Homophobia

Homosexuality

Choices Causes Genetics Ex-homosexuals Abuse Overcoming Therapy Outing Society Teenagers Domestic violence Schools Murder Anti-gay blogs Health Disease Mental Smoking Drugs Views Media Homophobia Pride Gay rights Bible Agenda Revisionism Against Beliefs Don't ask, don't tell Laws Homosexuality laws Civil union California ban History and International History of homosexuality Anglophones Greece Rome Atheist suppression See also Research Statistics Lesbianism Animals Quotes Cross dressing Brokeback Mountain

The term homophobia most directly means the "fear of homosexuality", but it also includes a fear of increased political and social power of homosexuals in advancing their agenda. The term is used to describe people who openly condemn gays and people who feel uncomfortable around them.

It is primarily used by people supportive of tolerance to homosexuality, to disparage people who are against said tolerance. Some claim that "it is intended to sound like a form of mental illness", but this does not describe its popular use or the definition of the word. According to the National Association for Research & Therapy on Homosexuality (NARTH), gay-rights advocate Gregory M. Herek, Ph.D. wrote that the term "homophobia" was useful in pushing forward the gay agenda in our culture. "In his paper on homophobia, stigma, and sexual prejudice, Dr. Herek suggests that although the term "homophobia" was useful in pushing forward the gay agenda in our culture, the term may be too limited in its scope today."

For example, NARTH says,

"The term "homophobia" is often used inaccurately to describe any person who objects to homosexual behavior on either moral, psychological or medical grounds. Technically, however, the terms actually denotes a person who has a phobia—or irrational fear—of homosexuality. Principled disagreement, therefore, cannot be labeled "homophobia."

Conservative Christians and other people who strongly object to homosexuality often take offense at this term.

Etymology

The word comes from combining the Greek prefix homo-, meaning "same", and suffix -phobia, meaning "fear of". In its early usage, the term described heterosexual fears that others might think they were homosexual The neologism was promoted by George Weinberg, a gay activist and psychologist, who attempted to define it in clinical literature shortly before the downgrading of homosexuality as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association in 1973. Weinberg claimed it was "the dread of being in close quarters with homosexuals -- and in the case of homosexuals themselves, selfloathing." The term then entered common usage beginning with pornographic publications.

The term's meaning has not been accepted or agreed upon within the psychological therapeutic community. William O'Donohue and Christine E. Caselles have concluded based upon research within the therapeutic community a clear understanding of the term has not been adequately evaluated and it is not clear whether the term can be accurately characterized. They have concluded, "the construct of homophobia, as it is usually used, makes an illegitimately pejorative evaluation of certain open and debatable value positions, much like the former disease construct of homosexuality."

The more recent, restrictedly pejorative use of the term "homophobia" reflects upon the intents of the gay community to skew perceptions of them (versus their detractors) by manipulating the language used to describe them.

"Internalized homophobia"

The therapeutic community is largely divided between proponents of gay gene theory who believe a person is born gay and will always be gay, and proponents of Reparative therapy who believe with sympathy and understanding a homosexual can be relieved of afflictions if they so desire. Gay gene advocates wish to inform homosexuals that their sexual orientation may be based in genetics, whereas restoration therapy advocates claim that it is to cruel to "brainwash" young people into believing there is no hope of ever leading a "heterosexual lifestyle".

Dr. Joseph Nicolosi reports homosexuality is a symptom of an underlying problem of gender identity. Nicolosi says,

In the classic triadic family we have a sensitive boy who did not get the close, affirming relationship with his father that would have confirmed him in his gender identity, and a mother who is likely to be over-close and standing in the way between father and son. The father was not supportive enough in affirming, recognizing and reinforcing the boy's maleness.

Nicolosi adds many gay men admit that no matter how liberated they are, they always struggle, on some deeper level, with a sense of inferiority or self-loathing. Some therapists refer to this as internalized homophobia. Nicolosi attributes this feeling to an internal process, unrelated to social stigma, which precedes same-sex attractions.

Homophobia as an "Irrational Fear"

The suffix "phobia" suggests an irrational fear, but it is most often used as a attack term by gay rights groups to suggest that opposition to homosexuality is irrational and hateful. Dr. Sander J. Breiner of NARTH has stated, "it would be very valuable for society in general, and therapists in particular, to have a clear picture of homophobia separated from all the other topics that have been lumped under that rubric." Of the myriads of references to the term in popular and other sociologic publications Breiner observes, "There is no personal, internal, institutional, or cultural homophobia. The terms do not exist in the recognized scientific literature...There is only one homophobia, which has been properly defined," in the the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) developed by the American Psychiatric Association. Breiner, an advocate of Reparative therapy, acknowledges "There is no doubt that homophobia exists" as an irrational fear among both homosexuals and heterosexuals. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Noted homosexual activist and pornographer Clinton Fein, in his article, “The Gay Agenda” stated, “Homophobic inclinations alone, even without any actions, should be criminal and punishable to the full extent of the law.”

Erik Holland, author of "The Nature of Homosexuality," perceives that homosexuals have become so reckless in labeling others homophobic that "anyone who questions their labeling someone a homophobe himself. Even quoting factual statistics about the connection between homosexuality and AIDS is allegedly homophobic." In addition, according to pro homosexual author Vernon A Wall, "even acceptance of homosexuality can be seen as a form of homophobia, because to talk about the acceptance of homosexuality is to imply that there is something about homosexuality that needs acceptance."

Homophobia as a Psychological Tactic

Though some who oppose homosexuality may actually be motivated by homophobia, rather than the use of the term indicating a serious belief that most or all of the people opposed to homosexuality are repressed homosexuals, or that such possess an irrational fear of the same sex, or in particular of being approached by a homosexual, the widespread use of the term has been increasingly evidenced as being a means of psychological intimidation and mind control used in promoting the Homosexual Agenda. Due to what homophobia has come to convey, a powerful stigma is attached to those who even conscientiously oppose the practice of homosexuality, thus silencing many who might otherwise object to it. While not all homosexuals agree with such tactics, it has been promoted by leader in the homosexual movement. In what is widely regarded as the handbook for the “gay agenda," In relation to such oppression, psychologist Nicholas Cummings, former president of the American Psychological Association (APA), observed, "Homophobia as intimidation is one of the most pervasive techniques used to silence anyone who would disagree with the gay activist agenda." As an example of such fear within the APA, in addressing 100 fellow professionals Cummings related that while writing "Destructive Trends in Mental Health," with psychologist Rogers Wright, a number of fellow psychologists were invited to participate. However, these flatly turned them down, as they feared loss of tenure, loss of promotion, and other forms of professional retaliation. "We were bombarded by horror stories," Dr. Cummings said. "Their greatest fear was of the gay lobby, which is very strong in the APA.

In what is widely regarded as the handbook for the “gay” agenda," Harvard trained marketing experts and social scientists Marshall Kirk (1957 - 2005) and Hunter Madsen advocated avoiding portraying gays as aggressive challengers, but as victims, while making those who opposed them as evil persecutors. As a means of the latter, they promoted “jamming,” in which Christians, traditionalists, or anyone else who opposes the “gay” agenda are publicly smeared. “In any campaign to win over the public, gays must be portrayed as victims in need of protection so that straights will be inclined by reflex to adopt the role of protector ... The purpose of victim imagery is to make straights feel very uncomfortable,” they suggested.

“Jam homo-hatred (i.e., disagreement with homosexual behaviors) by linking it to Nazi horror,” was the strategy of Kirk and Madsen. “Associate all who oppose homosexuality with images of ‘Klansmen demanding that gays be slaughtered,’ ‘hysterical backwoods preachers,’ ‘menacing punks,’ and a ‘tour of Nazi concentration camps where homosexuals were tortured and gassed.’" Thus, "propagandistic advertisement can depict homophobic and homohating bigots as crude loudmouths..."

What is seen by some as Kirk and Madsen’s most revealing admission is their statement, “[O]ur effect is achieved without reference to facts, logic, or proof.” "...the person's beliefs can be altered whether he is conscious of the attack or not"

Marshall Kirk died in 2005 at the age of 48. The cause of death has not been publicly revealed.

Author Robert Bauman additionally records, “It makes no difference that the ads are lies . . . because we’re using them to ethically good effect, to counter negative stereotypes that are every bit as much lies, and far more wicked ones.”

It may be speculated that if the liberal use of the term is not primarily a psychological tactic, then it may indicate a psychological condition on the part of those who use it, in which they imagine that those who oppose them are fearful of them, or are secretly attracted to them. Or that the widespread response to labeling opposition "homophobic" is itself driven by a fear (homophobic-phobic). It is also stated by preeminent pro homosexual psychotherapist, John J. McNeill, that "Interiorized self-hatred is the sin of gay people, and we must learn to see it that way." This has resulted in extreme attempts to negate the Biblical injunctions against homoeroticism and to read it into the Bible, in seeking affirmation for the sin. See Homosexual misinterpretation

Violence against gays

In 1990, Congress passed the Hate Crime Statistics Act, which required the Attorney General to collect data about crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin. In 1994, lawmakers amended the Hate Crime Statistics Act to include bias against persons with disabilities.

In 2005, law enforcement agencies reported 1,171 hate crime offenses based on sexual-orientation bias, 348 of which are property crimes which includes theft and graffiti. While the FBI reports statistics by victim class or bias motivation, race, religion, sexual orientation and disability, the FBI does not report the sexual orientation of known offenders. Thus a conclusion that all offenders are heterosexual is faulty, and the methodology does not measure gay-on-gay violence. In all of 2004, there was 1 anti-homosexual murder in the United States, and the FBI has reported none since. Of greater concern among homosexuals^{[Citation Needed]} is the higher risk and more frequent incidence of domestic abuse in same sex domestic partnerships than among the heterosexual population.

While 818 bias motivated crimes of persons against gays were reported nationwide in 2004, an earlier study found 5046 incidences of homosexual domestic violence in only nine cities, all of which are crimes of persons. The subject of homosexual domestic violence has not been researched with anything near the thoroughness afforded to heterosexual domestic violence. However the uniformity of conclusions based upon varying sample sizes all point to a prevalence ranging from 20%-35% of homosexual domestic partnerships.

See also

• Homosexuality
• Opposition to homosexuality
• Gay agenda
• Gender identity disorder
• Political Correctness

External links

• Homophobia Online: The Westboro Baptist Church, Anti-Defamation League (2001). Retrieved 05/23/07.