HOMOPHOBIA

Topics covered in this page are:

What Fuels Homophobia?
Results of Public Opinion Polls?
Arguments Used Against Homosexuals and Bisexuals
Homophobia's Cost to the Youth of North America

What Fuels Homophobia?

The root meaning of the word homophobia is: fear of homosexuality. Its meaning has evolved; it is now usually defined as fear, loathing and hatred of homosexuals and/or homosexuality. Some reasons are:

this is what some of us have been taught as children
some of us do not personally know any openly gay or lesbian person and fear people who are different
one's religious faith promotes homophobia
heterosexuals have a natural feeling of repulsion at the thought of engaging in same-sex sexual activity. They recognize that homosexual behaviour is wrong for them. Some generalize this feeling into the belief that homosexuality is wrong for everyone. (Homosexuals, of course, have the same feelings of repulsion at the thought of engaging in other-sex sexual activity).

Results of Public Opinion Polls

A TIME/CNN poll in 1994 showed that 52% of US adults found the homosexual lifestyle to be acceptable; this is an increase from 35% in 1978.

An Angus-Reid poll in Canada showed that:

78% of skeptics, non-Christians and atheists
68% of Roman Catholics,
59% of United Church members (the largest Protestant denomination)
63% of Anglicans (Episcopalians) and
38% of what they termed "conservative" church members

favour legal protection from discrimination for gays and lesbians. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) conducted a telephone survey of a random sampling of US adults. They found some rather conflicting results:

64% considered homosexual behaviour "just plain wrong"
50% believe that "male homosexuals are disgusting"
45% believe that homosexuality "should not be condemned"

An analysis by Gregory Herek and Eric Glunt (University of California at Davis) found that the least homophobic persons:

were politically liberal
were young
were highly educated
were female
knew a gay or lesbian person

Of these indicators, the last one is the most important. It would appear that the more that gays and lesbians come out of the closet, the sooner homophobia will disappear as a potent force in North America. This is not an easy thing to do; coming out frequently leads to gay-bashing.

Arguments Used Against Homosexuals and Bisexuals

Some of the common arguments are:

Homosexuality is unnatural: There is an element of truth in this assertion. The more than 90% of adults who are heterosexual find sexual attraction to a member of the opposite sex to be natural; same-sex attraction for them is unnatural. However, for a homosexual, the reverse is true. Same-sex attraction is the most natural thing in the world for them; sexual activity with a member of the opposite sex is unnatural

Homosexuality is an attack on the family: This argument is often used to oppose recognition of same-sex relationships. There are certain situations in society which have been called "zero-sum". This is where one group loses whenever another group gains. An example is welfare payments: if allowances are increased, then the rest of the population who are not on welfare must have their taxes increased. One group can only benefit at the expense of the rest of the population. Recognition of homosexual relationships is not a "zero-sum" situation. If John and James get married and Jane and Mary get married, then this does not adversely affect Sue and Tom's marriage one iota. Recognition of same-sex relationships does not attack marriage and the family; it merely enlarges the meaning of the words "marriage" and "family" to make them more inclusive. In the past, there were laws which prohibited people of different races from marrying. With the repeal of these laws, "the family" was not adversely affected; it was enhanced.

The Bible condemns homosexuality: In reality, the Hebrew Scriptures appear to condemn homosexual rape. They also prohibit temple prostitution, both homosexual and heterosexual. The Christian Scriptures do contain a criticism of homosexual behaviour in the writings of St. Paul. But these are believed by many to be his personal beliefs which are at variance with the basic Gospel message. St. Paul also condemned women speaking in church, for example. Just as most religious institutions admit women to positions of power, some argue that we need to go beyond St. Paul's cultural beliefs about homosexual behaviour.
Homosexuals recruit young people: Some homosexuals are pedophiles; they are sexually attracted to children; some pedophiles act on their desires and attempt to seduce children. However, most pedophiles and most child sexual abusers are heterosexual.
Almost all heterosexuals do not abuse children; almost all homosexuals do not either.
The belief that homosexuals recruit young people is based on the mistaken notion that a person can be influenced to change their sexual orientation. Young people do not become homosexual or bisexual because they are seduced by an older person; one's sexual orientation is in some cases determined at the instant of conception; in all cases, it is fixed by the time they reach school age.

Homophobia's Cost to the Youth of North America

The Standing Commission on Human Affairs of the Episcopal Church wrote in 1994 (1):

"Not only must lesbian and gay youth withstand ridicule and, often, violence from their peers, they risk outright rejection from their parents should they decide 'come out.' The combination of the culture's condemnation of homosexuality and the alienation from one's home and parents (supposedly a haven of security and support) causes unusually high rate of attempted suicide.
According to a U.S. Health and Human Services report (2), 'gay adolescents were two to three times more likely than peers to attempt suicide, accounting for as many as 30% of completed youth suicides each year." ....26% percent of gay youth are forced to leave home because of conflicts with their families over their sexual identities. Up to half engage in prostitution to support themselves, greatly increasing their risk for HIV infection.'"

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References Used

Report of the Standing Commission on Human Affairs of the Episcopal Church to the 1994 General Convention. Available at
http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/mib/anglican/official/humaff
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide, Volume 3: Prevention and Interventions in Youth Suicide", Rockville, MD, 1989 (report suppressed)