Homophobia

Personal Opinion by Gaystoryman

Copyright © 2007 ◊ All Rights Reserved

You know, it is just like the whole ‘same sex’ marriage debacle that is being waged in the United States , and elsewhere. The majority it seems, prefer to have us call it something else, like ‘civil union, partnership’ or whatever, which always made me wonder, why?

I mean if something is black, we call it that, we don’t label it as oh that ‘dark color’ or some other bullshit. We say the ‘black thing’ but when it comes to homosexuals, well seems we are in a whole different world.

Marriage is simply the union of two people, granted special rights under civil law. There are various religious definitions, but we aren’t asking for any Church to give us visitation rights to hospitals to see our partner. We aren’t asking any Church to reach into its coffers to give us survivor benefits, or to grant us health insurance benefits either. So what is there problem with us being Married?

When you discriminate against a person of color, or whose religion is different, the world calls it ‘Racism’, but if it is a person who is a homosexual, it is called ‘Homophobia’. It is even made to sound like some irrational fear no different than those afraid of heights, or tight spaces. Hating Homosexuals is not an irrational fear, it is Racism.

Main Entry: ho·mo·pho·bia
Function: noun
: irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals (Cite This Source)

Now I don’t know, but discrimination is not some irrational fear like being afraid of heights is. Yes I would concede that fear plays a role in all this, and I would also concede that racism, is an irrational act, to some degree. However I would also argue that whether you fear Homosexuals, or other’s who are different than you, to hate them is more about being able to blame someone else for your own short comings.

I don’t buy the fear argument. I mean okay I fear spiders, does that give me the right to hate them? To perhaps launch a campaign to rid the planet of them? I don’t think so, and besides we are talking about people.

For the sake of this discussion, assume I have this unreasonable fear of people who have blonde hair and an earring in their nose. Should that give me the right to deny them a job? Should that fear, be passed over as just being irrational, even though I preach how evil these people are, and convince many others of that?

Say my Priest or Rabbi finds one or two passages in our Bible, that says people who have earrings in their nose, and are blonde were sent by Satan to corrupt the world. Should that then mean that my Government disavow those people, deny them from serving in the military, deny them pension benefits, or health benefits?

If it did, you can bet your sweet ass that they’d be hollering ‘racism’ and if people went out of their way to persecute blondes with earrings in their nose, they get added onto the Hate Crime Laws lickity split.

So why not Gays?

Because we have sanitized the stigma, instead of calling it racism, we call it homophobia. We give a nice medical sounding name, making it sound like simply like a medical illness, cured by going to your doctor. Unfortunately the one’s like Mathew Shepard might disagree with that. Homophobia is Racism.

Part of the problem is that being Gay isn’t a visible minority like having a different skin color is. That also adds to the fear, I suppose, but I think this all goes a lot deeper than that. I honestly think it goes to a deep seated shame for sex. Why I don’t know, because sex is supposed to not just be natural, but spiritual as well. I mean I know when I have sex with the David, it sure as hell beats any sex I have had in the past with nameless dates.

Sure it was good then, but what David and I share, goes far beyond the physical release. It is spiritual, it is a union between us that is heightened by the sexual nature of that union. Somehow that alone makes people nervous, because maybe it doesn’t happen for them?

Racism is as old as the world is, which doesn’t make it right. However, we have become very sophisticated in how we couch things these days. We are becoming experts in hiding the true meanings, in order to avoid the discomfort of dealing with the truth. I think most in America would be appalled at all this, if the words weren’t phrased in Religious Terms, or in Sanitized Phrases like Homophobia.

I also honestly believe people are looking for scapegoats. In the past it was Jews, and now that they have managed to defend themselves against such attacks, the cowards need a new scapegoat. Oh they have tried other minorities, but when they wised up, and fought back, these cowards moved on. So now it is our turn, and okay, it is all part of life. But you know, those who were once the victims, are joining in on this too, which amazes me.

You would think, once you have experienced this kind of shit, that you would be more inclined to not do it yourself, and yet in this case not so. I mean look at the candidates running for President. Has any single one come out in favor of Same Sex MARRIAGE? They all claim to have no issue with calling it something else, but isn’t that just a cop out? Isn’t that just them tossing a bone to the GLBT community, hoping for their support?

Back a few years ago, someone told me that they called people who didn’t like Homosexuals, Homophobic, because while they didn’t like us, it wasn’t really personal, or violent. I shook my head then, and still shake it now. Not Violent? I don’t know, but there are suicide lines expanding because of the abuse being heaped on teens. A recent study even shows that 40% of Gay Men have encountered some form of abuse, some form of physical attack either against their person, or against their property.

Tell me it isn’t violent.

What I do not get, is why is society so determined to sanitize things? I mean murder is murder, why call it something else, to make it more acceptable? Why should murder be acceptable?

We call those who strap bombs around their bodies, and go blow up night clubs, or cafes, Suicide Bombers, when in reality they are Murdering Innocent people. Yes, they kill themselves, but odds are it is never just themselves. They murder others, more than just one, so logically it would seem more accurate to label them Murder Bombers. Yet we don’t, and I wonder if that is to make it easier to accept?

Bush commutes Libby so he doesn’t go to jail, and while the guy is still paying a fine, for everyone else, that is a pardon. The guy walks away from jail time, but its okay, as it was commuted.

Gays are attacked, beaten, ridiculed, and Bush doesn’t believe they need protection under the Hate Crime Laws, because attacking Gays is no different than attacking Seniors, or indigent, according to Bush and others. Like give me a break.

Seniors who are attacked, are generally for robbery. They are considered easier targets. It isn’t because they are old. When a Senior is attacked, the motif is money, financial gain, not because of their age. When Gays are attacked, it is because they are Gay, not for robbery, not out of passion, or any thing else that makes a crime, ordinary. And there we go again, diminishing the effect.

By downplaying the cause of the crime, by saying it isn’t on the same level as an attack against a Black Man because of skin color, or on a Muslim because of his religion, we diminish the effect on people’s minds. They don’t look at it as being serious, so when the President threatens to VETO adding sexual orientation for protection under Hate Crime Legislation, they don’t understand the fuss. Just as they don’t understand the fuss when we get fired for being gay, conditioned into believing that it is a bosses right to fire or not hire people they find objectionable.

They simply don’t equate it with racism, and why? Simple, because it has all been sanitized, labeled as being Homophobia, instead of calling it what it is…  RACISM.

 

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