After years of progrs on gay rights, how did the US bee so anti-LGBTQ+? | US news | The Guardian

Contents:

• WHY DO STRAIGHTS HATE GAYS?
• WHY DO PEOPLE HATE GAYS
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• OP-ED: WHY DO GAY GUYS HATE OTHER GAY GUYS?
• HOW TO BEHAVE AROUND GAY PEOPLE IF YOU DON'T ACCEPT THEM

WHY DO STRAIGHTS HATE GAYS?

In the Uned Stat, public support of the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) muny has creased recent years.

The chang are associated wh creased visibily of openly gay characters on televisn, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the Supreme Court cisn that legalized same-sex marriage. For every highly publicized act of vlence toward sexual mori, such as the recent mass shootg at a gay nightclub Orlando, there are many more physil and verbal asslts, attempted asslts, acts of property damage or timidatns which are never reported to thori, let alone publicized by the media. For example, relig views that homosexual behavr is immoral support heteronormative norms, which ultimately stigmatize sexual mori.

WHY DO PEOPLE HATE GAYS

This legislatn, which fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman, nied homosexuals the rights held by heterosexuals. Aligng their own self-ncept wh society’s negative regard for homosexualy rults myriad negative health out. Conversely, rearchers theorize that pro-gay attus rce heterosexism that exists wh the same stutns.

But when we back up and thk about this aggrsn wh the amework of sexual stigma, we n see that the of antigay vlence n eper and are more plex than a simple “prejudice” explanatn. Beg dnk and havg toughns md may fluence men to act le wh this versn of masculy and attack gay men.

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

Given that sexual stigma valu homosexualy, sanctns the perpetrators’ strategic choice of a socially valued target. So when a young boy teas a gay person, verbally timidat that person or hs him, he gets posive rercement om his peers.

For example, heterosexuals may fear that pro-gay polici such as the legalizatn of same-sex marriage will make harr to advance their own alternative polil agendas. In this way, they should perceive a gay man as a direct threat to their own polil power. LARRY KRAMER is the founr of the prott group ACT UP and the thor of "The Tragedy of Today's Gays.

Peter Pace, chairman of the Jot Chiefs, is charge of an timated 65, 000 gay and lbian troops, some fightg for our untry Iraq. Even Garrison Keillor, of all people, is makg really tacky jok about gay parents his lumn. Hillary Rodham Clton and Barack Obama tried to duck the qutns that Pace’s bigotry raised, nfirmg what gay people know: that there is not one ndidate nng for public office anywhere who dar to e right out, unequivolly, and say cent, supportive thgs about should not vote for any of them.

OP-ED: WHY DO GAY GUYS HATE OTHER GAY GUYS?

We have seen this time after time, even om supposedly progrsive policians such as Print Clton wh his “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays the ary and his support of the hio Defense of Marriage Act. Of urse, ’s possible that beg shunned by gays will make policians more popular, but at least we will have our self-rpect.

To vote for them is to llu wh them their utter disda for ’t any of you wonr why heterosexuals treat gays so btally year after year after year, as your people take away our manhood, our womanhood, our personhood?

So, even wh the most tolerant of new prints, gays will be unable to break ee om this yoke of hate. My lover and I don’t want to get married jt yet, but we sure want to be mt know that gays get beaten up all the time, all over the world. But most stat, gays are not clud hate crime measur, and Congrs has refed to clu a feral act.

HOW TO BEHAVE AROUND GAY PEOPLE IF YOU DON'T ACCEPT THEM

Ernment refed our requts that prott after gay teenagers were hanged Iran, but protts many other foreign celti. Do you nsir acceptable that 20, 000 Christian youths make an annual pilgrimage to San Francis to pray for gay souls?

Why is socially acceptable to joke about “girlie men” or to discrimate agast legally wh “nstutnal” amendments banng gay marriage?

The reasons always offered are relig on, but certaly they are not based on the love all religns even if your objectns to gays are relig, why do you have to legislate them so hatefully? Make no mistake: Forbiddg gay people to love or marry is based on hate, pure and simple. As gays move out of the time-honored and the most natural sex practice (as we believe to be) to fulfill their bodily and psychologil needs, people who n’t empathize wh their sensibili fd their love-makg behavr to be explible, spible and digtible as well.