Homosexuality in Modern Society
Uploaded by sls465 on Apr 19, 2007
Homosexuality in Modern Society
What is homosexuality? Homosexuality is the manifestation of sexual desire toward a member of one's own sex or the erotic activity with a member of the same sex. (The Greek word homos means "the same"). A lesbian is a female homosexual. More recently the term "gay" has come into popular use to refer to both sexes who are homosexuals. Dr. Strauss's definition fails to differentiate between homosexual orientation (i.e. same sex feelings of attraction) and homosexual behavior (i.e. sexual activity with a member of the same gender).
Many people have been taught during childhood that homosexual behavior is condemned both by God and by their religion as unnatural and morally degenerate. If they discover later in life that they are lesbian, gay, or bisexual they often go through a spiritual crisis. Too many realize that their sexual orientation is unchangeable, and that they cannot go through life as someone that they have been taught to hate; they commit suicide. (About 30% of teen suicides are due to this cause; one of the costs of homophobia). Survivors experience a conflict between what they are and what they believe. They sometimes abandon their religion. Some become enthusiastically anti-religious. When discrimination against a minority group is condoned by a religion, government or society, then the most extreme forms of hatred are released. We have seen this in its most extreme form of genocide, rape and "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia, directed against Muslims and others. We see hatred in our own public schools, directed against gay and lesbian students. School administrations which ignore the problem are, in effect, declaring open season on sexual minorities.
The word "homophobia" originally meant "fear of homosexuals or of homosexuality." But the English language is in a continuous state of flux. Words develop different meanings as people develop a new consensus on their definition. This is why older translations of the Bible (e.g. the King James Bible of 1611 CE) are difficult for many people to read. Homophobia is an attitude; homophobe is a person who exhibits homophobia; homophobic is an adjective. But the word "homophobia" is hopelessly inadequate to cover the full range of people's negative beliefs about individuals of minority sexual orientations. For example, some people: actively work towards defining homosexuals as a minority group which should be deprived of those fundamental human...