Post by Keith on May 24, 2007 22:13:22 GMT -8
Homophobia can indeed be combatted and prevented. But not prevented completely. There are two main enemies one would have to fight in order to combat homophobia. One is ignorance and the other is your own prejudice. Both adversaries are as equally strong. If you still have your own prejudices, it'll only hinder what needs to be done in order to fight homophobia. Lot of the ignorance and prejudices are instilled by organize religion because they claim to state that homosexuality is wrong in various faiths.
For anybody who is religious, you could still feel that homosexuality is a sin. But it doesn't mean you have to hate people for liking someone else of the same gender. It's like you're okay with it but you don't approve, that's basically it. There's no need to cause hate and inflict pain on a person because s/he is gay. That's how homophobia spreads. For people that claim that being gay is a sin, think about the other things that are sinful such as drinking, pre-marital sex, killing, etc. Killing is definitely a universal sin various faiths and should carry more weight than being gay. Yet with homophobia, it feels that the "sin" of being gay carries more weight than killing. Keep in mind that we "sin" everyday and go on with our lives. Nothing special about being gay.
The first step is understanding. I have gay friends they're just like me. We have the same interests and all that but only difference between us is just sexual preferences. They just want to be treated like everybody else, humans. So take the time to understand how it feels to be in the shoes of someone who is gay. It's easy to judge what we do not know nor understand. Understand that people whom are gay are no different than us. We have the same color skin, we bleed red, etc. Sexual preference is only one difference and one difference alone. No reason to be homophobic. When a person says s/he is gay it doesn't mean that person is going to come onto you. Only a jerk would do that.
Asides from religious faiths, another reason for the spread of homophobia are certain TV shows that tend to portray gays in a not so savory light. Most of my gay friends aren't fans of shows like Queer Eye for the Straight guy. To them, the show portrayed gays as very feminine and "colorful." "Colorfulness" tends to turn a lot of people off. Not all gay people are feminine and colorful. My friend Greg who happens to be gay and living in Southern California has a problem with hooking up because most of the guys in his area are "fairies" from his own word. He's one of the more masculine types.
One example would be Real World: Philadelphia where there were two gay men: Willie and Kuramo. Willie was the more feminine type but wasn't colorful. However Kuramo was way different. He wasn't part of the gay stereotype. Kuramo was one of the guys. The movie Brokeback Mountain made a lot of money because it shed homosexuality under a different light. That movie alone was a stepping stone to breaking that stereotype of the gay male.
Overall we need to learn that whatever a person's sexual preference is, it's none of our business unless you're trying to hook up with that person. You still don't have to accept the lifestyle of a gay person if you don't want to. But at least show restraint.
A lack of tolerance is definitely a big cause of problems. You don't have to agree with it but you don't need to be using hateful remarks nor causing acts of hate. It's like one person votes Democrat and another person votes Republican, though they tend to disagree on a number of subjects, it doesn't mean they're going to hurt each other. The more radical members tend to use hate and violence but those people have been singled out and kept a good amount of distance from. It shouldn't be any different from heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual.
You can deem homosexuality is wrong, but at the same time you can deem a whole bunch of other things as wrong. Keep in mind that there are far bigger issues to be concerned about than a person's sexuality. A group of people can hate on another group of people that are gay, but it's not going to do anything to solve the problems of the world.
Is hating on a person that's gay going to stop global warming? Is it going to stop the constant outsourcing of jobs to India? Is it going to speed up when the troops are going to come from the Middle East? Asides from teaching tolerance and understanding, there are other topics far more worthwhile to talk about than a person's sexual preference. Hey, they are both gay and straight people against the War in Iraq, that's one example of common ground. With understanding and tolerance, try to find as much common ground as possible. It also helps that we do away with the stereotypes associated with gays and lesbians.
Stereotyping tends to put groups of people under a very harmful light.
www.helium.com/tm/254487/homophobia-indeed-combatted-prevented
For anybody who is religious, you could still feel that homosexuality is a sin. But it doesn't mean you have to hate people for liking someone else of the same gender. It's like you're okay with it but you don't approve, that's basically it. There's no need to cause hate and inflict pain on a person because s/he is gay. That's how homophobia spreads. For people that claim that being gay is a sin, think about the other things that are sinful such as drinking, pre-marital sex, killing, etc. Killing is definitely a universal sin various faiths and should carry more weight than being gay. Yet with homophobia, it feels that the "sin" of being gay carries more weight than killing. Keep in mind that we "sin" everyday and go on with our lives. Nothing special about being gay.
The first step is understanding. I have gay friends they're just like me. We have the same interests and all that but only difference between us is just sexual preferences. They just want to be treated like everybody else, humans. So take the time to understand how it feels to be in the shoes of someone who is gay. It's easy to judge what we do not know nor understand. Understand that people whom are gay are no different than us. We have the same color skin, we bleed red, etc. Sexual preference is only one difference and one difference alone. No reason to be homophobic. When a person says s/he is gay it doesn't mean that person is going to come onto you. Only a jerk would do that.
Asides from religious faiths, another reason for the spread of homophobia are certain TV shows that tend to portray gays in a not so savory light. Most of my gay friends aren't fans of shows like Queer Eye for the Straight guy. To them, the show portrayed gays as very feminine and "colorful." "Colorfulness" tends to turn a lot of people off. Not all gay people are feminine and colorful. My friend Greg who happens to be gay and living in Southern California has a problem with hooking up because most of the guys in his area are "fairies" from his own word. He's one of the more masculine types.
One example would be Real World: Philadelphia where there were two gay men: Willie and Kuramo. Willie was the more feminine type but wasn't colorful. However Kuramo was way different. He wasn't part of the gay stereotype. Kuramo was one of the guys. The movie Brokeback Mountain made a lot of money because it shed homosexuality under a different light. That movie alone was a stepping stone to breaking that stereotype of the gay male.
Overall we need to learn that whatever a person's sexual preference is, it's none of our business unless you're trying to hook up with that person. You still don't have to accept the lifestyle of a gay person if you don't want to. But at least show restraint.
A lack of tolerance is definitely a big cause of problems. You don't have to agree with it but you don't need to be using hateful remarks nor causing acts of hate. It's like one person votes Democrat and another person votes Republican, though they tend to disagree on a number of subjects, it doesn't mean they're going to hurt each other. The more radical members tend to use hate and violence but those people have been singled out and kept a good amount of distance from. It shouldn't be any different from heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual.
You can deem homosexuality is wrong, but at the same time you can deem a whole bunch of other things as wrong. Keep in mind that there are far bigger issues to be concerned about than a person's sexuality. A group of people can hate on another group of people that are gay, but it's not going to do anything to solve the problems of the world.
Is hating on a person that's gay going to stop global warming? Is it going to stop the constant outsourcing of jobs to India? Is it going to speed up when the troops are going to come from the Middle East? Asides from teaching tolerance and understanding, there are other topics far more worthwhile to talk about than a person's sexual preference. Hey, they are both gay and straight people against the War in Iraq, that's one example of common ground. With understanding and tolerance, try to find as much common ground as possible. It also helps that we do away with the stereotypes associated with gays and lesbians.
Stereotyping tends to put groups of people under a very harmful light.
www.helium.com/tm/254487/homophobia-indeed-combatted-prevented