is true to say that government is where most of the negative energy toward the gay community stems from. The American government is supposed to support it’s people as a whole, in an equal unbiased manner. If this is true, why is the government putting such restrictions like the ban on same-sex marriage on the gay community? This is a direct contradiction to the qualities America is built on, this isnt freedom for all of its’ people, it is freedom for those who are stereotypically perceived as â€Å"normal† by a bigoted, ignorant society that is intolerant of difference. America’s government is tainted with people thinking in this mindset, especially among the republican party. Politicians are openly allowed to â€Å"smear† the gay community with their extremely bigoted comments, and have recently succeeded in allowing others to freely do so also. In the state of Michigan, republicans have managed to pass bill 137, a bill that promotes bullying. One has to think twice to really absorb that the state has actually done such an absurd thing. In this bill it is now okay to freely and openly express ones feelings towards another, harass, bully, what ever it is they want, as long as they can support their claims with a moral or religious view. This is of course a horrendous and stupid idea. After the bill was successfully passed, Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing), took to the floor of the Senate to voice her outrage at the amended language and the danger of the exemptions: â€Å"Here oday you claim to be protecting kids and youre actually putting them in more danger. But bullying is not OK. We should be protecting public policy that protects kids,? all kids, from bullies,? all bullies. But instead you have set us back further by creating a blueprint for bullying. Shockingly, Senate Bill 137 will do more harm than good. Senate Republicans left our students behind in favor of partisan politics and passed a bill that actually allows more bullying. Students and parents expect lawmakers to lead the charge against bullying, but instead Republicans made ideology more important than school safety. Research clearly shows that only states with enumerated bills see a reduction in bullying. We need a bill that mentions the most affected populations and requires statewide reporting of bullying and harassment. Senate Bill 137 simply does nothing to reduce bullying in our schools. † â€Å"But the saddest and sickest irony of all, is that the bill was named â€Å"Matt’s Safe School Law,† after Matt Epling, a 14-year-old East Lansing student who committed suicide in 2002 after being repeatedly bullied in school†. As Senator Whitmer has made clear, this unrelentless bullying must be put to a stop, not promoted like it currently is in American government and society. Government and it’s views are corrupt, so corrupt that it will not function as it should in the goal of protecting it’s citizens and their well deserved rights. It is known government spreads the ideas of homophobia, but where is the homophobia in American government stemming from? The answer lies within the religious institution that runs most of America, the religion it was founded on, Christianity. Christianity is the largest practiced religion in the world, with such a hopeful message of salvation and a forgiving and loving God it is no surprise this is true. Their teachings have a message that â€Å"God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son and those who believes in him and that those who accept him as their one and only savior shall have everlasting life† (John 3:16). With such message of love and equality toward all of humanity, why is it that this religion that is supposed to spread this message of love and hope, actually in some areas spreading the hatred of some and especially the promotion of homophobia? The reason is there are many bigoted, hypocritical, and of all things homophobic pastors that tell sermons spewing with bigotry, manipulated to convey the thoughts of negativity towards the gay community in America. It seems the congregations that hear these so called â€Å"sermons† are nieve beyond recognition. Why is it that the general public has lost all of its common sense listening to seemingly false sermons preeching the hatred and intolerance of a minority? Of the few verses that mention homosexuality in the holy bible, one is more than any other, that verse is Leviticus 20:13. â€Å"If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads†. This verse is said to directly quote homosexuality as a sin, but this is not so. In the verse listed above it is talking about the Canaanites laws, not God’s, it is prosecuting the Canaanites sexual cult rituals involving male prostitutes, not gay men in commited relationships. The severe unwillingness to let one think for themselves has allowed this verse to be repeatedly misinterpreted to the point where it is thought to be the absolute truth. Thus encouraging the U. S. Media and society to, in it’s thoughts, rightly denounce or discriminate against the gay population. Since media is a strong driving force of information and individual opinions in the U. S. , especially to many nieve people, it in not unrealistic to think that media is of a big influence on homophobia in America. All this talk about the causes of homophobia is sure to have one wondering how it effects the actual gay individual or gay community. Ask any gay person and they will more than likely say that homophobia has been or is a serious and hurtful problem, but just how does it really affect them? Homophobia has many, many negative affects on gays, many of which they have no control of what so ever. Among these many affects, the one that is seen to occur the most is the strongly held negative attitudes that the American public has on their lives. Gay people are discriminated against everyday in the U. S. , and sometimes even almost every day of their lives. They are verbal harassed in the workplace, at school, or even out in public in general. Severe prejudice against the homosexual orientation is seen to be extremely common and more hostile around highschool students and young adults, these young gay people must combat and suffer what their peers say to them on a daily basis, whether said to their face or not, it still has severe psychological effects on a person. â€Å"Prejudice and discrimination have social and personal impact. On an individual level, such prejudice and discrimination may also have negative consequences, especially if gay people attempt to conceal or deny their sexual orientation. Although many gay people learn to cope with the social stigma against homosexuality, this pattern of prejudice can have serious negative effects on health and well-being. This treatment to which gays are subjected to has significant mental health concerns. This also amounts to a great amount of stress, although social support is crucial in coping with stress, antigay attitudes and discrimination may make it difficult for gay people to find such support. (American Psychological Association 2) As it was said above, being gay adds a considerable amount of stress to ones life, sterotype upon stereotype upon stereotype are thrown at them, and they have to attempt to cope with it and get on with life. Although this may work for some, for others the stress leads to other serious problems, problems such as constant or severe depression, suicidal thoughts, and even more stress. Feeling suicidal is never a good situation, and it is shown to be four times as likely that gay people, specifically men, attempt to kill themselves or actually do kill themselves. Recently there has been a tremendous jump in the amount of suicides of gay people, all where high school or college age, and where harassed about their sexual orientation until it was unbearable. This shows that the pressures on gays is increasing steadily and is becoming more consistant in it’s effects it has on the individual. Among the many people in the American gay population many are subjected to violent accounts of homphobia that usually has them physically assaulted. These horrific events are aptly named â€Å"gay bashings†. One would like to say that this does not happen much in America as much as people say it does, one also cannot deny or ignore their occurrences either. The victims of these viscious attacks are almost always very badly injured and usually in the hospital for quite some time, many do not even make it to the hospital. Often times after these attacks are over and the suspects have been apprehended, they are hit with a lighter sentence than they actually deserve. Instead of being charged with a hate crime, they often get of easy with counts of assault. This is a major let down of our governments purpose, our government really drops the ball here. The reason we have government is to defend America’s citizens, and that is not happening when â€Å"gay bashers† are let of the hook that easily. This, in many cases can be seen as a hate crime due the recurring fashion of the attacks and in the sense that these people being attacked are targeted directly due to their sexual orientation. Things like this must be further and more thoroughly prevented in America, no gay person should be afraid of being assaulted whenever they go out into public, this must come to an end. As a nation America needs to stop pretending it is not a problem and open it’s eyes and realized what it is letting happen way too often. American society and culture needs to learn to that not every body is the same and needs to learn to be tolerant of differences. One way people could be aware and start prevention of all these many issues discussed is gay people should learn that even though society disaproves, that there is nothing wrong with who they are, they are born that way and cant change so have to learn to live with it. Heterosexual people who wish to stop homophobia in it’s tracks need to examine their response to antigay stereotypes and prejudice, they can make a point of coming to know gay people and realizing that they are human too. They should go hand in hand with the gay community against the fight of homophobia in America, heterosexuals are often in a good position to point out to other heterosexual people how irrational their homophobia can be. Studies of prejudice, including prejudice against gay people, consistently shows that prejudice declines when members of the majority group interact with members of a minority group interact wiht members of a minority group. In keeping wiht this general pattern, one of the most powerful influences on heterosexuals’ acceptances of gay people is having personal contact with an openly gay person. Antigay attitudes are far less common amoung members of the population who have a close family member or friend who is gay, especially if the gay person has been directly open about their sexual orientation toward the heterosexual person. These are of the many examples of how Americans CAN change their view on homosexuality. The causes of homophobia through the church, government, and media are known, and the effects these things have on the gay community can be seen. It is not until The United States of America realizes that these all have underlying problems and are a part of the bigger picture, can homophobia be further and better prevented in America.