Homophobia In Australia

I think we need to look farther than people's individual reasons for being homophobic and look at what bigger underlying influences might be at play.

The mental health of individuals in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community is something that is a serious problem. For most of the history of the United States and many different parts of the world LGBT people faced much persecution and in some cases even death. This constant fear of discovery and the pressure that one feels on oneself when “in the closet” can lead to major mental distress. Research has shown that people who identify as LGBT are twice as likely to develop lifetime mood and anxiety disorders (Bostwick 468). This is extremely noticeable the past couple years in the suicides of bullied teens on the basis of sexual identity and expression. The stigma on simply being perceived as LGBT is strong enough to

Thus, the act can be unenforceable at times, as seen in the article, “Not so equal when it comes to super” (Star Observer, Lamont, Ani, 2008) That said, the act enables the protection of individuals’ rights to be free of discrimination on the basis of sexual preferences. Furthermore, it meets society’s needs to see equality amongst same sex relationships, which is evident in a survey concluding 72% of Sydney residents are in favour of gay marriage.

Homophobia has been an uprising issue since the 80s, and it needs to be stopped before it gets more out of hand. Homophobia has been the motive behind various crimes; in just the US alone. One of the various crimes was the Pulse Club shooting in Orlando.(Attaiah) wrote after an interview with the shooter's father, “Mateenn(shooter) had seen two men kissing and was instantly enraged by what he saw.” The fact that someone's sexual preference is the cause of a mass shooting shows how homophobia is a major problem here in the US. Another issue with homophobia is that it is driving a vast amount of teens to suicide. Suicide rates have increased drastically for members of the LGBTQ community. (WONG) “Suicide rates amongst gay youths are devastating. With suicide becoming a far too common way “out” of unbearable homophobic condition.” Not only suicide in general, but there has been a trend of gay youths killing themselves because it is the only way “out”. Fortunately, a man by the name of Dan Savage is trying to help with that. He has created a project by the name of “It gets better project” which is for gay, lesbian, or Transgenders to have a “safe place”.

“Gay rights have come a long way, but there’s more to do” by Greg Waters, Sydney Morning Herald (2018), outlines a national journey but also personal journey of the author. Waters highlights how as a nation, Australia has come so far since the 20th century in terms of gay rights, yet there is still more work that needs to be done, to ensure all discrimination stops. Waters uses evidence from 1972 to highlight how inhumanely gay people were treated, including being dismissed from employment for being gay and that protestors against these practices were not looked upon favourably . In 2018 however, a big win for gay rights was the legalisation of gay marriage in 2017. Yet, he argues there is still so far to go, as in 2018,

The last gay man to be arrested for sodomy was put away for 8 months in 1984, that was only 33 years ago. Anti-gay laws were only recently repealed between 1975-1997, the last start being Tasmania, which was essentially forced to by the rest of the country to change its outdated ways. Nineteen ninety bloody seven. People born in that year wouldn’t even be 21 yet. We still do not have same sex marriage in Australia. Same sex couples married overseas are recognised as married in most of our states, excluding the Northern Territory and Western Australia - which is appalling, an absolute embarrassment to our country. You won’t allow a couple in love to even be considered married if they had to go to another country to be wed. You know what the Northern Territory also refuses to allow? Same sex couples can’t adopt the children that straight couples couldn’t look after, so

The current literature explains that the impression of anti- gay violence is socially acceptable and long- established when perpetrators who prey on victims of the LGBT community receive weightless verdicts or escape punishments altogether. Perpetrators recognize authority figures such as: parents, police, political and religious leaders who believe gays deserve such heinous treatment and will not treat the violence accordingly (Herek, 2004, p. 160). According to Wills (2004), hate crimes have origins that lead to intimidation, bullying, teasing, physical assault, rape, and murder causing victims to ultimately suffer the consequences of depression, psychological disorders, and suicide. Adults have, by now, further experienced the pressures of society because of their diverse sexuality. However, the stress placed upon teens and young adults, especially college students because of their sexual preference has lead to tremendous life-threatening

A comprehensive anti-homophobia school policy that includes the needs of staff and students, commitment to staff development and curricula development, can assist principals, teachers, and students to challenge and disrupt homophobic beliefs and practices in their schools. Evidence into the implementation of current anti-homophobia school policies from Canada, Australia and USA shows that policy based protection makes a positive difference to LGBT students as it has a highly significant relationship with reduced likelihood of thinking about self-harm, actual self- harm, suicidal ideation and attempted suicide [34]–[36].

According to Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, that is the definition of homophobia. Interesting isn't it? to see homophobia on the same page as hepatitis, herpes, and HIV among others. Before this class I wouldn't have expected to find it there. I mean honestly, what significance could homophobia have in comparison to those other three seriously-taken "real" medical terms? Despite homophobia being a matter of life and death as well, probably the most serious aspect of the disease of homophobia is

The gay population of Cairns moved into the 1980's with optimism. Though Joh Bjelke-Petersen seemed destined to rule forever, in other Australian jurisdictions, (South Australia, Victoria and the A.C.T.) the decriminalisation of homosexuality saw increased tolerance and open discussion of a topic previously deemed unsuitable for polite conversation, The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name. In 1979 Sydney held its first Gay Mardi Gras, gay clubs operated openly, if discreetly, in Brisbane, and more and more people openly identified as gay, even in Cairns.

In the tenth chapter of his Living Out Loud: History of Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia, Graham Willett argues the driving forces behind Australia’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s were members of the gay community who refocused and adapted their 1970s activism into various AIDS committees. These committees lobbied and informed government policy as well as funding. Willett claims many activists mobilized out of concerns the epidemic would alienate people from their cause, as public acceptance of homosexual living was precarious . He also suggests more extreme measures that were favorable in the wider community and implemented in the U.S. e.g. closure of bath houses were circumvented in favor of education and outreach programs thanks to these committees. Further factors in the government acceptance of these

LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender) marriage is a major issue not only in Australia but all over the world

The Catholic Church is strongly opposed to legalising gay marriage in Australia. Acoording to the ‘Don’t mess with marriage report’ A Pastoral Letter from the Catholic Bishops of Australia to all Australians onthe ‘Same-sex Marriage’ Debate, their definition of marriage is that it involves a substantial bodily and spiritual union of a man and a woman. The Church believes this union is centred around and ordered not only to the wellbeing of the spouses but also towards the generation and wellbeing of children. However it has been found that people in same-sex couples are more highly educated and are more likely to be in highly skilled occupations than people in heterosexual couples.In measures of general health and family cohesion children aged 5 to 17 years with same-sex attracted parents had significantly better scores when compared to Australian children from all other backgrounds and family contexts.With regard to academic performance, the evidence is that lesbian- and gay-parented children perform as well as or better than their peers raised in hetrosexual couple families. This information was found on the Australian Governement, Australian institute of family studies website. These statistics and facts prove that there is so big difference between same-sex families and hetrosexual

Upon colonisation in Australia in 1788, the laws from Britain were brought through to Australia. The laws at the time had stated that Lesbianism was not illegal, and that any two women could pursue a romantic relation. However homosexual relations (referred to at the time as sodomy) were strictly forbidden, and resulted in execution. That law later changed in 1899, to a life imprisonment sentence. Until the Human Rights Act 1994, the rights of homosexual people were not being met by the set standards.

Australian culture is vital in the process of socialising the public’s views and beliefs. Through social stratification and labelling different groups as superior and inferior, Australian culture has been manipulated into believing that homosexuals are deviant to the rest of society.