The world does not stand still and with it the views and prejudices of people. The most relevant issue today is the attitude towards people of non-traditional orientation. The social rejection of homosexuality in society leads to several problems, disputes, and conservative views of people, giving rise to an infringement of the rights of persons of non-traditional orientation and making the entire LGBT community quite ‘detached’ from others.
Historians associate the beginning of homophobia with the appearance of religion on the territory of the Roman Empire, namely Judaism, and later Christianity. The basis of such prejudices was that sexual relations should occur solely for procreation, and any same-sex intercourse was considered adultery. Homophobia has a broader meaning as a phenomenon. Therefore, homophobia is often called completely different forms of discrimination, differing from each other in orientation, objects, manifestations.
Personal homophobia manifests itself in the form of open hostility and rejection of homosexuality due to the demographic and psychological characteristics of the population. Thus, small towns rural areas have a more established heterosexual worldview conservative and religious views. A predominance of older people characterizes the population of such an area. Internal or internalized homophobia is a feeling of dislike, negative reactions of a homophobe towards himself. In simple words, a homophobe experiences negative emotions in himself from thoughts of same-sex attraction relationships, even if he is a representative of traditional orientation. Moreover, this type is most dangerous for the individual himself (Lyonga, 2021). It is accompanied by feelings of guilt, complexes, anxiety, which can later lead to psychological problems, disorders, depression, and even suicidal tendencies. Dislike of people of non-traditional orientation is dangerous not so much for the homophobe himself, but society and its development as a whole.
Thus, representatives of the LGBT community in many countries of the world are deprived of the right to marry, create a family, adopt children, receive subsidies and benefits from the state. At the same time, homosexuals are deprived of the opportunity to discuss problems publicly – this may be mistaken for propaganda. Homosexuals find themselves in an unequal position before heterosexual people in rights. Condemnation in society makes them more vulnerable. Homophobia ranks alongside racism, restricting a certain group of people. Radical, aggressive manifestations of homophobia lead to crimes and violence against members of the LGBT community. Cruelty towards homosexuals often causes them to commit suicide (Lyonga, 2021). The attitude of the environment and society greatly influences the formation of both a person as a whole and personal views and prejudices regarding many issues.
Another reason for the development of homophobia is the fear of discovering homosexual tendencies in oneself. Exposure to social influence reaches such values that people, being of traditional views, are afraid of discovering other sexual views in themselves. The development of homophobic manifestations, sexism, racism, and xenophobia, in general, begins from childhood, largely under the influence of the family. The stereotypical views of parents, their prejudices, religious views are formed by generations and transmitted in the same way. Children are forced to understand what is good and what is bad, depending on parents’ understanding. The child learns about the world and learns socialization by adopting behaviors he observes in his family.
In conclusion, negative attitude towards those who differ from most people by any criteria has always occurred. The social, ideological system denies non-heterosexual forms of behavior. Thus, the established views on traditionalism and their imposition on the younger generation leads to the development of homophobia by society itself. More and more decisions are being made around the world to combat homophobia. A person’s orientation does not affect his personal qualities; representatives of the LGBT community remain the same people as people of traditional orientation.
Reference
Lyonga, F. (2021). Shades of homophobia: A framework for analyzing negative attitudes toward homosexuality. Journal of Homosexuality, 68(10), 1664-1684. Web.