Look To The Cookie
Kraft recently released a rainbow cookie in support of Gay Pride and it had a few people up in arms about it. If you don't know http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/kraft-makes-waves-with-pride-rainbow-oreo/article4374318/?cmpid=rss1 ...now you know.
The following is what I think about the issue, (the issue being gay rights, not the diabetes-inducing cookie):
Homophobia: The New Racism
Would
a person of sound mind choose to face daily, unrelenting discrimination, the
constant threat of being beaten to death, or severe emotional trauma due to
ridicule by his or her peers? One need not have felt the brutal sting of racism
and discrimination first hand to recognize the absurdity of willfully choosing
such a life and yet, “46% of straight people believe that homosexuals choose to
be gay or lesbian” (The Lesbian Almanac 101). The ignorance of nearly half of the heterosexual population
is but a fraction of the constituents that have contributed to the fact that
homophobia is now the new racism. Regardless of the fact that society
recognizes that similar conduct toward a group of people was wrong in the past,
repeating said conduct toward a different group is somehow permissible.
Homophobia is a relatively new development in the history of mankind;
homosexuality, however, is not merely a modern concept. Because of humanity’s
deficient capacity for empathy, authors such as Jeffrey Nickel must appeal to
the reader’s sense of fear in order to create an avenue of understanding rather
than appealing to the reader’s sense of reason.
The
strongest argument for the anti-homosexual movement is that homosexual conduct
is unnatural and therefore perverse; however, there is ample scientific
information that demonstrates same-sex behaviour in non-humans. In fact, “Homosexuality
has been recorded in some 1,500 species so far, and been well documented in
about a third of these cases” (“All Creatures” 92). In terms of the Bonobo
Chimpanzee, for example, “50 per cent of all sexual interactions [occur]
between same-sex individuals” (Macfarlane 52). More importantly, this same-sex
behaviour occurs in creatures that lack the capacity for freewill. Words
commonly used to describe homosexual behaviour such as evil, immoral and
perverse are words used to define the nature of choices. Therefore, because
this behaviour occurs in animals that are physically unable to make choices,
the behaviour cannot logically be evil, immoral or perverse. According to the
argument that homosexuality is a choice, it would appear that the
discrimination that homosexuals experience as a result of that choice is not
only permissible but also imminent.
The
attitude that those discriminated against are somehow deserving of
discrimination is a common ideology concerning minority groups that have
experienced overt racism throughout history. Indigenous people worldwide, for
example, were seen as inferior to those that oppressed them because fallacious
propaganda twisted their cultural differences into subhuman deviations. This
Aryan-like systematic dehumanization of undesirables is a crucial component in
the justification of atrocities; it is as though the oppressors are given by
birthright the authority to mete and dole the punishment of unsavoury and
uncontrollable characteristics. The general consensus in the aftermath of the
some of the most terrible, racially motivated deeds is that Western society in
general has experienced the warm glow of enlightenment and discovered that
racism is wrong; however, discrimination against homosexuals is prevalent and
the negative effects of this discrimination are downplayed in modern society
and mainstream media.
In
the article, “Everybody’s Threatened by Homophobia,” Nickel clearly
demonstrates the extent to which homophobic behaviour and the repercussions
thereof occur in Western society. He describes a mock trial conducted by a
teacher in response to a young boy who was deemed to have inappropriate
feelings toward another boy. The trial “was held in the classroom, with all
members of the class present [and] this boy had to ‘defend’ his feelings toward
the other boy” (630). Regardless of the teacher’s feelings of homosexuality,
her actions caused incalculable emotional damage to a mere child. Although
Nickel’s comments on the stigma and dangers of merely being suspected as a
homosexual are a fundamental step in understanding the plight of these
forgotten citizens, articles such as this are habitually confined to homosexual
media and thus a homosexual audience.
Although
part of solving the problem of homophobia, assuming that human beings in
general are capable of recognizing equality in other human beings, is in
identifying the scope of homophobic behaviour as Nickel has done; the remainder
of the solution is in determining the nature and origins of homophobia. In
order to further analyze the validity of the “anti-gay” argument, it is
important to determine the time period at which homophobic behaviour became as
popular as it is irrational. “The word homosexuality did not exist prior to 1869” (Mondimore 3), not
because homosexuality did not exist, but because “in some cultures, same-sex
eroticism was an expected part of the sexual experience of every member of
society” (Mondimore 4), particularly in male ancient Greek culture. Even such
well-respected scholars as Socrates and other ancient Greek philosophers are
references of the normality of same-sex behaviour, notably in such works as
Plato’s Symposium. “It was not until several hundred years after the
birth of Christ [that] Christian theologians in Europe started to … develop
concepts of what was moral and what was immoral … in sexual behaviours”
(Mondimore 21). This development converted a formerly private act of love into
an aberration subject to government regulation and severe punishment.
Over
time, government persecution morphed into vigilantism. At present, homosexuals
face the constant threat of being tyrannized and lynched by members of society
who feel the need to preserve their morality. One need only be suspected of
being a homosexual to fear this cruelty. In “Everybody’s Threatened by
Homophobia,” Nickel describes a married man, bludgeoned to death, because the
teenagers who murdered him thought he was gay. Nickel states, “heterosexuals
have actually died because of homophobia” (631). This is an unfortunate but
necessary sentence that depicts the most hideous aspects of human nature,
specifically that most individuals will do nothing to aid other individuals
unless they feel that their own well-being is threatened.
Homophobia
is as irrational and atrocious as racism, yet rampant discrimination against
gays is still customary even though it is proven that same-sex behaviour occurs
in nature. The fact that bigotry such as homophobia develops at a greater rate
than essential attributes such as compassion is deplorable and undeniable. The
ultimate hypocrisy of human nature is that prejudice and injustice exist
because of mankind’s need to persecute and feel superior to other human beings
as a result of a skewed sense of civility. In fact, it is not the abused but
the abusers in historical and modern society that embody the epitome of
intellectual primitivism.
Works Cited
“All
Creatures Great and Small”. The Economist 381.8501 (2006) : 92.
The
Lesbian Almanac. New York: Berkley Books, 1996.
MacFarlane,
Geof and Kevin Markwell. “Homosexuals, Naturally”. Nature Australia
27.12 (2004) ; 52-59.
Mondimore,
Francis Mark. A Natural History of Homosexuality. Maryland: The Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1996.
Nickel,
Jeffrey. “Everybody’s Threatened by Homophobia”. Reasoning and Writing Well:
A Rhetoric, Research Guide, Reader and Handbook. Canada: McGraw-Hill
Ryerson Limited, 2006. 629-632.
