Austin Brewer

Introduction to Human Sexuality

Unit 3 Essay 1

03/24/2016

SEXUAL ORIENTATION
What are some of the obstacles that gay people face in society? How are those obstacles similar
to other "out-groups"? How are they dissimilar?

ANSWER

WORD COUNT: 791

In todays world gay people exist, and we exist with a voice. Never before in history have
we had the numbers or influence to better our quality of life and push for acceptance. Being a
part of the gay community is no longer exclusive to just gay people; there are people of all
orientations welcome in the LGBTQ+ community. I think this fact alone reflects how society is
evolving and what direction it is taking. However, our future is much brighter than our past. Gay
people have, since the rise of Abrahamic religions, faced scrutiny and hate. We share many of the
struggles other minority groups face in the US today, yet we have a distinct type of hate directed
at us. Gay people are not like any other group, because no one knows by looking at us that we
are gay. Sure there are some people who fit a stereotypical gay mold, but they are a minority.
Most gay people are just plain individuals who just happen to like the same sex. This fact
coupled with our existence in every culture and subgroup imaginable has made us a unique target
for discrimination and hate.
For gay people, in order to even be recognized as gay by your family members and
friends, most will have to go through the ritual of coming out. This gay rite of passage is
something completely unique to being gay and it solidifies your self-image as a gay person.
Coming out can either make you as a person or ruin you as an individual. It is a difficult,
awkward process that brings a lot of repressed emotions to the forefront of your consciousness,
the same holds true for those who you are coming out to. For a lot of parents there is a laden
sense of guilt attached to their childs coming out which oftentimes is a result of themselves
blaming them for their children being gay (Crooks & Baur 2014 pg. 272). These feelings of guilt
can sometimes lead into anger/resentment towards their children and end with the child being
completely alienated from the rest of the family. In many ethnic groups the idea of alienation
from their family is too great and they choose to stay closeted in order to preserve their
familiar bonds (Crooks & Baur 2014 pg. 273). Fortunately there are more and more families
today that accept their children regardless of sexual orientation and the spreading of these
positive stories on social media and by word of mouth fuel others hope that their coming out
story will have a happy ending. That is all it takes to get someone to be true to themselves is a
shred of hope and knowing that everything will be okay no matter the outcome. That is the
beauty of the gay community; we are each others safety net when our original net falls through.
It is uniqueness that I am grateful exists every day because it helps so many people all over the
world feel confident enough to make big changes and live a genuine life.

Austin Brewer

Introduction to Human Sexuality

Unit 3 Essay 1

03/24/2016

Unfortunately, with the good comes the bad. While the gay community is strong and we
live to help each other out when faced with discrimination and hate; we have to face those very
issues almost every day. We live in a heterosexual society, which is justified being that 95% of
the population identifies as straight (Crooks & Baur 2014 pg. 250), and that being a fact means
that heterosexism is incredibly prevalent. One sexuality is not better than the other, yet some
people see it that way and decide to inflict what they believe to be true on other people in the
form of homophobia. Homophobia is a corrupt, deep-seeded type of hate that is similar to
racism but with more complex emotions backing it. Those complex emotions come from the fact
that their family member they thought they knew to their core was actually not what they thought
at all. It can be difficult dealing with that fact, however that is sympathetic homophobia. There
are other types, much closer to racism that has a distinct fear of gay people on the sole basis that
we are different. It is unfathomable to me how people can hate for almost no reason whatsoever,
but that is the world we exist in. Thankfully homophobia is slowly in decline and gay rights as a
whole are expanding every day; whether the homophobes like it or not.

Austin Brewer

Introduction to Human Sexuality

Unit 3 Essay 1

03/24/2016

WORKS CITED
Crooks, Robert, and Karla Baur. Our Sexuality. Redwood City, CA: Benjamin Cummings Pub.,
2014. Print.