Prejudice and Homosexuality

“Prejudice and Homosexuality”, by Richard D. Mohr, is an essay about how gays and lesbians are subject to discrimination because of different beliefs. Mohr says that when we are evaluating the morality of behavior is to be prescriptive, or normative, not descriptive. In this essay, Mohr says that “Gays are discriminated against in several ways, including private-sector employment, housing, public accommodations, insurance of all types, custody, adoption, and zoning regulations that bar ‘singles’ or ‘nonrelated’ couples from living together” (Mackinnon 246). I completely agree with him.

This paper will continue on, researching the societal change/acceptance in the gay and lesbian community as no longer being unorthodox and with the stigma coming from the gay community itself.

While there have been many successes for promoting and enacting laws to help support gay and lesbian rights there still much more to be done to ensure such. In reading the Saylor text the first thing discuses is the “unique obstacle” in helping attain civil rights (Saylor 179). Civil rights for gay men and lesbians, is something that has been greatly opposed by religious groups where it sex marriage and in all homosexuality is deemed “flawed behavior” and not an “innate characteristic” (179). In regards to exit polls it is also regarded that only 4 percent of public voting is made have up so lesbian, gay men, and bisexuals. Other opposition for gay rights came in the 1950s with the anti-communist scare where gay people where “harassed” and mocked by politicians and police departments. Latter opposition that is extremely current today would be same sex marriage, which has brought in huge opposition between the federal and state courts. In all, while there have been many accomplishments in gay rights there is still more that must be accomplished regarding equal rights for

A psychologist at Northwestern University named J. Michael Bailey conducted an experiment on families with at least a pair of gay brothers. This experiment was able to recruit 409 pairs of gay brothers and to the surprise of Bailey and his team it found that there were linkages in two parts of the DNA linking to sexuality (Servick NP). This is one study that shows strong evidence leaning towards the argument that being gay is not by choice but is genetically predetermined. While discrimination towards homosexuals isn’t nearly as severe and blatantly open like it was towards the African American community before the Civil Rights Movement is it not the same issue. Discrimination towards a group of people due to a factor in which they cannot control. This type of discrimination goes against the core American message of life,

LGBT people have been oppressed and discriminated against for hundreds of years, and still are today. During the AIDS crisis, and average of 1 out of every 6 LGBT men were diagnosed with AIDS (“How”). But before I get too far ahead of myself, let us start from the beginning. Homosexuals have been oppressed for as far back as biblical times. Leviticus 20:13 states “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.’”. Though there is speculation over whether this verse refers to pedophilia or not, it still was a cause for a massive amount of homophobia. (“History”). As a result of homophobia, AIDS research was heavily underfunded. AIDS was thought of as a sort of punishment for LGBT men’s “sinful acts”. Ryan White, a teen at the time, was expelled from school for having AIDS (“History”). AIDS patients were

Prejudice influences the historical record because those opinions and beliefs are handed down through the generations and believed by others due to the influence those that express those views have on others. In the context of the Understanding Prejudice quiz about slaves and their treatment, the textbook states that “contemporary institutional and individual racism, which is central to today’s conflicts, has its origins in the institution of slavery” (Schaefer, 2015, p 168) which was embraced by many of our past presidents and which allowed long-standing prejudice and discrimination to occur against black people. The prejudicial theories of authoritarian personality, exploitation, and normative come into play as well as the theoretical perspectives of functionalist and labeling.

The oppression that the LGBT+ community faces even though is not as prevalent in the past century, it is still a problem that many people experience. As shown by Woodford, Kulick, Sinco, & Hong, (2014) who observed the stress that microaggressions and discrimination from subtle heterosexism can cause for LGBT+

Stereotypes are something that we are all affected by in our everyday lives in one way or another. You may have made a stereotype about someone, and not even realize that you are stereotyping them. For that reason I believe that there are many different stereotypes embedded into our minds. Everyone has made a stereotype about someone, and may have been wrong or right about that stereotype. Either way if you were wrong or right about what you thought about, or labeled on a person, it is still a stereotype. I have noticed that people do not take the time to get to know someone, but rather stereotype them off appearances or gender, or religion, and many other different categories of people.

Now, specifically in the article of 'Prejudice and Homosexuality ' by Richard D Mohr, there are few statistics about homosexuality that tend to be a somewhat out of date when referring to the society that we live in today, that is leaning towards the tolerance of homosexuality. In the article theirs few analytical statistics for 1948 and 1993, in which you see the gay civil right moving rapidly, towards becoming less prejudice and discriminating every

In our society, we are able to witness how our prejudices can affect the way people live. At times, there are people who come forward and confront the injustice in our lives and try helping the victims. However, there are numerous occasions were we fail to confront the prejudice, and take no notice of the consequences that may result; this is evident in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird where the numerous prejudices and injustices heaped upon various characters brings the society itself to moral conflict. We witness first hand how failing to confront various types of prejudices may result large repercussions.

These same people who oppose homosexuality then influence their children who act in the same manner in which they do. Students today learn words such as “queer” and “fag” all too soon and teach other students to tease and taunt those who may possess slightly feminine characteristics this in turn causes the said student to have absolutely no self esteem and to view his or herself in a unhealthy and unnatural way. Complete acceptance of homosexuality will probably never be gained within society however there are still various adversities homosexuals must endure more than heterosexuals, such as anti-gay bullying within school systems, various types of discrimination, and ultimately fighting for their basic rights.

During the period of Colonial America and till the late 19th century gay men preferred to live in shadow as they could be severely punished or event executed for homosexual practices. After the World War II, the activism towards eliminating discrimination of gay men started and starting from 1990s one by one the states passed the law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Nowadays, gay men are equal in rights with heterosexuals and are allowed at the federal level to get married with men and adopt children. The statistics suggests that gay men comprise about 2% of the overall US population. Although generally the attitude in the society towards gay men has changed, they still are often discriminated and become the victims of hate crimes. However, they have the strong network of gay communities and the National Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Centers supporting

Although the issue of LGBT+ has been thrust to the forefront of issues in contemporary society, this is a battle that has affected social, political and health-related spectrums of our communities for decades. For many years, homosexuality was thought to be a psychiatric illness. In fact, it was defined as such by the APA until 1974. Gay conversion therapy was fairly popular, subjecting numerous patients to horrendous acts of torture in the name of medicine(source 3). On top of these brutal and quite frankly inhumane acts, there were laws and regulations prohibiting homosexuality. Although very loosely acted upon, it was these documents that paved the way for discrimination of LGBT members of the society to be discriminated against. Men and women alike could be easily discriminated against when trying to obtain housing or applying for immigration(Source 2). Without being able to partake in society as a functioning person, the disparity between sexual minorities and their heterosexual counterparts grew immensely.

And though this script is about homophobic hate crimes and a gay man, the message is relevant to any minority group. Asians, females, African Americans Hispanics, all have felt these human rights desecrations in the United States. The sad reality is that this are not events that took place in the 50s or 60s; sexism, homophobia, and racism are still a problem in the current world and episodes like this makes sure people do not forget. Shepard’s tragic death is still a painful reminder of how, regardless of the advancement the gay rights movement has garnered over the years, homophobia remains prevalent in the society not only in the United States but also other parts of the world (Tigner, 2002). Incumbent President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that was in favor of gayism. The bill allows all people to choose their sexuality without discrimination. Such practices are prohibited by certain communities especially conservatives.

There is a dangerous and often deadly problem in the world today. It reaches beyond political and religious boundaries and spans across all economic and social statuses. It affects the homeless, middleclass, and the richest people in society. The problem is prejudice.