Homophobia can be defined
as hatred and fear of homosexuals on the basis of who they are, and the nature
of their sexuality and sexual practices. Given the attention paid to the matter
in the relevant texts, both homosexuality and homophobia have existed in the
human species at least since Biblical times, and very likely for much longer
than that. It is certainly the case that homophobia is to be found in the texts
underlying each of the Abrahamic religions. (I am not familiar with its place,
if any, in the major non-Abrahamic religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.)
For most of its history it has indeed had a religious basis. It was only in the
20th century that it became politicized.
In Nazi Germany, according
to Wikipedia (1): "Upon the rise of Adolf Hitler, gay men and, to a lesser
extent, lesbians, were two of the numerous groups targeted by the Nazi Party
and were ultimately among Holocaust victims. Beginning in 1933, gay
organizations were banned, scholarly books about homosexuality, and sexuality
in general, were burned, and homosexuals within the Nazi Party itself were
murdered. The Gestapo compiled lists of homosexuals, who were compelled to
sexually conform to the "German norm.' Between 1933 and 1945, an estimated
100,000 men were arrested as homosexuals, of whom some 50,000 were officially
sentenced. Most of these men served time in regular prisons, and an estimated
5,000 to 15,000 of those sentenced were incarcerated in Nazi concentration
camps. . . . Homosexuals in the camps were treated in an unusually cruel manner
by their captors." Gay men, at least, were forced to wear a pink triangle
even before the Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David.
In the United States the
politicization of homophobia can be traced back at least to the portrayal in
the 1980s of the outbreak of AIDS by the Reagan Administration and especially
its right-wing religious supporters like the late Rev. Jerry Falwell as
"God's punishment" for the gay population. In 1985 Newt Gingrich had
this to say about AIDS and what the Republican Party could do with the issue
(2): "AIDS is a real crisis. It is worth paying attention to, to study.
It's something you ought to be looking at. [It] will do more to direct America
(sic) back to the cost of violating traditional values, and to make America
(sic) aware of the danger of certain behavior than anything we've seen. For us,
it's a great rallying cry (emphases added)."
With the advent of the
Clinton Presidency the GOP made a major issue of "gays in the
military" and their supposed negative impact on "combat
capability." This despite the fact that there have been gays in the U.S.
military since the revolutionary war, with no seeming impact on its
"combat capability." In the brutal winter of 1778 the middle-aged
bachelor, Prussian army officer Baron von Steuben, arrived at Valley Forge to
take over the training of General Washington's Continental Army. The good Baron
arrived with his 19 year old, make, French, secretary. The Baron apparently did
not speak French. Further, as it happens, the U.S. apparently had its first gay
President long before it had its first African-American one. James Buchanan was
a life-long bachelor who for at least part of his term was accompanied by a
male friend in the White House. Buchanan was a horror as President, helping to
lead the nation into Civil War by errors of both commission and omission. But
none of them could be traced to his homosexuality.
Nevertheless, in modern
times, the GOP has made promotion of homophobia, for political purposes, a
major theme (3). They have used three issues. First, "gays in the
military." Second, the so-called, totally discriminatory Federal
"Defense of Marriage Act" (based on the totally fanciful, unproved,
and indeed unprovable notion that both gay marriages and civil unions somehow
have a negative impact on the "institution of male-female marriage.")
Third is the broad-scale ongoing assault on gay marriage per se at the state
level (which, course, among other things violates the equal protection clause
of the 14th Amendment). As William Rivers Pitt of Truthout has told us, these
all come under the heading of "dog whistles" for homophobia and for
homophobics.
Many people respond to this
whistle that is highly destructive to our social fabric, for both gays and
straights. The question then arises, how does this happen? Is homophobia an
inborn or acquired characteristic? The related question is: "Is homophobia
curable?" While we know that homosexuality is inborn (4), the nature of
homophobia has not been studied. I suggest, with some urgency, that the time
has come to do so. In Nazi Germany official anti-gay discrimination eventually
led to attempts at extermination. In this country, just recently a man
described as a "pastor," one Charles Worley, has seriously proposed
rounding up all "lesbians, queers and homosexuals," and depositing
them in an open camp surrounded by an electrified fence, and except for
air-dropping food, leaving them there to die (5, 6). Yes indeed. It is becoming
ever more urgent to know if homophobia is curable.
One can here propose the
outlines of such a study. Before addressing the question of curability"
per se, the question of whether homophobia is inborn, like homosexuality, or an
acquired/learned behavior, like racism and anti-Semitism, would need to be
addressed. The starting point would be to consider the various sub-sets of homophobes.
There are the religious types like Worley, Falwell, and Robertson, who are
quite open about it. There are the political types, like Newt Gingrich, Karl
Rove (who motivated religious-rightists to go to the polls to vote for GW Bush
in 2004 by putting anti-gay marriage initiatives on the ballots of 11 states),
and Mitt Romney. There are the closeted, homosexual, Republican political
homophobes, like former Senator Larry Craig. (It happens that he has just been
sued by the Federal Election Commission for using campaign funds in his defense
on the matter of getting caught in that men's room [7].) Then there are the
homophobic religious organizations, like the Mormon Church which was the major
financial and personnel engine behind the overturn of gay marriage in
California. That is one starting point for the study.
From the epidemiological
perspective there are several others, which we do not have the space to
consider here. If it is found that homophobia is an acquired characteristic, it
is not only curable but preventable. Nevertheless, sad to say, in this country
at least, as long as the GOP continues to use homophobia politically, without
being directly challenged in that political usage, with the potentially
extremely dangerous outcome that has now been verbalized by Charles Worley, no
cure will be possible.
Finally, is the situation
thus hopeless? No, not at all. Currently, all of the major gay rights
organizations assiduously avoid criticizing the GOP and its institutional
homophobia, even while attacking on the GOP's homophobic issues. Why? Well for
one thing there are many gay Republicans (just as in the early days of Hitler's
rule there were gay Nazis and Jewish admirers of the man). There are also many
wealthy ones, who apparently provide major funding for the major gay rights
organizations and their issues, like gay marriage legalization. It appears
obvious that Step One in the battle against homophobia and in developing a
national program for curing it if it proves to be curable, is the creation of a
major, national, gay rights organization that focuses in the first instance on
the GOP and its political use of homophobia.
---
References:
1. click here
2. The Freedom Writer,
"Newt Set Strategy For Religious Right-10 Years Ago!" February, 1995,
p. 19.
3. ThinkProgress War Room,
"GOP Doubles Down on Anti-Gay Agenda," The Progress Report, May 14,
2012.
4. Carey, B.,
"Psychiatry Giant Sorry for Backing "Gay Cure' ", The New York Times,
May 19, 2012.
5.
click here
6. Anderson Cooper 360,
CNN, May 28, 2012.
7. click here
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