"You’re gay! You’re gay, you won’t get it!” He shouted.
“So? What does being gay have to do with the joke?” I shouted back.
“You just…you’re gay so….well…it just won’t make sense.” It was mumbled and it was suppressed; his eyes refused to look at mine. I stared at him, desperately wanting his attention. The silence in the room was unbearable; the tension was dripping from our skin.
I still wonder about that remark. The meaning is unattainable; I speculate on whether or not the comment even makes sense, but I can never pin it down. Gay is a concept, isn’t it? I mean, you’re not either homosexual or heterosexual or this or that, you are simply you. There is no definite conclusion, no single class; sexuality isn’t black and white. Traits and genetics are never homogenous; similar to two snowflakes, no two people are exactly the same. We come in all shapes, sizes, colors, structures-and, interestingly, sexual orientation.
Though I have never been subjected to homophobia, I have, on multiple occasions, heard homophobic comments from peers, family, and friends. However, on the other hand, I’ve never been directly affected by homophobia nor have I heard my friends in the LGBTQ+ community complain about homophobic prejudice against them. So, taking this into consideration, how is this so when homophobia is quite extreme and prevalent in our society? For f***s sake, a fire in New Orleans was purposely started with the intention of murder at UpStaris Lounge, a gay bar. Though this resulted in 32 total deaths, the mainstream media kept quiet about it. Ok, then how can homophobia be common when it not a prevailing news coverage topic?
Because homophobia is not only accepted, it is almost always anticipated. Homophobia is something violent too; according to the FBI, there were 1,102 anti-gay hate crimes reported in America in 2013. A previous study done at Yale University in 1986 determined that the majority of LGBTQ+ individuals live in fear of being targeted and harassed because of their sexual orientation. I admit that I also have a subtle yet constant apprehensiveness about my safety. Still, homophobia is not only a social ‘issue’; it has become a political matter and thus indulged into the legal system. Same-sex marriage is banned in 13 states and only legal in 37, and this has not been without an incessant struggle by the LGBTQ+ community. In Namibia, a publishing company by the name of Sister Namibia declared that the Namibia government denied abolishing the 2011 anti-sodomy law that deemed sexual-conduct between two men unlawful while condoning the same activities in a man-woman relationship. This is one of many anti-sodomy laws around the world, all of which are used as means of censoring the LGBTQ+ community and punishing those who label themselves as such. A recent Huffington Post article informed us that Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah still have anti-sodomy laws, even though they were decreed as unconstitutional ten years ago.
Wait, there’s still hope! There have been numerous court cases against the anti-sodomy laws-most of which were victorious. Plus, we’ve got alliances! All over the nation there are support groups in which people who accept LGBTQ+ people aim to help them with coping, adapting, or dealing with homophobic persecution. An admirable and progressive African-American lesbian group in Philadelphia, known as Dykes Taking Over (DTO), has been created in the face of discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals in the school system. The members have all encountered homophobia, and so they come together to discuss their experiences, form tactics to decrease homophobia’s existence, and raise awareness for LGBTQ+ equality. Another school, in Illinois, has an alliance club that consists of both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ students. With the Prevent School Violence Illinois Act that directly condemns bullying against homosexuals, all of the group members’ perspectives are incorporated in generating strategies against homophobic bullying.
There seems to be a divide in reference to sexual orientation in our society: those who are ok with it and those who aren’t. Why is there even a distinction? Sexual orientation should not be equated with negative connotations; again, everyone is different. A study done in 2013 inferred that there was a possible correlation between homophobia, non-physical education, and physical education among university students. The results showed that P.E. students are more likely to be prejudice against gay men and girls with increased notions of social dominance orientation were more likely to have anti-gay bias. Personal belief was not one of the factors examined in the study, which indicates a further need for research on why certain sexual orientations are unacceptable to some and tolerable to others. Yikes, I hate referring to sexual orientation as ‘tolerable’. It perpetuates this idea that homosexuality is unnatural, and that it can only exist because it doesn’t bother people too much.
It is not a debate however; I believe the lack of representation in the mainstream media has somehow diluted its presence in our culture. As a result, there is an ever-ending fight for equal treatment: the LGBTQ+ community cannot obtain full equality until our society accepts it as a social importance rather than a political problem. We are basically repeating history in that it used to be that African Americans were the oppressed, now it’s [also] the LGBTQ+ community. Taking all of this into account, it can imply that the decision makers and the homophobic general public are on one side, while the alliances and the LGBTQ+ individuals are on the other. Although sexual orientations other than heterosexuality have not been affirmed as a ‘bad’ trait/characteristic, the LGBTQ+ community is still trying to prove their worth.
I’m going to repeat it one last time: we are all different! I think it’s silly (and extremely upsetting) that homophobia exists in our culture-I mean, it is a definite example of one of the countless stereotypes against certain attributes that are considered ‘lesser than’ because some person was ‘uncomfortable’ (like really, are we five?). Yes, sexual orientations other than heterosexuality are a minority in this world, but that does not excuse the maltreatment of the LGBTQ+ community. If we were to criminalize everything that made anyone uneasy, video games wouldn’t exist, texting would be illegal, religion would be unheard of, porn would disappear, and we’d all be in jail. So why are we targeting one trait over the others? I advocate that we set our egos aside, and learn to accept people for who they are. Yes, there is no explicit reason for why anti-LGBTQ+ exists, but I’m sure we can all guess that ignorance and self-involvement are two very probably factors.
“So? What does being gay have to do with the joke?” I shouted back.
“You just…you’re gay so….well…it just won’t make sense.” It was mumbled and it was suppressed; his eyes refused to look at mine. I stared at him, desperately wanting his attention. The silence in the room was unbearable; the tension was dripping from our skin.
I still wonder about that remark. The meaning is unattainable; I speculate on whether or not the comment even makes sense, but I can never pin it down. Gay is a concept, isn’t it? I mean, you’re not either homosexual or heterosexual or this or that, you are simply you. There is no definite conclusion, no single class; sexuality isn’t black and white. Traits and genetics are never homogenous; similar to two snowflakes, no two people are exactly the same. We come in all shapes, sizes, colors, structures-and, interestingly, sexual orientation.
Though I have never been subjected to homophobia, I have, on multiple occasions, heard homophobic comments from peers, family, and friends. However, on the other hand, I’ve never been directly affected by homophobia nor have I heard my friends in the LGBTQ+ community complain about homophobic prejudice against them. So, taking this into consideration, how is this so when homophobia is quite extreme and prevalent in our society? For f***s sake, a fire in New Orleans was purposely started with the intention of murder at UpStaris Lounge, a gay bar. Though this resulted in 32 total deaths, the mainstream media kept quiet about it. Ok, then how can homophobia be common when it not a prevailing news coverage topic?
Because homophobia is not only accepted, it is almost always anticipated. Homophobia is something violent too; according to the FBI, there were 1,102 anti-gay hate crimes reported in America in 2013. A previous study done at Yale University in 1986 determined that the majority of LGBTQ+ individuals live in fear of being targeted and harassed because of their sexual orientation. I admit that I also have a subtle yet constant apprehensiveness about my safety. Still, homophobia is not only a social ‘issue’; it has become a political matter and thus indulged into the legal system. Same-sex marriage is banned in 13 states and only legal in 37, and this has not been without an incessant struggle by the LGBTQ+ community. In Namibia, a publishing company by the name of Sister Namibia declared that the Namibia government denied abolishing the 2011 anti-sodomy law that deemed sexual-conduct between two men unlawful while condoning the same activities in a man-woman relationship. This is one of many anti-sodomy laws around the world, all of which are used as means of censoring the LGBTQ+ community and punishing those who label themselves as such. A recent Huffington Post article informed us that Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah still have anti-sodomy laws, even though they were decreed as unconstitutional ten years ago.
Wait, there’s still hope! There have been numerous court cases against the anti-sodomy laws-most of which were victorious. Plus, we’ve got alliances! All over the nation there are support groups in which people who accept LGBTQ+ people aim to help them with coping, adapting, or dealing with homophobic persecution. An admirable and progressive African-American lesbian group in Philadelphia, known as Dykes Taking Over (DTO), has been created in the face of discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals in the school system. The members have all encountered homophobia, and so they come together to discuss their experiences, form tactics to decrease homophobia’s existence, and raise awareness for LGBTQ+ equality. Another school, in Illinois, has an alliance club that consists of both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ students. With the Prevent School Violence Illinois Act that directly condemns bullying against homosexuals, all of the group members’ perspectives are incorporated in generating strategies against homophobic bullying.
There seems to be a divide in reference to sexual orientation in our society: those who are ok with it and those who aren’t. Why is there even a distinction? Sexual orientation should not be equated with negative connotations; again, everyone is different. A study done in 2013 inferred that there was a possible correlation between homophobia, non-physical education, and physical education among university students. The results showed that P.E. students are more likely to be prejudice against gay men and girls with increased notions of social dominance orientation were more likely to have anti-gay bias. Personal belief was not one of the factors examined in the study, which indicates a further need for research on why certain sexual orientations are unacceptable to some and tolerable to others. Yikes, I hate referring to sexual orientation as ‘tolerable’. It perpetuates this idea that homosexuality is unnatural, and that it can only exist because it doesn’t bother people too much.
It is not a debate however; I believe the lack of representation in the mainstream media has somehow diluted its presence in our culture. As a result, there is an ever-ending fight for equal treatment: the LGBTQ+ community cannot obtain full equality until our society accepts it as a social importance rather than a political problem. We are basically repeating history in that it used to be that African Americans were the oppressed, now it’s [also] the LGBTQ+ community. Taking all of this into account, it can imply that the decision makers and the homophobic general public are on one side, while the alliances and the LGBTQ+ individuals are on the other. Although sexual orientations other than heterosexuality have not been affirmed as a ‘bad’ trait/characteristic, the LGBTQ+ community is still trying to prove their worth.
I’m going to repeat it one last time: we are all different! I think it’s silly (and extremely upsetting) that homophobia exists in our culture-I mean, it is a definite example of one of the countless stereotypes against certain attributes that are considered ‘lesser than’ because some person was ‘uncomfortable’ (like really, are we five?). Yes, sexual orientations other than heterosexuality are a minority in this world, but that does not excuse the maltreatment of the LGBTQ+ community. If we were to criminalize everything that made anyone uneasy, video games wouldn’t exist, texting would be illegal, religion would be unheard of, porn would disappear, and we’d all be in jail. So why are we targeting one trait over the others? I advocate that we set our egos aside, and learn to accept people for who they are. Yes, there is no explicit reason for why anti-LGBTQ+ exists, but I’m sure we can all guess that ignorance and self-involvement are two very probably factors.