Homophobia Fear or Hate
Homophobia Fear or HateHomophobia, the fear, dislike or hatred of lesbians and gay men, is becoming a big problem in America today. Most people that have homophobia are uneducated about what goes on in the gay community. Since homophobes, persons who exhibit homophobia, are uneducated. They discriminate against people they don't even know. The criterion for homophobia is changing rapidly to hatred or discrimination aginst people of a specific sexual orientation. America has learned to tolerate the remarks and attitudes made by homophobes. Are these remarks made out of fear though or hate?
There are many myths about gays and lesbians that are not true. However, homophobes don't go out and try to find the truth behind the myths, they just believe them. Straight people, though, are denied access to accurate information about lesbians and gays, and their contributions to society. Many people who are homophobic have negative attitudes to the whole gay community. Homophobic people find gays repulsive, and pity them for the lifestyle they have chosen to live. The term homophobia is inadequate to cover the full range of people's negative beliefs about the gay community.
Many people think that homosexuality is a crime agaist nature; anyone who practices it is sick, crazy, immoral, sinful, or wicked. Research has found out that there is no greater incidence of mental illness among lesbians and gays than among heterosexuals. Homophobic people might think that gays and lesbians do not contribute to society. If they did research on it they would find out that gays and lesbians have made major contributions to all aspects of society. There are gays and lesbians in all typed of professions in America. These areas include social services, education, politics, arts, and sciences.
Men that are homophobic might think that homosexuals are predominantly white males. The truth is the homosexual community is ver diverse. It consists of males and females, blacks, whites, Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans. If people who are homophobic would educate themselves they would probably find out that the things they think are ture are really false. A person can not really fear something when they know nothing about it.
Due to the lack of education in society about gays there are many homophobes that discriminate against them. Discrimination against anyone is not right. Words "faggot" and "dyke" are often used to put gays and lesbians down. The violence against homosexuals increased by 31% in major cities over the last year. Anti-gay violence continues to grow more every year. These crimes known as hate-crimes mainly involve sexual orientation and religion. The Community Relations Service is talking about hate-crimes, but gays and lesbians to report these crimes though. By not reporting these crimes the recrimination in the gay community is not getting better. About 42% of the gay population have attempted suicide one or more times due to the discrimination that the nation allows them to receive. 85% of gays and lesbians have reported that they encountered anti-gay remarks from homophobes. What homophobic people do not realize though, is that there are many ways that a homophobe can deal with their fears without using htae. The problem is that most homophobic people will not admit that they have a fear or hate toward the gay community. Therefore, they will not try to get any help for the fear that they have.
It is sad to look at our society the way it is today. Murders happen everyday that can be prevented, yet society just lets it happen. Just because people are different does not mean that society has a right to put them down. What the majortiy looks at as being normal the minority might look at as abnormal. People have to learn to educate themselves on things that are different instead of just going along thinking what the majority says is the right thing. Hate is no way to solve anything, no matter what it is. Gays and lesbians have a right to believe in what they want to, whether society thinks it is right or not. The gay community is not a group of bad people they contribute to society as much as other groups. IT is the uneducated that are really to blame, not the gays and lesbians that practice what they believe in. Society needs to learn tha whether a person is doing right or wrong the majority is not necessarily always right.