Homophobia and Inequality of Gay Rights problem

Gay rights is probably one of the biggest civil rights cases since the women’s

rights movement, and homophobia is one of the leading causes in suicide related deaths

in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people. In order to understand the inequality between

homo and heterosexual people, homophobia must be addressed first. Without solving the

issue of homophobia, the gap between rights will never be fully filled. The first step to

solving the inequality and solving homophobia is to teach about it. People who don’t

understand something will most likely not accept it. The second step and a solution to the

sexual orientation marriage gap would be to put in place civil unions. Finally, after those

two are accomplished, same sex couple marriages could be put in to place in every state.

And there would more then likely be an influx of anti-discrimination laws based on

sexual orientation, just as there was for blacks when they got their rights, only it was anti-

discrimination laws based on race. It would take all of these steps and solutions to

achieve a balance in gay and straight rights.

There are multiple causes for homophobia and inequality in gay right and

heterosexual rights. Scientists may argue that Darwinism can in fact have a degenerative

effect on society, and that is where homosexuals came from, basically saying that they

are lesser then heterosexuals and do not deserve to be around (Conerly 120+). There is

also the Christian view point, where probably most homophobia comes from (Conerly

120+). In the book of Leviticus in the bible, it says that should a man lie with another

man, it is an abomination and that they should be stoned. This is where most people get

the idea that homosexuals are horrible people and should be hated. But there are multiple

flaws with that. In the book of Leviticus, it also says that woman who lose their virginity
before they are married should be stoned to death, and yet Christians do not hate them

and blame world disasters on non abstinent woman. But in both cases, the laws are not

supposed to be applied today. They are referred to as Moses’ Laws. Moses’ law

specifically says that once Christ is born that his rules are basically not in effect anymore.

Based on all of these factors, the seeds of homophobia have been sewn incredibly deep.

People are brought up to believe that they are evil and that God punishes the world

because of them.

Effect:

The effect of such deeply sewn homophobia can be devastating and fatal, and in

some cases, are. In a survey done, ninety percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and

transgender students report some form of harassment from other students, compared to

only sixty three percent of their heterosexual classmates reporting being bullied (Poland

44). And even more then that, LGBT students are less likely to report incidents of

bullying, simply because they don’t think anyone cares (Poland 44). And on another

survey, it showed that sexual orientation is the second most used reason to bully someone

(Poland 44). Gay teens have also been known to have a higher risk of trying drugs and

alcohol. Add all of these factors together, and you have a recipe for disaster. Gay teens

have probably the highest suicide rate out of any other group of people because of the

level of discomfort that is caused from homophobia.

On inequality of gay opportunities/rights, just last month a gay couple in Britain

was denied lodging at a hotel, simply because they were gay. Hotels use to require a man

and a woman to be married and show proof of that marriage to be able to sleep together,

but now that has become irrelevant, and people could be bringing in a prostitute and her
client to a hotel, but when two homosexuals try to rent a room, they are denied (Scruton

46). Possibly the most tragic and inexcusable case of the inequality between rights would

be the case of Alan Turing. You may know who he is, back during world war two he was

a primary contributor to cracking the German enigma code, and is one of the main

reasons we were able to invent the modern computer. In the early 50’s, he was tried for

homosexual “acts”, usually what would happen is they would go to jail for a number of

years, but in this case, the government did something different. He was exposed to

chemical therapy. The government thought they could cure him of homosexuality by

giving him estrogen injections. The only way you could get someone to be straight, is if

they accept that they are, not by giving them estrogen. In 1952 he was convicted, and two

years later, he committed suicide with cyanide (Hodges 1982). This is just one of the

major cases in the fifties that shows the inequality between hetero and homosexual

people. No heterosexual person has been arrested for heterosexual acts, so why should

gay people have had to go through that.

For homosexual people to gain their rights, the issue of homophobia must first be

approached and solved. Homophobia is the source for inequality between gay and

straight people’s rights. A solution to homophobia is simply to teach about

homosexuality or have more homosexual role models in school. Having openly gay

teachers or staff in a school can encourage acceptance (Desmarchelier).

In order to start teaching about homosexuality, school boards could start making it

a state requirement to somehow teach about homosexuality, which in turn, would

encourage acceptance. Homophobia is more than likely caused by not understanding

what exactly being gay means or why someone is gay, and teaching about homosexuality
can inform people about it. Most people consider being gay a choice, which is obviously

not true, because if it were, why could people who claim this, not turn gay and then

straight again considering it is a choice? Another way is to have openly gay or lesbian

teachers who are willing to talk about being gay or lesbian, but in order for teachers to be

open about it, I would imagine that teaching about homosexuality would have to take

place first.

There can be flaws to teaching about homosexuality though. Due to the current

level of intolerance, I would imagine that some people would not be happy with schools

openly teaching about homosexuality and most school boards consider homosexuality

“controversial” (Donovan). And when people try to change deeply rooted things, other

people tend to get a bit angry.

After the issue of homophobia is addressed, then people can start to work on getting

marriage rights and what not. One way to start people out on the right way to marriage

equality is by implementing civil unions in all states. A civil union is similar to a

marriage in that it grants same sex marriage rights, but some argue that civil unions are

not equal to marriages (Wagner). President Obama does support civil unions (Savage).

The pros of civil unions are that it does in fact grant same sex couples right that

are considered equal to marriage to some people at least. Civil unions can also lead to

implementation of marriage equality in all states. Civil unions can be the first step into

marriage equality between hetero and homosexual people

The cons of civil unions are that some homosexual people do not consider this to

be equal to regular marriage, and some people are not willing to comprise marriage

equality for just civil unions (Wagner). Other people think that if civil unions are put into
effect, that it’s undermining their efforts after all these years to gain marriage equality.

Finally, some might even argue that if civil unions are implemented, that that would be it

and state and federal governments would just turn their cheek toward that matter and

move on.

Finally, after homophobia is taught about and civil unions are put in place, maybe we

could allow gay marriage in all states. You may think, well do civil unions not do the

same thing as marriage? The answer would be no. In a civil union the federal government

does not recognize the civil union, making the couple in the civil union unable to apply

for joint tax returns or tax breaks, as opposed to those in a marriage. So far, there are only

a handful of states, most on the upper east coast, that allow gay marriage. Massachusetts

being the first state in the U.S. to recognize gay marriage in 2004 (Hyde).What would

more then likely come with gay marriage rights would be anti-discrimination laws.

Gay right does not just mean marriage equality, but anti-discrimination laws as

well. Implementing marriage equality laws would undoubtedly lead to anti-discrimination

laws. This would include in the work place as well as in social settings. Currently, only a

handful of states have anti-discrimination laws in place (Amendola). Anti-discrimination

laws would make gay, lesbian, and transgender peoples lives much easier. No longer

would we see people being beat at a McDonalds restaurant for being transgender, or even

shootings because of peoples sexual orientation, at least without repercussions against the

offenders. For example, a few weeks ago a transgender woman was severely beaten by a

few people at a McDonalds restaurant, while the employees stood around and did nothing

but laugh and record it. The only person that stood up for her was an old woman. While
in this case an employee was in fact fired, it is still sickening that these people could

stand back and watch as a helpless woman was beaten into a seizure.

Giving rights to people of different sexual orientation can be a good thing, but

there will also be bad things that come with it, but only temporary ones. Just as people

were clearly unhappy with colored people getting rights, I am sure that people will be

quite unhappy with gay people getting rights. Riots could occur, and there would more

then likely be more murders of homosexual people, just as there were after colored

people got their rights.

The gay rights and homophobia problems need to be solved sooner then later. If

they aren’t, then who knows how many more teenagers will commit suicide due to

harassment based on a simple aspect of their life such as sexual orientation, and who

knows how many people will have hate crimes committed against them or not be able to

marry the person they love because of something as simple as sexual orientation. But for

all this to happen, they must both be approached separately. Homosexuality needs to be

taught about and not shunned by the public eye for homophobia to be reduced as much as

possible. Civil unions should be put into place so that same sex couples have at least

something close to equivalent to marriage. Finally, gay marriage and anti-discrimination

laws based on sexuality need to be put into place and actually enforced. All these will

come at a price though, because the public will not be totally open to all of these

solutions. Protests, boycotts and even violent riots are all a possibility when considering

these options because of the deeply rooted fear and misunderstanding towards lesbian,

gay, bisexual, and trans people. All of these solutions must be approached for there to be

equilibrium in human rights. If this is addressed, then we can close another civil rights
case, hopefully for good. Straight people may not like the idea of gay people getting

married, but they don’t have to get married to a gay person. They may not like getting

their right’s taken away, so why take away others rights?