Societal attitudes toward homosexuality: Difference between revisions

Societal attitudes towards homosexuality, construed in radically different ways, have varied over the centuries, usually exhibiting a combination of approbation, indifference and disapproval depending on the form of the relations.

The construction of same-sex relations has evolved over time. Initially they were seen as a casual preference and a leisure activity, subject to the same vagaries as one's taste in food or literature. Only in the past couple of hundred years have they come to be associated with an inherent condition, one which was medicalized in the closing years of the 1800's and normalized a century later. ^{[1] [2]}

In Ancient Greece homoerotic practices (usually of a pederastic nature) were widely practiced, and integrated into the religion, education, philosophy and military culture. The sexualized form of these relationships was the topic of vigorous debate. In particular, anal intercourse was condemned by many (including Plato) as a form of hubris and faulted for dishonoring and feminizing the boys. Relations between adult males were generally ridiculed.

Plato also believed that the chaste form of the relationship was the mark of an enlightened society, while only barbarians condemned it. Athens and Sparta are both well known for encouraging pederastic relationships as part of a youth's education and socialization. In both societies, though, once a youth came of age he was expected to take on another youth as beloved, and eventually to marry and continue the family line.

See Homosexuality in ancient Greece, Pederasty in ancient Greece

Throughout most of the history of ancient Israel, intercourse between males was condemned outright as an "abomination" and Mosaic Law demanded the death penalty for those men who "lie with a man as with a woman." Leviticus 20:13 Other aspects of same-sex relations were not discussed.

Roman attitudes toward same-sex relations varied over the centuries. In the early days of the Roman Republic, pederasty was considered a degenerate Greek practice. As Greek attitudes gradually became accepted in Rome during the late Republic and early Empire, however, a form of homosexual behavior emerged that was quite different from the Greek form. As men, particularly the pater familias, wielded complete authority in Roman society, the Roman experience of homosexual behavior is often categorized by master/slave-style domination. Indeed, at the height of the Roman Empire the Lex Scatinia was promulgated which effectively banned relations with free born boys and girls, whether consensual or not, male prostitution, and sexual passivity [3]. Slaves still were considered legitimate sexual partners, often if not always regardless of their wishes.

By the time the empire had been firmly established, many forms of sexual expression were tolerated. Though perhaps not the originator of the practice, the emperor Nero appears to have been the first Roman emperor to mary a male: "He castrated the boy Sporus and actually tried to make a woman of him; and he married him with all the usual ceremonies, including a dowry and a bridal veil, took him to his house attended by a great throng, and treated him as his wife. This Sporus, decked out with the finery of the empresses and riding in a litter, he took with him to the assizes and marts of Greece, and later at Rome through the Street of the Images, fondly kissing him from time to time"[4]. (Suetonius)

In the Moslem lands, masculine attraction towards handsome adolescents is considered normal and universal, a temptation to be resisted in the same way one resists attraction towards females not lawful to one. This view was opposed by some branches of Sufi thought, which saw passion for male youths as a ladder to God. Fundamentalist groups advocated punishing sodomy with whipping and death.

See Homosexuality and Islam, Pederasty in the Islamic lands

In China, historical records tacitly assume bisexuality as the human norm. (Crompton, 2003, p.217) Same sex practices have been documented there since the "Spring and Autumn Annals" period (parallel with Classical Greece) and its roots are found in the legend of China's origin, the reign of the Yellow Emperor, who, among his many inventions, is credited with being the first to take male bedmates. At the same time the practice was not in the mainstream of the culture, and was condemned for corrupting the judgement of rulers, as did relations with female concubines.

Attitudes have changed radically in the past hundred and fifty years, swinging from casual acceptance to antagonism to guarded acceptance again. The Chinese Psychiatrists’ Association removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses in April 2001. However, as scriptwriter and teacher Cui Zi’en, one of the few openly gay intellectuals in today's China, points out that, in his country, it is still seen as a psychological disorder. "In the West, it’s frowned on to criticize homosexuals and even more to make them feel different," says Cui Zi’en, contrasting it with Chinese society which, "is changing, but there’ll always be people who’ll feel disgust."

See Homosexuality in China

From its earliest days, Christianity followed the Hebrew tradition of condemnation of male sexual intercourse and certain forms of sexual relations between men and women, labeling both as sodomy. The teachings of Jesus Christ encouraged a turning away from and forgiveness of sin, including those sins of sexual impurity. Jesus was known as a defender of those whose sexual sins were condemned by the Pharisees. At the same time, Jesus strongly upheld the Mosaic Law and urged those whose sexual sins were forgiven to, "go, and sin no more" John 8:3-11.

Saint Paul was even more explicit in his condemnation of sinful behavior, including sodomy, saying, "Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, Nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God" 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.

After the emperor Constantine ended the persecution of Christians throughout the Roman Empire and made Christianity the official state religion in the 4th century, Christian attitudes toward sexual behavior were soon incorporated into Roman Law. In the year 528, the emperor Justinian I, responding to an outbreak of pederasty among the Christian clergy, issued a law which made castration the punishment for sodomy [5].

The Bedamini people of New Guinea believe that homosexual activities promote growth throughout nature, while excessive heterosexual activities lead to decay and death.

In the 1950s in the United States, open homosexuality was taboo. Many politicians treated the homosexual as a symbol of antinationalism, construing masculinity as patriotism and marking the "unmasculine" homosexual as a threat to national security. This perceived connection between homosexuality and antinationalism was present in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia as well, and appears in contemporary politics to this day.

Senator Joseph McCarthy used accusations of homosexuality as a smear tactic in his anti-Communist crusade, often conflating the two. Historians such as Cuordileone have argued that, in linking Communism to homosexuality, McCarthy was playing off of prevalent anxieties about sexuality in order to gain support for his anti-Communist campaign.

There were other perceived connections between homosexuality and Communism. Kenneth Wherry, for example, publicized fears that Joseph Stalin had obtained a list of closeted homosexuals in positions of power from Adolf Hitler, which he believed Stalin intended to use to blackmail these men into working against the U.S. for the Soviet regime. ^[6] A more general, and perhaps less paranoid sounding version of this sentiment can be found in the 1950 report produced by a Senate committee headed by McCarthy titled "Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government" which states, in part, "As has been previously discussed in this report, the pervert is easy prey to the blackmailer... It is an accepted fact among intelligence agencies that espionage organizations the world over consider sex perverts who are in possession of or have access to confidential material to be prime targets where pressure can be exerted". [7] Ironically, McCarthy and Roy Cohn more often used the secrets of closeted gay American politicians as tools for blackmail than did foreign powers.

To be sure, there were sometimes actual connections between gay rights groups and radical leftists. Emma Goldman, an anarchist, argued for treating gay people like any other person. The Mattachine Society had connections to American Communist parties. This, however, was not what US politicians had in mind.

Beginning in the 20th century, gay rights movements have led to changes in social acceptance and in the media portrayal of homosexuality. The legalization of same-sex marriage and non-gender-specific civil unions is one of the major goals of gay rights activism. (See Category:LGBT civil rights.)

Attitudes toward homosexuality have changed substantially in western societies in the latter part of the 20th century, accompanied by a greater acceptance of gay men and women into both secular and religious institutions.

Some say the term 'LGBT civil rights' is a misnomer and an attempt to piggyback on the civil rights movement. Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, for example, called the comparison of the civil rights movement to the "gay rights movement" a "disgrace to a black American". He said that "homosexuality is not a civil right. What we have is a bunch of radical homosexuals trying to attach their agenda to the struggles of the 1960s", [8] while Jesse Jackson has said "Gays were never called three-fifths human in the Constitution." Gene Rivers, a Boston minister, has accused gays of "pimping" the civil rights movement. [9][10]

Some conservative opponents of the movement, such as Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition, accuse gay people of seeking special rights, not equal rights, and that the movement should not be referred to as a civil rights movement. They argue, for example, that in seeking the right to marry members of the same sex, gay people are seeking a special right for themselves and disregarding the fact that polygamists and other groups defined by sexual behaviour do not have this right either. [11]

73% of the general public in the United States in 2001 knew someone who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. This is up from 24% in 1983, 43% in 1993, 55% in 1998, and 62% in 2000. The percentage of the general public who say there is more acceptance of LGB people in 2001 than before was 64%. Acceptance was measured on many different levels - 87% of the general public would shop at a store owned by someone who is gay or lesbian all the way down to 46% of the general public would attend a church or synagogue where a minister or rabbi is openly gay or lesbian. 51% of the general public think that "homosexual behavior" is morally wrong. Males and people over 65 years old are more likely to think it is wrong. Among people who don't know someone who is LGB, 61% think the behavior is wrong. Broken down by religion, 60% of evangelical Christians think that it is wrong, whereas 11% with no religious affiliation are against it. 57% of the general public think that gays and lesbians experience a lot of prejudice and discrimination, making it the group believed to experience the most prejudice and discrimination. (African Americans come in second at 42%).[12]

In terms of support of public policies, according to the same 2001 study, 76% of the general public think that there should be laws to protect GL people from job discrimination, 74% from housing discrimination, 73% for inheritance rights, 70% support health and other employee benefits for domestic partners, 68% support social security benefits, and 56% support GL people openly serving in the military. 73% favor sexual orientation being included in the hate crimes statutes. 39% support same-sex marriage, while 47% support civil unions, and 46% support adoption rights.

A separate study shows that, in the United States, the younger generation more supportive of gay rights than average. For example, a 2001 Kaiser Family Foundation study found that 18-24 year olds strongly support gay rights. However, polling data also shows a trend among Americans in general toward rejection of homosexual-specific legal expansion of rights, especially homosexual marriage. A poll commissioned by CNN/USA Today Gallup in 2005 asked whether respondents thought same-sex marriages should be recognized by the law as valid and come with the same rights as traditional marriages. 68% said no, while 28% said yes [13]. In addition, 11 states rejected homosexual marriage in ballot initiatives during the 2004 elections.

In many Western countries, same-sex relationships are accorded some legal protections. Many governments have established formal structures for confirming legal relationships (either as marriage or civil unions) between couples of the same sex.

In the United States, several judicial bodies have attempted to create a right to homosexual marriage based on their interpretations of state constitutions. To date, this approach has proven successful only in Massachusetts where homosexual marriage has been declared legal. In many other states, the notion of homosexual marriage has been put before the voters and rejected. In 2004, eleven states had referendum initiatives banning homosexual marriage on their ballots. The initiatives passed in all (Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Utah and Oregon).

In some areas homosexuality is still considered unnatural, a perversion and has been outlawed (see sodomy law, public order crime). In some Muslim nations, it remains a capital crime.

See the article on Religion and homosexuality for a discussion of how homosexuality is viewed in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and in neo-pagan religions. Also see Homosexuality and morality.

Some religious groups consider homosexuality to be transgressive of divine law. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, homosexual behavior is "intrisically disordered" and "contrary to natural law". As such, homosexual acts can be approved "under no circumstances." (CCC 2357) The Catholic Church recognizes that the numbers of people with homosexual tendencies is not negligible and urges Catholics to eschew unjust discrimination. However, the Church also calls upon individuals inclined toward homosexuality to live lives of chastity. By way of counterpoint, John Boswell argued that church stance has varied over time, and that during several periods in European Christian history homosexuality was not repressed and was even celebrated, as with heterosexuality. However, at the same time, this view is generally not accepted by church historians.

On the other hand, a number of religious establishments welcome homosexual individuals, either on a footing of equality with heterosexuals (such as the Unitarian Universalist congregation or the Anglican congregation in North America) or even according them special status as possessing enhanced spiritual abilities (many Native American and other aboriginal religions).

Acceptance or condemnation of homosexual behavior has led to strife within many religions denominations. In 2003, Gene Robinson was made a bishop of the Episcopal Church. His elevation has led to a rift in the Anglican communion which hovers on the brink of schism as a result of the homosexual question.

During the Holocaust gay people experienced violence (see gays during the Holocaust). Violence against homosexuals (see Gay bashing, for instance) continues to occur today.

See anti-gay slogans.

Main articles: Homosexuality and psychology, Reparative therapy

In 1973, the (US) American Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The decision was supported by a majority of the membership, though some criticized this as a political decision unsupported by any advances in psychiatric researc. Nonetheless, many religious groups and other advocates, like National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), believe that they can "heal or cure" homosexuality through reparative therapy. Many Western health and mental health professional organizations have concluded that this therapy is ineffective, unnecessary, and potentially harmful and that sexual orientation is unchangeable. Most notable for his dissent from this opinion is Dr. Robert Spitzer. Another study refuting the claims of reparative therapy proponents was done in 2001 by Dr. Ariel Shidlo and Dr. Michael Schroeder.

In many non-Western post-colonial countries, homosexual orientation is still considered to be a mental disorder and illness. In Moslem areas, this position is ascribed to the earlier adoption of European Victorian attitudes by the westernized elite, in areas where previously native traditions embraced same-sex relations. (El-Rouayheb, 2005, p.156)

In Western culture, gay men are often stereotyped as effeminate or sometimes as hypermasculinized (see homomasculinity). Other extreme stereotypes are the child molester in a position of moral authority (such as the pedophile priest or boy scout leader), and the muscle-bound prison rapist. Additional stereotypes surrounding gay male identity include hypersexualization, extreme care regarding personal appearance, and knowledge socially inappropriate for males, such as how to sew or decorate. Many of these stereotypes have led to the creation of the metrosexual, a man who fits gay male stereotypes but identifies as heterosexual.

Lesbians are often stereotyped as being overly masculine or butch, as having been molested or raped at an early age, as being angry, having typically masculine knowledge (such as how to fix plumbing), and as extremely needy or codependent.

Bisexuals are often stereotyped as promiscuous, manipulative, and insincere.

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as takes place in the Bible is often attributed to attempted homosexual rape, but this is disputed. Scholars have variously attributed the destruction to bestiality, turning a blind eye to social injustice or lack of hopitality.

Since the middle ages, sodomites were blamed for "bringing down the wrath of God" upon the land, and their pleasures blamed for the periodic epidemics of disease which decimated the population. This "pollution" was thought to be cleansed by fire, as a result of which countless individuals were burned at the stake or run through with white-hot iron rods.

Since the end of the 1980's similar accusations have been made, inspired by the AIDS epidemic. In the years since, the epidemic has spread and now has many more heterosexual victims than homosexual.

Other modern American examples:

• Jerry Falwell made remarks interpreted as blaming "pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way" for the September 11th attacks, but later apologized for his remarks. (Pat Robertson was also participating in the broadcast.)
• Baptist Minister Fred Phelps blames homosexuals for September 11th and his sect blames the Indian Ocean tsunami of December, 2004 on American and Swedish sodomites and fornicators in Thailand [14]. Almost no religious bodies support Phelps, who was a delegate for Albert Gore at the Democratic National Convention in 1988 and is viewed by at least one pro-traditional family group as an agent provocateur for the gay rights movement[15].

Relations between adults and youths, both male and female, were practiced historically dating back to at least antiquity. See Plato's Phaedrus (dialog), Lucian's Erotes. This association with Greek relations between men and boys, resuscitated periodiacally by various cultural movements such as the Italian Neo-Platonists such as Marsilio Ficino and literary figures such as Oscar Wilde and Andre Gide, has continued into contemporary times. Some people fear exposing their children to homosexuals in unsupervised settings, lest they be molested, raped, or "recruited" to be homosexuals themselves.

The publicity surrounding the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, which included many cases of pederastic relationships, has heightened these concerns. One organization focusing on this topic can be found here: [16]. According to a study commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, under the auspices of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and an all-lay review board headed by Illinois Appellate Court Justice Anne M. Burke, "81% of the reported victims of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy were boys." The review board went on to conclude that, "the crisis was characterized by homosexual behavior," and in light of this, "the current crisis cannot be addressed without consideration of issues related to homosexuality." One of John Jay's researchers, Louis Schlesinger, argued, however, that the main problem was pedophilia or ephebophilia, not sexual orientation and said that some men who are married to adult women are attracted to adolescent males.[17]

A number of small-scale studies by Dr. Carole Jenny, Dr. A.W. Richard Sipe, and others have not found evidence that homosexuals are more likely to molest childen than heterosexuals.[18][19] One study by researcher Dr. Kurt Freund suggested a higher occurrence of pedophilia among homosexuals, but didn't indicate a greater likelihood to molest children.[20]

Some researchers, like Johns Hopkins University psychiatrist Dr. Frederick Berlin, say it's flawed to assume that men who molest young boys are attracted to adult men and say that attaction to children is a separate orientation of its own. Others, like psychotherapist Dr. A.W. Richard Sipe, also argue that the sexual deprivation that occurs in the priesthood could lead one to turn to children and that boys are more accessible to priests and other male authority figures than girls.[21] A study by Dr. A. Nicholas Groth found that nearly half of the child sex offenders in his small sample were exclusively attracted to children. The other half regressed to children after finding trouble in adult relationships. No one in his sample was primarily attracted to same-sex adults.[22]

The question of whether it is possible to "recruit" children into a homosexual orientation is a matter of sharp debate. See Environment, choice, and sexual orientation

• ^ Andrews, Walter and Kalpakli, Mehmet,The Age of Beloveds: Love and the Beloved in Early Modern Ottoman and European Culture and Societ Duke University Press, 2005 pp 11-12

• ^ Cuordileone, K.A. "'Politics in an Age of Anxiety': Cold War Political Culture and the Crisis in American Masculinity, 1949-1960" The Journal of American History 87 (2) (2000): 515-545

• ^ Katz, Jonathan Net, The Invention of Heterosexuality Plume, 1996

• ^ Von Hoffman, Nicholas, Citizen Cohn Doubleday, 1988 pp 130

• Gay agenda
• Homophobia