ABOUT HOMOPHOBIA

Anti-gay laws, studies of homophobia; public opinion...

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Laws against homosexual behavior:

In the United States, laws prohibiting sexual behavior are the responsibility of the individual states. The result was a patchwork quilt of laws across the country. Until mid-2003:

Although the term "sodomy" is popularly defined as anal sex, the word eas commonly interpreted by the courts as including both anal and oral sex. In some states, police utilize other laws against gays and lesbians; e.g. "solicitation for indecent purposes."

The Georgia anti-sodomy state law was appealed to the US Supreme Court. In 1986, the court upheld the law as constitutional. They decided that individuals have no fundamental federal constitutional right to "engage in sodomy." (Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186).

One Internet source listed the status of anti-sodomy laws for various states as of 1995. ₁ At that time, twenty states were believed to have had laws on the books: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia. Gays could get life imprisonment in Michigan for repeat offenses. Many other states authorized jail sentences up to 10 or 20 years.

By mid-2003, the number of states with these laws had shrunk to 13. Finally, on 2003-JUN-26, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Texas state law: Lawrence v. Texas. One effect of this law was to declare all 13 state sodomy laws unconstitutional. Another effect was to declare a new principle of constitutional law: states are now severely restricted in criminalizing private, consensual sexual activity by adults. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said that gays are "entitled to respect for their private lives. The state cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime." Linda Greenhouse, a reporter for The New York Times, said: "A conservative Supreme Court has now identified the gay rights cause as a basic civil rights issue." ₂  More information

In Canada, laws controlling sexual behavior are the responsibility of the Federal government, and thus apply across the entire country. They permit sexual activities of all types between two adults, although they currently have a higher age of consent for homosexual than for heterosexual consensual sex. It is doubtful whether this form of discrimination could withstand a constitutional challenge.

University study of homophobia:

A study that appears to reveal a major cause of homophobia was completed at the University of Georgia in 1996. ₃ It involved 64 white men, none of whom had engaged in homosexual acts during their lifetime. Their sexual fantasies involved only women. 35 of them were rated homophobic; 29 non-homophobic. For the purpose of this study, "homophobia" was defined as a negative emotional reaction (e.g., fear, anxiety, anger, discomfort) to homosexuality. It was measured by a questionnaire called the Index of Homophobia. Each was shown three types of X rated videotapes: heterosexual, lesbian and gay. A plethysmograph measuring device (affectionately called a "peter meter") measured the circumference of their penis as a gauge of sexual arousal.

The two groups exhibited similar arousal when they viewed 4 minute samples taken from one heterosexual and one lesbian movie. But they responded differently to the male homosexual clip:

The researchers concluded that these data are consistent with the belief that most homophobic men have repressed homosexual desires. An alternative, but much less likely, explanation is that the homophobic men's erections were caused by anxiety during the experiment.

Further research is needed to clarify the results and to answer questions such as whether these results would generalize to homophobic women.

Results of public opinion polls:

One has to be extremely careful when interpreting poll data. The public's response is seriously influenced by the exact wording of the question. Some data:

Arguments used against homosexuals and bisexuals:

Some of the common arguments are:

Reference used:

1. "Julie's World" at: http://data.club.cc.cmu.edu/~julie/antisod.html
2. Linda Greenhouse, "Justices, 6-3, legalize gay sexual conduct in sweeping reversal of court's '86 ruling. Cite privacy right. Texas sodomy law held unconstitutional - Scathing dissent," The New York Times, 2003-JUN-27, Page A1 & A19
3. Cox News Service, 1996-JUL-31 reviewing an article by Drs. Henry Adams, Lester Wright Jr. & Bethany Lohr "Is homophobia associated with homosexual arousal?", Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105 (1996), P. 440-445