Homophobia

A detailed Summary of Homophobia

Many of us have an encounter with a homophobic person almost daily. Some of us may even be that homophobic person. We may receive homophobic messages from our churches, from the media, from jokes or even from the government. But the question is where does this homophobia stem from? Is it our families, friends, religion, society, even our education? Many philosophers believe it comes from many of these different aspects. I have narrowed it down to several that I believe are the main causes of homophobia.

We must first identify the four main types of homophobia: personal, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural. "Personal homophobia is prejudice based on a personal belief that lesbian, gay and bisexual people are sinful, immoral, sick, inferior to heterosexuals, or incomplete women or men" (http://www.ruf.rice.edu) These are words you commonly hear when referring to homosexuals. Interpersonal homophobia is when lesbians, gays and bisexuals are physically assaulted for no reason except that of their sexual orientation. Examples of this are when relatives shun their lesbian, gay or bisexual family members, heterosexual friends of homosexuals don't want to hear about their homosexual friends relationships, or co-workers of l

Same goes with homosexuality. We cannot live our lives based on what society tells us, what our religion tells us, we must discover for ourselves what homosexuality is. It is a relationship between two people, who care for one another, the same way a man and a woman care for one another. Is homophobia something that can be cured? I think so. I truly believe that if one has the desire to understand better, to step out of their self created mold, they can truly break down the barriers they put up between them and what they believe is "different", "immoral", "sick", "sinful" etc.

For others a possible cause of homophobia is their religious beliefs. "America was founded on Christian moral grounds" (http://paws.wcu.edu) and in today's society, many people still hold their Christian morals and beliefs to be true. When someone claims that it states in the Bible it is wrong to be a homosexual they are referring to this passage: "if a man lies with mankind, as with womankind, both of them have committed abomination: they shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them" (Old Testament, Leviticus 20:13). If a human is raised in an environment where they are constantly being told that a woman and a man belong together, and a woman and a woman, or a man and a man are sinful, it will be harder to change their beliefs later on in life. "Once a person has an anti-gay bias, it is difficult to change, even when reality contradicts it. Thus the sterotypes of gay men as feminine and lesbians as masculine persist in people's minds even though most gay men and lesbians do not,

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1070
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous