I felt dirty. People were disgusted by me, by what I am. I could cope with the name calling at school, the shoves in the corridor, but the fact that I disgust people….
Jason x
Imagine that this was your diary entry; this was your typical day. A day full of put downs, a day full of embarrassment of yourself. Many homosexuals, being gay, lesbian or even bisexual have to fight this battle everyday because of other people’s ignorance.
Homophobia is the fear of gays, lesbians and bisexuals. People come up with many excuses for being this way such as, “it just isn’t right” “it’s disgusting” and “it is not the way god intended.” Whatever their reason, being surrounded by homosexuals in my close circle of friends, I find it hard to accept these negative views. These innocent people have just happened to be programmed with different emotions of attraction and love. Heterosexual males are the most homophobic out of both sexes and psychologists think this may be because they want to reassure their sexuality.
Religion is one of the biggest promoters of the anti-gay community. They have taught many people that homosexuality is something that you “acquire.” In the past religion has tried to alter many individuals by using clinical, psychological and religious “therapies”. Some people have been told to marry and have a family. These thoughts and feelings of homosexuality are expected to just drift away. This, in most cases, does not work out and leads to a devastating end, especially to the heterosexual partner and children. It seams to me, that in fact it is not the homosexuality that has been acquired, but the homophobia.
I don’t know if homosexuality is something you acquire. I think in some cases, this might be the case, but some children show signs of homosexuality from a young age. It May be that you’re a boy brought up in an environment surrounded by females, and you grow into homosexuality, or maybe you are born with it. It has been proved that homosexuals could become heterosexual if they had enough motivation. I think in other words, this means that homosexuals could cover up these feelings if they had enough pressure put on them. Is homosexuality acquired? It is a very hard question to answer, and I don’t think I can really answer it with anything other than, I think it depends on the individual.
Forgetting about reproduction, imagine we were all expected to be homosexuals from birth and the heterosexuals were the “evil” ones. Do you think that these homophobic would be homosexual? I think they would. they think of homosexuals as being bad because the gay community is the minority, and the heterosexuals have no worries, as they are with the majority.
Another reason for homophobia, which I suppose is linked to religion, is parenting and education. In the home, if a parent has a negative view towards homosexuals it is likely that it will be learnt by their children. I am very grateful that I grew up in an environment that was very open to all sorts of cultures. Many people hold huge prejudges against gay men, they think that a sexual relationship between two males is unnatural and some say that “AIDS is a plague sent from god.”
At the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, gay men were held responsible for the virus to be spreading so rapidly. I think that this is wrong because the illness could be passed on just as easily, if not more easily, by drug users sharing needles.
Section 28 was introduced in 1988 during the Thatcher government. With this, local authorities were not allowed to promote homosexuality. Shortly after the new section was created a huge wave of violent attacks on homosexuals were taking place. The offices for the gay news paper, “Capital Gay”, were also burnt down. The government had definitely succeeded in stopping the promotion of homosexuality; they were making these peoples lives hell. When discussing the violent attacks, an MP at the time, Mrs. Kollet Bownen’s response was “quite right,” and said it was good that people were showing “intolerance of evil.” This was certainly not promoting homosexuality at all, but it was promoting homophobia yet again.
Realising your homosexuality as a youth is at the hardest stage to come out. Not only is it hard to figure out your own what your sexuality is, but the thought of other peoples reactions. In Britain the age of consent for a homosexual has been made the same as a heterosexual, 16. I find it shocking that in Romania it is actually against the law to have a sexual relationship with someone of the same sex, as they do not have an age of consent. It was found out in a survey that 50% of homosexual youths have been attacked violently and 98% have been attacked verbally. Do these people realise that they are making others feel as if they can’t be themselves around their peers. These youths are not getting the support they deserve.
It is totally out of order that a teacher would be under threat if they ever tried to discuss homosexual issues with a class. I know this is very unlikely to happen, but I think in schools, along with learning about drugs, first aid, health and other personal issues, that we should be learning about homosexuality. It seems to me, in modern society that drugs are being accepted more than homosexuality. I think that as a youth, I should be told that it’s alright to be gay.
Getting a job, after school, used to be hard if the employer new your sexuality but, quite rightly, a law has been created stopping prejudges stopping someone from getting the job if they are most suited. The gay community is definitely growing. In all big cities you can find many gay bars where anyone is welcome. Annual gay marches are organised as a protest against the issues of homophobia, gay marriage and gay adoption. With their interest tending to be on the arts and expressive work, you tend to find a lot of homosexuals working in art, theatre or music.
This Society that we live in, automatically assume that our children are going to grow up, get married and have children. When this does not happen it comes as a huge shock. Some people, wanting there children to have a happy life, think that this cannot be achieved with their new lifestyle and can’t accept it.
Slowly this idea of a gay couple having a family of their own is coming to reality. Although you cannot legally marry someone of the same sex, some churches offer a substitute ceremony blessing the relationship. Only two years ago Tony Barlow and Barrie Drewitt, a gay couple from England had twins after being rejected for adopting. With the help of modern day science and a surrogate mother it is very possible to build up a family but only for a large price. Tony and Barrie also fought to get both their names as the legal parents of their new babies and won the case. There were a lot of prejudges against the couple saying that it was immoral and unnatural.
I don’t necessarily agree with surrogacy, but the idea of a gay couple having a family is a huge breakthrough. What we need in Britain is for homosexuality to be an issue. Homosexuals are people, just like you and I. They deserve all opportunities given to everyone else in society. They deserve a happy, peaceful, fair life.