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Difference between revisions of "Homophobia"

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Men who have sex with men are prone to some [[sexually transmitted infection]]s, most notably [[HIV]]. Some of them have transmitted these infections to heterosexual partners.
 
Men who have sex with men are prone to some [[sexually transmitted infection]]s, most notably [[HIV]]. Some of them have transmitted these infections to heterosexual partners.
  
STI:s are indeed a public health problem. However, most homosexuals are not infected. And most know how to [[safer sex|protect themselves]]. Just like straight people. It is simply not a problem to homosexuality. Conservatives also tend to ignore that encouraging monogamy in same-sex couples through access to marriage would reduce transmission rates.
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STI:s are indeed a public health problem. However, most homosexuals are not infected. And most know how to [[safer sex|protect themselves]]. Just like straight people. It is simply not a problem to homosexuality.
  
 
===Tax money for LGBT services===
 
===Tax money for LGBT services===

Revision as of 02:05, 28 September 2010


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Homophobia is the irrational fear or hatred of homosexuality, non-heterosexual people, or anything or anybody that deviates from a strictly normative heterosexual approach to sexuality and sexual identity.

Homophobia is common in both the developing and developed worlds. Examples of this range from laws prohibiting gays to marry or adopt children, to hate crimes committed against homosexuals to the hateful and violent lyrics of some Jamaican reggae performers (notably Buju Banton) and the criminal codes of many African and Middle Eastern nations.

"Homophobia ... was defined as an emotional or affective response including fear, anxiety, anger, discomfort, and aversion that an individual experiences in interacting with gay individuals, which may or may not involve a cognitive component."[1]

Rationalizations of homophobia

Homophobes use several different arguments against homosexuality. Here is some rational response for some of them:

"It's not natural"

This is a very weak argument because biologists have found "gay" behavior in nature. Bonobos, for example, are famous (if that is the word) for indulging in almost any "perversion" humanity has thought up - and perhaps some we've missed out on. Mammals aren't the only kind of animal that do this either.[2] Also, playing checkers, sleeping on a bed, and indeed cooking meat are not "natural", yet most homophobic persons typically do not advocate creating laws outlawing such behaviors.

"It's a perversion"

This is simply a variation of the "It's not natural" argument. It implies that being gay is a mental disorder even though there is no evidence to support such a claim. Meanwhile, some fundamentalists claim that homosexuality is a creation of the devil, however given the lack of evidence of the existence of Satan, this is not a very convincing argument.

"It's against God's law"

While this argument may be relevant for some religious practitioners, it has no relevance to those people who read Scripture in a more accommodating fashion, or who simply do not believe in God. Besides which, living according to a strict interpretation of Scripture is not really practical in modern times. According to Leviticus 17 — the same book of the bible that condemns homosexuality — "Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination". Chapter 12 also states that males should be circumcised. Therefore, unless you don't eat four-legged animals (including cow and lamb, but apparently chicken's OK, and bizarrely enough it doesn't seem to be condemning cannibalism[3]) and unless you let somebody cut off your foreskin, you cannot oppose homosexuality without being hypocritical.

It is interesting that the strongest religious criticisms of homosexuality usually come from Christians, but Jesus Christ himself is not recorded as saying anything whatsoever about homosexuality. Biblical condemnations of homosexuality come from earlier sources, such as Leviticus, and later apostles such as St Paul.

"It's disgusting" (unless it's two hawt chicks macking on one another)

This is simply a value judgment which has no weight outside the mind of the person expressing it. Many people consider that images of heterosexual sex, for instance obese (not very hawt) heterosexual couples mating, are also disgusting. We can assume though that God is fine with lesbians. There's no mention of female homosexuality in the Bible. Some fundies, however, would claim Romans 1:26 is a condemnation of lesbianism, but the claim rests on a very shaky foundation, as the full context of the passage seems to be more of a condemnation of shrine prostitutes than of lesbians. [4]

"It allows corruption, or sexual abuse, in single-sex communities"

Some communities are sensitive to corruption due to sexual relationships, or sexual abuse. How is that problem solved? Gender separation rules out the opportunities for heterosexual relationships. But to rule out homosexual relationships, the gays must be thrown out, too. The Boy Scouts of America is an example. The Catholic church also intends to end sexual abuse by throwing out homosexuals.

The problem is that sexual abuse is very different from consentual sexual relationships. Prison rapists are usually not gay, though they are men who have sex with men.

"Marriage has a traditional, ancient definition"

Homophobes might say that marriage is an ancient institution, clearly defined as a union between man and woman. They ignore that Christian and other communities have condoned forced marriage, child marriage and polygamy, and in some cases banned interracial or inter-religious marriage.

Many conservatives claim that extra-marital sexual relationships are sinful. So if same-sex marriage is not allowed, all homosexual activities would be sinful, by definition.

Homophobes might say that gay marriage would ruin the sanctity of straight marriage. How?

Straight people have softened up straight marriage themselves, by allowing divorce, unregistered cohabitation and de-ceriminalization of adultery. And many years later, when some gays want to marry, they get the blame for ruining straight marriage.

"Homosexuality might encourage other perversions"

Homophobes might claim that acceptance of homosexuality might be a gateway to acceptance of pedophilia, zoophilia, incest or other perversions. That is bull. LGBT communities around the world condemn such acts.

Sexually transmitted infections

Men who have sex with men are prone to some sexually transmitted infections, most notably HIV. Some of them have transmitted these infections to heterosexual partners.

STI:s are indeed a public health problem. However, most homosexuals are not infected. And most know how to protect themselves. Just like straight people. It is simply not a problem to homosexuality.

Tax money for LGBT services

Some governments fund LGBT festivals, LGBT education for government employees, condoms, or other services to benefit sexual minorities.

Well, government spending could always be subject to debate by itself. But this spending does in no way make homosexuality itself a problem. Besides, if Homosexuals were treated equal and had their rights, the services wouldn't be necesary.

And if we were only concerning government cost, wouldn't putting homosexuals on trial, and sending them to prison, be much more expensive?

"Homosexuals are promiscuous"

Some homosexual communities encourage casual sex. Some straight communities too. Meanwhile, some homosexuals prefer life-long, monogamous relationships. Gays are just different from each other, just like straight people are.

Anal sex

Many homophobic jokes and arguments center around anal sex. Male-on-male anal sex seems to matter more to homophobes than to homosexual men. There are some health issues with penile-anal penetration, but these also apply to male-on-female, which is usually not condemned in the same way.

Arguments about children and reproduction

Conservatives might shout "Won't somebody think of the children?" and defend the norm of the straight nuclear family.

"Homosexuality is not reproductive"

Most sexual encounters in the Western World today are non-reproductive. These include barrier birth control, biochemical birth control, fertility awareness, non-penetrative sex, sex with sterilized people, sex with less fertile people (due to old age or other reasons), and homosexuality.

The world's population is still increasing. Does this world need more reproductive sex, or less?

"Children need a male and a female role model"

A child has many opportunities to find role models; they don't need to be legal guardians of the child. Children to full-time working parents spend more time awake in daycare and school, than with their parents.

"Children should be raised by their biological parents"

The other biological parent is probably around, though not the legal guardian.

"The law of fatherhood is not applicable to same-sex couples"

In many jurisdictions, the fatherhood is commonly handed to the mother's husband. Same-sex couples don't function that way. But this can be solved by consentual agreements between the breeders. It's not like they will fertilize by accident, if they are homosexuals.

What is the truth behind their fear?

Us vs. Them

Homophobes believe that gay marriage is a threat to straight marriage, as the former is clearly more fun.

Ted Haggard!

'Nuff said.

Roots of homophobia

Homophobia is the irrational fear of homosexuality that leads people to deny homosexuals the basic rights guaranteed them by the Constitution of the United States and as expressed in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Supporters of homophobic propositions, such as the Defense of Marriage Act, often attempt to delegitimize homosexuality by arguing either that it is a voluntary stance or that it is based purely on lust.

There is a strong suspicion that the most virulent homophobia is expressed by those who cannot accept their own homosexuality. Indeed such a link has been demonstrated in at least one clinical study[5]. Sadly, if these latent feelings are forced into the open the outcome can be tragic. So called gay panic may lead to violence, or worse, and has even been used as a defense in murder trials, with varying degrees of success[6].

Many homophobic men get very excited about the right of every American to carry a gun, in compensation for insecurity about their own lack of masculinity (see "gun as phallic symbol").

Homophobic conservatives believe in a conspiracy theory they dub "the gay agenda", which is the belief that gays and liberals are plotting to use the public school system and Hollywood movies to turn every child in the United States into homosexuals.

If one is to believe Warren J. Blumenthal, homophobic conservatives might well be shooting themselves in the foot: "Anti-gay bias causes young people to engage in sexual behavior earlier in order to prove that they are straight. Anti-gay bias contributed significantly to the spread of the AIDS epidemic. Anti-gay bias prevents the ability of schools to create effective honest sexual education programs that would save children's lives and prevent STDs.[7]"

Conservative Christians claim that God condemns homosexuality, but Jesus actually never brought the subject up, as it was apparently not very high on his list of important things to do or not do.

Institutionalized homophobia

Most of the developed world has moved away from the blatant, institutionalized homophobia that used to pervade it. However, there are still some homophobic policies in place in some places. For instance, Don't Ask Don't Tell is still policy in the US military.

The mathematic truth

Thanks to the painstaking work of User:UncleHo, a new mathematical proof has been discovered, showing the correlation between homophobia and homosexuality. The proof goes as such: If X equals the percenatge that one is opposed to homosexuality, and Y equals the chance of homosexuality, then X=Y. This amazing proof is incredibly accurate. Fortunately, science has now backed it up.[8]

See also

Conservlogo late april.png
For those living in an alternate reality, Conservapedia has an "article" about Homophobia

External links

Footnotes

  1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/files/u47/Henry_et_al.pdf
  2. See the Wikipedia article on gay penguins.
  3. Note: RationalWiki does not endorse cannibalism. You are, however, encouraged to eat chicken.
  4. What Historical And Religious Context Did Paul Address In First Century Rome?
  5. https://www.psychologytoday.com/files/u47/Henry_et_al.pdf
  6. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/16/ING2U6KT251.DTL
  7. Warren J. Blumenthal: 'Homophobia: how we all pay the price' (1992)
  8. [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=roychiRaM8gC&lpg=PA213&ots=Kp84gVHpT0&dq=Henry%20E.%20Adams%2C%20Lester%20W.%20Wright%2C%20Jr.%2C%20and%20Bethany%20A.%20Lohr%20homophobia&pg=PA213#v=onepage&q&f=false Henry E. Adams, Lester W. Wright, Jr., and Bethany A. Lohr: Is Homophobia Associated with Homosexual Arousal? in Baumaister, R.F. Social psychology and human sexuality: essential readings Psychology Press, 2001