Apr 12, 2012

Study: Homophobic people likely repressing homosexual attraction

1 comment.

Alam na!

Many of us assume that extremely homophobic people are very likely homosexuals themselves. This is such a common assumption that it’s been used as character traits from Col. Fitts in American Beauty to David Karofsky in the musical-comedy Glee.

Well, I have only now come across a study that indeed gives evidence for that. According to this article from The Raw Story, “a research team from the University of Rochester, the University of Essex, England, and the University of California in Santa Barbara found that ‘homophobia is more pronounced in individuals with an unacknowledged attraction to the same sex and who grew up with authoritarian parents who forbade such desires.’”

The interesting insight I got from the report is the idea that we shouldn’t taunt or ridicule people with extreme homophobia. What they need instead is compassion and understanding. As one of the study’s author says, “We laugh at or make fun of such blatant hypocrisy, but in a real way, these people may often themselves be victims of repression and experience exaggerated feelings of threat. Homophobia is not a laughing matter. It can sometimes have tragic consequences.” I would imagine being compassionate or understanding a tough thing to do especially if you are on the receiving end of the homophobe’s attacks, but if the LGBT community is to attain the moral high ground, retaliating might only make things worse.

Apr 10, 2012

Two Chrises

2 comments.

Oh my! The two hunkiest Avengers (with their bulging biceps) in one drool-worthy picture!

Now the only thing that should be missing in the photo are their shirts. :-)

Apr 8, 2012

“I’m Christian, unless you’re gay”

6 comments.

Quite appropriately for Easter, I came across this thought-provoking essay written by a single dad. The article is titled “I’m Christian, unless you’re gay” and in it, the dad struggles to put into words the wrongness of righteousness. That is, how people of various religious beliefs use their faiths in order to be hateful, especially the case of Christians hating on gay people. The thing is, the central tenet of most of these religions say “Love others.” Why is then that we feel the need to shun people, to ridicule people, to persecute people, or even to kill people simply because they do not share our beliefs?

Predictably, this single dad’s essay provoked a lot of responses. Some are hateful, written by people who just refuse to get it, and quite a lot more stories that are positive and quite moving. There’s this daughter who got reunited with her family for Thanksgiving. There’s another woman-in-rehab whose family visited her after refusing contact for three years. And then there’s this mother who reined in her homophobia and started accepting—loving—her gay son.

The world would be a much better place if we only learned to be more loving rather than hating of other people.