In the article “Homophobia Hurts Everyone”, the author gives us the insight into the dramatic life of the homosexual people. As soon as someone’s orientation turns out to be different, he or she starts to lose friends, experiences bullying at school, some of them are even expelled from their families. The whole society refuses to accept these people, leaving them alone with fear, shame and pain. Not only the oppressed groups suffer but also people, who deny their right to the existence. Lots of people, who have same-sex relationships, are very intelligent, many-sided and kind. Interaction with them brings a lot of knowledge and experience in the fields of which we were not even aware. And the families, who abandon their children or other relatives firstly, later begin to realize how much precious time that is irretrievably lost.
There are four interrelated levels on which heterosexuals discriminate against homosexuals. On the personal level, these people are considered to be either the pity creatures or moral monsters that have to be excluded from the society. On the interpersonal level, the oppressed group feels how the homophobe’s prejudice affects all the areas of the homosexual’s life. They face difficulties looking for a job; the tenants do not want to rent their apartments, such people. Social institutions also do not tolerate the same-sex relationships. There are even laws that support the discrimination. People can be fired even because they are not opposed to the sexual minorities. The cultural homophobia comes through the denial of the existence of such people, the fact that they are not mentally ill and stigmatizing and labeling them with ugly words.
The third important effect that homophobia has is the drawing too much of attention to itself, thus stealing the energy that can be put into the efforts to save the starving people in developing countries, donation for the people in need and a lot of issues that are present in modern life and are much more important for us. We need to prove our humanity, not through the speaking out against the people who are different but through the saving people whose life is endangered.
Works cited
Blumenfeld, W.J. How homophobia hurts everyone. In Adams, M.A., Blumenfeld, W.J., Castaneda, R., Hackman, H.W., Peters, M.L., & Zuniga, X. (Eds.), Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (pp. 267-275). London: Routledge, 2000.
