Homophobia, in simple words, is the act of expressing irrational hatred, discrimination, intolerance, and prejudice towards the people identifying as a part of the LGBTQ+ community. This term, however, expands beyond one simple definition or meaning. It encompasses a range of negative attitudes which include physical acts of violence against the LGBT community or something relatively trivial like having an unconscious bias. Very often, the antipathy and prejudice against the community is justified in the name of religious belief, however, it is mostly based on irrational fear and sheer ignorance.
Homophobia is rooted in heteronormativity. Heteronormativity is the belief that heterosexuality is the normal and natural sexuality and anything other than that is unacceptable and unnatural. Although heteronormativity and homophobia are not synonymous, they are closely related. The idea of heteronormativity closely revolves around gender binarism, gender essentialism, and CIS normativity. It perpetuates the belief that there are just two genders, reinforces gender stereotyping, and standardises opposite sex relationships. This underestimation of sexual diversity often incites backlash against people not confirming to the pervasive gender norms. This is what gives rise to homophobia.
In the words of Dr Herek: “Heteronormativity is the lens with which the world is viewed and, importantly, through which evaluated and judged”.
Such behaviour is prevalent in social communication and evidently pervasive across legal, educational, political, and religious institutions. This creates consequences for the ones not confirming to acceptable gender binarism and lying outside of the sphere. It creates a clear divide between people who are heteronormative and the ones who aren’t. This kind of division leads to hostility and stigmatization of LGBTQ individuals.
The History of Homophobia
Homophobia has a long history. Presence of Homophobic behaviour and attitude can be traced back to the ancient Greek Civilizations during the 6th century BC. However, such behaviour became relatively more dominant during the Middle Ages as the intolerance from adherents of Islam and Christianity grew. Though there wasn’t a term to express it, Homophobia was expressive through actions. In modern day society, Homophobia has become a learned behaviour, ingrained into our social institutions and perpetuated through the media. As we observed International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia on 17 May 2021, it then becomes crucial to analyse how far have we come in terms of LGBT acceptance.
The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, observed every year on 17 May, aims to coordinate international events that raise awareness of LGBT rights violations and stimulate interest in LGBT rights work worldwide. Since 2019, 70 countries still criminalize same sex marriage while six of these countries impose the death penalty for same sex relationships.
Reports
According to a report released by UCLA School of Law in 2019, LGBTQ acceptance grew globally over past four decades but not everywhere. Out of the 174 countries that were analysed, 131 experienced an increase in acceptance since 1981, 16 showed a decline, and 27 showed no change in attitude. As per the most recent available data, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Canada, and Spain ranked highest as some of the most accepting of LGBT community. Countries to rank the lowest on the list are Ethiopia, Somaliland, Senegal, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan. These rankings follow a very noticeable pattern. The ‘most accepting’ LGBTQ countries are becoming ‘more accepting’, while the least accepting are becoming ‘less accepting’.
People in the United States, India, South Africa, Japan, South Korea, and Mexico have registered the largest gains in public acceptance with gay rights since 2002. Gay Rights and LGBT acceptance to this day largely depends upon region, country, economic development, and religious concentration. According to PEW Research Centre, People in Western Europe and the Americas are generally more accepting than people in Eastern Europe, Russia, Ukraine, the middle east, and sub-Saharan Africa, while people in Asia-Pacific countries are split on the topic.
“LGBTQ+ acceptability largely depends upon age group, education levels, religious belief, and political inclinations”
On individual levels, LGBTQ acceptability largely depends upon age group, education levels, religious belief, and political inclinations. Pew’s Associate Director, Jacob Poushter, said: “Generally, more educated, younger, and less religious respondents voiced greater acceptance of homosexuality than those who are less educated, older, or more religious.”
The study also recorded substantial changes in public opinion. Some positive changes were recorded, showing some countries growing significantly in terms of accepting homosexuality.
- 72% Americans say homosexuality should be accepted, compared to 46% in the year 1994 and 51% in 2002
- South Africa shows a 21-point increase in public acceptance while South Korea shows a rise3 of 19 percent
- In both Japan and Mexico, just over half said they accepted homosexuality in 2002 while in the survey of 2020, nearly 7 in 10 respondents now approve
There is Still More to be Done
Society has definitely progressed, becoming more accepting of a wider spectrum of sexual identities. A large portion of the world, however, still remains untouched, or significantly indifferent, from fully accepting homosexuality. Even though general public acceptability seems to have grown over the years, many members of the LGBTQ community still find it difficult to ‘come out of the closet’ and face society.
“LGBTQ suicide epidemic”
Self-hatred and shame play a big role. Mental health and suicidal tendencies remain a huge issue among the LGBTQ community. A nationwide survey shows 40 % of transgender youths reported their own suicide attempts, with 92% of these individuals having attempted suicide before the age of 25. LGBTQ Youth is five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth. This has been termed as the LGBTQ suicide epidemic. It is concerning and demands greater support and acceptability.
It is important to credit the social movements and LGBTQ activists who have worked relentlessly to show this progress and change public opinion. At the same time, it becomes crucial that we, as a society, play our part in being a good ally to the LGBT community and help create a more diverse and inclusive society. A few steps that heterosexual individuals can take to normalize homosexuality and be a good ally can be:
- Open to learn, listen, and educate yourself
- Learning about pronouns, LGBT+ History, terminology, and issues facing the community
- Listening to people’s stories to give a first-hand view of their struggle and unfair treatment
- Listen with sensitivity and, if necessary, ask questions politely
- Educate yourself about the laws concerning the community such as adoption policies for LGBT individuals
- Policies on healthcare and protection at workplaces
- Avoid assumptions
- Confront your own biases and challenge homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia
- Check your privilege
An individual can be privileged due to many factors such as race, social class, heterosexuality, and economic standard. It is important to identify which of the many factors make you privileged compared to your counterparts. Understanding one’s own privilege will help understanding marginalized and oppressed communities better. Use your privilege to helped the oppressed social groups.
“think about the jokes you crack”
We live in a society where prejudices still exist and discrimination is prevalent. A society where we can acquire biases without realising. It is therefore important to acknowledge it and be willing to improve. Think about the jokes you crack, the pronouns you use, or if you wrongly assumed someone’s gender just because of how they dress and behave.
We have to believe in active change; allyship is more than passive agreement. Being an agent of active change would mean doing more than just taking pictures with the LGBT flag. Even though same sex marriage might have been allowed by the state and media representation of queer people is increasing, the community still faces many issues. Joining the protests in solidarity with LGBT+ community would reassure that that they have their straight counterparts supporting them and that they are in a safe space.
Shivika Singh
Featured image courtesy of Daniel James on Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
