Societal attitudes towards homosexuality

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Societal attitudes towards homosexuality have varied over the centuries, ranging from admiration to homophobia.

[edit] Statistics

73% of the general public in America in 2001 knew someone who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. This is up from 24% in 1983, 43% in 1993, 55% in 1998, and 62% in 2000. The percentage of the general public who say there is more acceptance of LGB people in 2001 than before was 64%. Acceptance was measured on many different levels - 87% of the general public would shop at a store owned by someone who is gay or lesbian all the way down to 46% of the general public would attend a church or synagogue where a minister or rabbi is openly gay or lesbian. Only 38% of the general public think that "homosexual behavior" is wrong. When broken down by gender males are more likely to think it is wrong and people over 65 years old are more likely to think it is wrong. Among people who don't know someone who is LGB 61% think the behavior is wrong, which bears out the common wisdom that coming out helps the fight for GLBT equality. Broken down by religion, 60% of evangelical christians think that it is wrong, whereas only 11% with no religious affiliation are against it. 57% of the general public think that gays and lesbians experience a lot of discrimination, making it the group believed to be the most discriminated against (African Americans come in second at 42%). [1]

In terms of support of public policies, according to the same 2001 study, 76% of the general public think that the law should protect GL people from job discrimination, 74% from housing discrimination, 73% for inheritance rights, 70% support health and other employee benefits for domestic partners, 68% support social security benefits, and 56% support GL people openly serving in the military. 73% favor sexual orientation being included in the hate crimes statutes. Only 39% support gay marriage, while 47% support legal unions, and 46% support adoption rights.

A separate study shows that, in America at least, the younger generation is very supportive of gay rights. For example a 2001 Kaiser Family Foundation study found that 18-24 year olds strongly support gay rights. [2]

[edit] Culture

In some cultures, such as Ancient Greece and pre-modern Japan, homosexual practices were the foundation of religion, education, philosophy and military culture. The Bedamini people of New Guinea believe that homosexual activities promote growth throughout nature, while excessive heterosexual activities lead to decay in nature.

In other cultures, specifically those dominated by Christian or Muslim dogma, they were repressed by means of torture and death.

In the east, attitudes have changed radically in the past hundred and fifty years, swinging from complete openness to an antagonism mimicking Victorian attitudes, which now is slowly relaxing back towards a more balanced view.

The Chinese Psychiatrists’ Association removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses in April 2001. However, as scriptwriter and teacher Cui Zi’en, one of the few openly gay intellectuals in today's China, points out, it’s still seen as a psychological disorder. "In the West, it’s frowned on to criticize homosexuals and even more to make them feel different," says Cui Zi’en, contrasting it with Chinese society which, "is changing, but there’ll always be people who’ll feel disgust."

[edit] Law

In most developed countries, same-sex relationships are accepted, and are accorded legal protection. Many governments have established formal structures for confirming legal relationships (either as marriage or partnership) between people of the same sex.

In some cultures influenced by anti-gay religious dogma, homosexuality is still considered unnatural, a perversion and has been outlawed (see sodomy law, consensual crime). In some Muslim nations it remains a capital crime.

[edit] Religion and morality

Many religious establishments welcome homosexual individuals, either on a footing of equality with heterosexuals (such as the Unitarian Universalist congregation or the Anglican congregation in North America) or even according them special status as possessing enhanced spiritual abilities (as many Native religions do).

At the same time, some moralists and religious groups view homosexuality to be a sin. John Boswel] argued that church stance has varied over time, and that during several periods in European Christian history homosexuality was not repressed and was even celebrated, as with heterosexuality. See the article on Religion and homosexuality for a discussion of how homosexuality is viewed in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and in neo-pagan religions.

[edit] Repression

Violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgendered|Violence against homosexuals remains common; the experience of History of gays during the Holocaust is an egregious case.

[edit] Rhetoric

Gay bashing
Anti-gay slogans

[edit] History in the West

[edit] McCarthyism

In the 1950s in the United States, homosexuality was taboo. SenatorJoseph McCarthy used accusations of homosexuality as a smear tactic in his anti-Communist crusade.

[edit] LGBT civil rights movement

Beginning in the 20th century, Gay rights movements, as part of the broader civil rights movements, have led to changes in social acceptance and in the [[media portrayal of homosexuality. The legalization of same-sex marriage and non-gender-specific civil unions is one of the major goals of gay rights activism.

Attitudes of Western societies regarding homosexuality have led to a greater acceptance of gay men and women into both secular and religious institutions starting in the latter part of the 20th Century.

[edit] Psychology and modification of sexual orientation

Some religious movements and other advocates believe that they can heal or cure homosexuality through "reparative therapy." However, all mainstream Western health and mental health professional organizations have concluded this therapy is ineffective, unnecessary, and potentially harmful. The mainstream medical and scientific communities of the West regard sexual orientation un-changeable. In 1973, the (US) American Psychological Association removed homosexuality from mental disorders. However, in some other parts of the non-Western world it is still considered to be a mental disorder and illness, although there is no consensus on what causes it or whether it is inborn.

Attitudes of Western societies regarding homosexuality have led to a greater acceptance of gay men and women into both secular and religious institutions starting in the latter part of the 20th Century.

[edit] Stereotypes

In Western culture, gay men are often stereotyped as effeminate or sometimes as hypermasculinized (see homomasculinity). The severely homophobic sides of these stereotypes are the effete man in a position of moral authority (such as the pedophile priest or boy scout leader), and the muscle-bound prison rapist.

Lesbians are often stereotyped as being overly masculine or Butch and femme. Bisexuals are often stereotyped as promiscuous, manipulative, and insincere.

[edit] Blame for plagues and disasters

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as takes place in the Bible is often attributed to homosexuality, but this is disputed.

Since the middle ages, sodomites were blamed for "bringing down the wrath of God" upon the land, and their pleasures blamed for the periodic epidemics of disease which decimated the population. This "pollution" was thought to be cleansed by fire, as a result of which countless individuals were burned at the stake or run through with white-hot iron rods.

Since the end of the 1980's similar accusations have been made, inspired by the AIDS epidemic. In the years since, the epidemic has spread and now has many more heterosexual victims than homosexual. Much more is also known about the source of the syndrome (HIV) and its means of transmission, which does tend to reduce finger-pointing.

Other modern American examples (Statistically, damage from natural disasters in the modern United States is not correlated well with homosexual population, but it does correlate with Protestantism. Of course there is no consensus over whether this fact is of any significance):

Baptist Minister Fred Phelps blames homosexuals for September 11th.
His church blames the Indian Ocean tsunami of December, 2004 on American and Swedish sodomites and fornicators in Thailand [3]
Jerry Falwell made remarks interpreted as blaming "pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way" for the September 11th attacks, but later apologized for his remarks. (Pat Robertson was also participating in the broadcast.)

[edit] Association with child abuse and pedophilia

Relations between adults and youths, both male and female, were practiced historically dating back to at least antiquity.

Some people fear exposing their children to homosexuals in unsupervised settings, lest they be molested, raped, or recruited to be homosexuals themselves. The publicity surrounding the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, which included many cases of same-sex child abuse, has heightened these concerns. However, statistically, most homosexuals are not child molesters; like most heterosexuals, they prefer lawful sexual relationships. Thus, the association of child sexual abuse and pedophilia with homosexuality is considered by many to be a form of homophobia and prejudice, and has been studied as a form of moral panic based on a neurotic repressed discourse of child sexuality.abstract

The question of whether it is possible to "recruit" children into a homosexual orientation is a matter of sharp debate; see Environment, choice, and sexual orientation.

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